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Published: October 28th 2010
I’ve had a few requests to revive the old travel blog so here goes. I’ve started writing a series about living in the US and the funny things I have seen or had to do but that’ll come later. I’ll try to write about my time in Ghana while I’m here and things are fresh in mind.
To help give this entry a bit of a framework I’ll describe a bit of its geography. Ghana is on the west coast of Africa, west of Togo and Nigeria and just east of Cote D’Ivoire. I flew into the capital, Accra, over 24 hours from Denver to Heathrow and Heathrow to Accra. It was a pretty good flight, business class, which was pretty cool, I learned that the brits make a decent imitation caesar. Since I left at night and arrived at night I was able to adjust to the new time zone very easily too. It was a bit funny getting out of customs, the company had a driver with a sign to pick me up and some security escorts. We walked to the parking lot, then they got a phone call and started talking excitedly, then they told me to
stay in this dark parking lot while they all left to do something. Nothing came of it, they soon returned and we left but I thought it was a bit funny.
I’m currently staying in a city called Sunyani which is the regional capital of Ahafo. It’s a 45min flight from Accra to Sunyani and we’re about 7 degrees north of the equator. The area we’re working is a little similar to the other tropical jobs I’ve done; hot, humid, and muddy. It’s unique in a few ways too. The terrain is mostly flat while the vegetation is mostly composed up 2-3m tall grasses and soft bushes with the occasional tree. A lot of our survey area is covered in farmer’s crops too. The local guys have been teaching me to recognize the local crops, like maize, cassava, and cocoa. The wildlife is neat too. In Panama we had pit vipers and bushmasters, in the Philippines we had the king cobra, but in Ghana we have vipers and cobras AND mambas and they’re all deadly poisonous. I think I’m learning to tell what a mamba is now too. There are yellow mambas, green mambas, and black mambas. On the first day I saw a black mamba (not actually black by the way) slither away and on the second day I started walking up a trail and saw a green mamba slither further up the trail. I took a little break and ate my lunch to give him a bit of time to leave the area but ½ later wouldn’t you know it I saw him again as I walked the trail. This time he went into the bush a bit. So, when I had to walk the trail for the third time I was a little bit nervous. Wouldn’t you know it, I heard him leave the path once again as I was walking. Pretty glad I haven’t seen a snake the last couple of days now.
Okay I think that’s enough for tonight. To remind myself next time and to give a bit of a preview:
Cell phones, balancing things on your head, and international economic theory.
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Ben
non-member comment
suburbia
Mambas and vipers, or diapers and a 9-5 ... I think the suburban lifestyle is more my speed. Your nuts, little bro. Take care of yourself, or they might be flying you back in a section of the plan that is neither business or regular class. I hear they give you your own bag though ... ;) B.