Whew, what a rough couple of days. I guess we should have taken it as a sign from above to expect a less than perfect trip when we set out to find a cab at 6 in the morning in the pouring down rain. Last Monday, 3 of the girls and I took off for the Ghana border to travel across Togo and into Benin for a little whirlwind trip. As it started, we woke up at 5:30 am to pouring down rain and screaming wind, but we decided to head for the hills anyway. Well, of course, there was not a taxi to be found outside of our hostel, so after getting slightly soaked, we found one and made it to the station. The station in Accra was as crazy as usual and before we ... read more

Well, this weekend was a great example of the randomness of life in Ghana. So, as the story starts, the girls and I were standing outside a nightclub called Tantra in Osu on Friday night. We were debating, and admittedly arguing, about whether it was worth it to pay the 10 cedi cover charge to get in. We were pretty split down the middle and on the verge of just going home when one of the bouncers mentioned that there would be a special program going on with some lady named Eve. Well, Margaret, the celebrity guru, could not believe her ears. We were all a little skeptical of the bouncer’s sincerity, but we were about to pay and go in anyway… can’t give up a chance to see someone famous, right? Well, as we were ... read more

This weekend the girls and I skipped the border and spent our Easter in Togo. For those of you who don’t know, Togo is the long, skinny francophone country to the east of Ghana. I loved Togo - the closed gutters and wider streets were a nice change, as well as scalding hot water in our shower at the Hotel Copacabana. (Haha, “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl...”) There are three girls in my group who speak a small bit of French, so we managed to get around well enough, and we actually happened to pick a hotel out of the guide book that was on the main road, so we were within walking distance of tons of restaurants and a staggeringly large population of expats, so we didn’t always have to depend fully ... read more

Maybe it’s the way she dances around with one gigantic flip flop on, or maybe it’s the way she spins as fast as she can and then tries to crawl and collapses in a fit of giggles instead, or maybe it’s the way she looks at you and somehow, you just know she understands. Whatever it is, I’m in love with a baby girl named Mina who is just shy of 2 and lives in an orphanage in East Legon. A few weekends ago when the girls and I went to the pool for the day, we met an American woman who recently moved to Ghana with her husband from Togo, and their son. We got to talking about volunteer work and she told us of an orphanage that she goes to during the week. We ... read more

There was a World Cup qualifying football match in Kumasi this weekend in which the Ghana Black Stars played their professional opponent from Benin. Oh, and I went. We made the 5 and a half hour trek on Saturday morning - after waiting for an extra hour because the bus was late and after hitting the road, passing the 7 am bus to Kumasi because, what do you know, it had broken down. Anyway, we got there, checked into our hostel, and ate at this amazing little café that boasts the best Indian food in Ghana. Their curry was quite tasty. So, we had been told that if we wanted to get tickets to the game, we had to go to the stadium at 5:30 am on Sunday morning, the day of the game (in Ghana, ... read more

Well folks, I think Ada Foah is my new favorite place… This weekend we took off yet again, this time to the east of Accra in search of some down time on a beach we had heard was simply marvelous. Well, we found it. Ada Foah is a small village with tons of little hotels and it sits right on the estuary of the Volta river into the Gulf of Guinea. It is an absolutely breathtaking place and I don’t think I could pick up my jaw for at least half an hour after we got there. We arrived in Ada Foah and loaded into a rickety old boat to take us to our hotel: Maranatha Beach Camp. Maranatha is a series of huts that sit on the narrow strip of sand with the beautiful ocean ... read more

So, with a little bit of trouble forcing them down, Cate and I tried frog legs the other day… It’s true what they say - they taste like rather small chickens… So, not too much has been going on for me in the last week or so. It’s been pretty quiet, save for the usual chaos of a normal day, and I’ve been thinking a lot. Lately I’ve been feeling really at home in Ghana and when I think about it, I am amazed at all that I’ve learned since coming here. It’s quite nice to know the ropes now - it’s nice to know what to do and how much to pay when you jump on a tro tro, it’s nice to know what all of the crazy hand motions mean and to understand the ... read more

My group took a five day journey up the country this past weekend to get to Mole (Mo-lay) National Park and it was simply amazing. Tiring yes, but so completely worth it. We set out at 8 am on Thursday morning to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. We made it there in 5 hours and boy was the drive beautiful. It was like driving through a tropical rainforest and I was pretty bummed when I realized that I left my camera in my bag at the back of the van. Kumasi is the heart of the Ashanti region and the seat of the great Ashanti empire and so when we arrived, we took a tour of the Ashanti king’s estate and museum. It was interesting to learn about past kings as well as the ... read more

“My wife will be American… It is my greatest wish to go to America.” Hmmm, like I hadn’t heard that one before. This weekend I had a couple interesting interactions with Taxi drivers… First, I was headed to dinner in Osu one evening and I happened to get into the car of the most talkative driver ever. After I sat through the complete life story of the guy; how he feels when people don’t repay him for his constant service, when people wake him up and want a ride and he feels obligated, what kind of music he likes, his opinions of Obama, and the everlasting story of the time he let someone borrow his fridge, we got to the restaurant and he told me the above nonsense about his need for an American wife… I ... read more

Well, it’s official, I have Malaria. I started feeling bad last Monday, (and by bad I mean I felt like I had been hit by a car and I had a head ache and a fever). I went to the clinic on Wednesday morning to get a blood test but it came back negative because they couldn’t see any parasites in my blood. I was feeling worse and worse as the day wore on, so I went to the hospital that evening because my temperature kept rising. I went with a Ghanaian friend named Junior and he took me to the Military hospital… yikes is all I have to say about that. I saw a doctor right away though and he told me I had Malaria and gave me a prescription. I took 8 pills a ... read more