Goats, monkeys, and mosquitoes . Oh my!

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There is a monkey tied to a tree on campus, I presume it is someone’s pet. Anyway, sometime last week, said monkey got loose and went into one my friends classrooms and stood on desk until someone shoo-ed it away. Later, this monkey went into another international student’s room and ran out with a pair of shorts… smart monkey. The idea of pet here is very different which makes the monkey story more entertaining. This coming weekend along with going to Cape Coast, we are also going to Kakum which is a national park with a canopy walk as well as lots of really great wildlife sightings at night- I’ll let you know.
As for day to day animal encounters, there are tons of goats… all over the place. One followed me for a little bit on a run. Luckily it wasn’t faster or else I may have been its dinner- I think goats are usually vicious like that. There are very few fences, and few leashes (the monkey’s is the only one I’ve seen) so dogs, goats, and chicken just roam around. There are also tons of vulchers, and there are some anthills on campus that are a good foot or two taller than me. As for sunsets, besides the one on the plane over the Sahara, Ghana hasn’t provided too many because it is so dusty and dry right now. (We are in the dry season, which has a different name that starts with an m which means there are also winds coming from the Sahara resulting in what looks like a haze.
I’ve spent a couple days at the beach already, it’s about a ½ hour tro tro ride that costs less than a dollar. La Badi beach is certainly not one of Ghana’s nicest beaches because it is so close to the city so it’s a bit dirtier and really busy with lots of vendors, but the ocean is incredible. The waves are huge, and there’s a pretty big ripe tide because the continental shelf drops a great deal, very quickly. President Bush was in Ghana earlier this week, and rented out one of the hotels on the beach. I’m told he had 600 people with him, including his own chef… Also brought along his own bed, hopefully it’ll have some American pests in it. Some people here really like Bush because of his religious views, others really dislike him. He was here supposedly to talk about malaria, but there was lots of speculation that the recent discovery of oil in Ghana would maybe make his trip more worth it… not to be skeptical or anything.
Anywho, on a happier note, back to the beach- I think it’s the first beach I have been at the directly faces south. One of my friends, Sam, pointed out that the next land mass was Antarctica… which makes the ocean seem even more infinite. Last Wednesday we went to a reggae party on the beach, nothing to right home about, lots of obrunis with no rhythm, I fit in a little too well to go back. Lots of reggae here which is very exciting, also tons of American pop/rap, which I’m not ashamed to say is also very exciting. What would I do without a little JT in my life? Nigeria produces a lot of movies and music that make up a good portion of the Ghanaian entertainment industry.
Just as everyone who has read about or visited Ghana knows, the people are incredibly friendly, and so helpful. My grandma’s home health care aid, Edna, is from Ghana, and the rest of here family is still here. Calnin, one of Edna’s friends, has been showing me around Accra on Sunday afternoons, and a couple days after I arrived, he and one of Edna’s sons, Charles, greeted me with a kente cloth that said Welcome to Ghana. Kente is a Ghanaian style of weaving cloth together, and is absolutely beautiful. As for people who are not family friends, I have had long conversations with many of the people at the night market (kinda like a mall food court, but with stands outside), the slower pace has been really refreshing. Most mornings, I start off with a light (ha) breakfast of a fried egg on fresh baked bread- so good. For those who know I am not an egg fan, I can’t explain, all I can say is that these eggs are just so much better! A mother and her four girls run this stand, they each get up about 4 AM, everyday, and work uvtil after nine, taking turns napping. It makes me feel silly about complaining about 7:30 class.
Lots of rambling today, but speaking of food, I continue to like pretty much everything I try, although with the heat I am not usually very hungry… until I go someplace with A/C. A good example of this is last Tuesday when I went with a group of people to a filling station (gas station with food places and a bar) for dinner. I consumed 3 pieces of pizza, an ice cream pop, half a container of cookies, and then decided a plate of fried rive was in order. Last night it happened again. I won’t bore you with the food types, but I know to bring more cedis if I am going to be eating in A/C. As any good Abels, I could go on talking about food, but I’ll stop here so I can get some units for my phone and more internet time…

Peace, love, and reggae, Kathleen (sadly I didn’t come up with that one myself)

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Comments

[Daddy Abels]

Be nice to the monkey ....
It's probably a distant relative.

[Kevin]

Two important corrections
1) Goats are noble animals, Lenny. They are far and away the best petting zoo animals for sure. Cut thm some slack. 2) The beach that we were at in the Dominican republic faced south but it was just 500 miles to Venezuela so you've still got a good point. Can't wait to see it!

[Britta]

distant relatives
speaking of distant relatives, how were those baboons in the north of Ghana?