Ghana to HOME

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April 3 
Well nana addo was supposed to come by in the morning with his sister and take me up to the mountains but that didn't happen. He called and said we would go around noon with his sister and I'd hang out with ken in the morning. So ken and I went and got some fresh bead and some instant coffee milk for breaky.  We then went out to do some errands. He needed some cables for his scooter and had to pick up a mirror for his friends dresser. Not exactly what I was expecting to see and do in Ghana but I did get to ride a bunch of tro-tros, local communial taxis, so that was fun/intresting and I got to see more of the city, the medina/muslim market area. After we finished those errands we were meant to go to his dads office which is the library at the university but his dad was busy and couldn't meet us yet. So we went and used the internt for about an hour. Then went back to his place and found out Nanado sis wasn't comming and we'd have to figure our own way to the mts. Well it was about 2 by now and I wantted some food so ken and I went to the pool restaurant and got some lunch that I had to pay for, which I suppose I don't mind because I'm staying at his place and in his bed but he doesn't even say thank you or anything. Well Nanado finnally showed up with his moms car and we went back to kens house quickly so they could of course smoke again. Then we finally left around 3;45. Well the mountains were more like hills worse then the ones in PA. It did have a decent view of th city but it was so hazy you couldn't see much. I thought we were gonna drive around and explore but we just went to his uncles place and hung out there for a while. His uncle did give us a tour of his compound which was actually very large and impressive. He had a beautiful view of the city. He had made fish pond, a waterfal,l dining areas, sitting areas and more sitting areas all around his house. He has many great visions of his place for parties and receptions. He wants to make a floating house in one of the water resivors. He kept saying all he needed was s little more money because everything was basicaly half started not even half finished half started haha and he's going to be 80 this summer. So I don't think anything will actually be done durring his time. He even has some pigs and goats on the farm/compound. Well after the little tour we sat down by the waterfall had some refreshments and biscuts and chatted a bit. 
We then headed back to the city where we stopped at kens uncles bar for some drinks and snacks. Then we stopped to put some gas in which I offered to split even though I had to pay the full taxi bill the other day plus the dinner. But again i know they are poor and all but I feel like I'm just being used/sponged off. Cannt wait to go home. I started thinking about my visa again and decided to go to the immigration office on Tuesday since monday is a holiday here and see what they say. I really hope ecrrything is ok. I don't want to have to pay anymore. 
Well Nanado dropped us back at kens place where we chilled a bit before I nicked off to bed. 

April 4
Well today nana and I are supposed to head to krokobite beach around 37ks west of the city. Again he said we'd leave early 6:30 or 7 this time to which I replied so kore like 9 or 10 he sort of chuckled and nodded. Because he then of course he remembered someone was meant to stop by in the am but it was supposed to be quick and early haha so well see. I really wish I made my trip here shorter. If I ever vist friends again it's for a weekend that's it, unless I know there are many things to do. 
Well nana just called and it's actually 10mins to 7 saying he's on his was so looks like were gonna be somewhat ontime today. Amazing.
Well it started out ok but we stopped at his cousins place so he could smoke and could pick up some "stuff" for his other cousin we were going to visit. We wound up watching part of a movie waiting for this other guy to come. Finally he got his stuff and we headed to the beach we had to take 2 tro tros and 2 shared taxis. We finally arrived around 11 am. Where I first headed to the beach for a swim and chill on the beach. Nana of course hung out with his cousin and smoked again. I haven't eaten anything yet today except and apple I bought off the street so I went up to see what was goig on. He said there is a restaurant here and they are making food for us. Probably be a few hours from now. Haha africa time worse than south American time. Haha
Yea lunch was at least an hour or so later. Decent buko and fish salsa. Then nana went to visit a friend so I went and sat on the beach alone, till about 3:30 and I texted him about this drumming thing. He finally showed up and briefly chatted about tomorrow I'm gonna do a tour of cape coast a fairly expensive one and he might not even come. Pretty crappy. He then left to go hang out with his cousin and I watched the amazing drumming shows myself. 
I mentioned to him I thought about changig my flight earlier if my visa situation was fine and he jumped on it asking me if he was a bad host, i wasnt having a good time and that's why I wanted to leave. I tried talking my way out of that by saying I've been on the road to long and just want to see my parents and be rested for my bros bachelor party even though that's part of it; he has been a horrible host always smoking and leaving me alone or with ken, his friend. Pretty ridiclous. Shell and I were talkig in south africa and neither of us wanted to leave there. I could have/should have just spent my last week there and skipped Ghana. 
 I hope my visa stuff Is ok that's been annyoing and nagging at me the whole time too. 
On a side note the drumming has been pretty cool. They are very talented, they have been singing and dancing and even got me and the only other white woman here up dancing. Then another group of drumers came and they started sort of batteling back and forth until the first group finished and the second took over. Oh this was supposed to start at 3 and it didn't start till 4:30pm they have terrible time management here. Haha Well they just finished and it's about 6pm and I have no idea where nana is. Awesome. 
Well I walked back over to his uncles place and he was on his way out with his cousin so we all left together. We had to walk a k or so to get to a taxi/trotro rank. But the tro tro we got on was a terrible driver and got a flat tire becaue he hit some pot holes to hard. So we then had to walk a bit again till we found a shared taxi that we could take to the main highway. From there we took I think 4 more tro tros to get back to the area called American house from there it was one more taxi ride for me to get back to kens house, what an adventure haha. When I got back ken wasn't here and I didn't have a key so I texted nana told tell him. I guess he called ken because kens cousin came out and told me I could wait for him in his part of the compound. Ahhh he had AC and it was glorious. I haven't felt AC in so long it was amazing haha. Ken showed up a bit later and let me in. I took a shower and nicked off to bed. 

April 5 
Today I was supposed to get picked up between 630-7 well 730 ish rolled around and I finally got picked up by nana ans his taxi driver friend mensah. They took me to his cousins place  where I thought for sure they were going to smoke before we left but I don't think they did. Nana just went and got his cousin because nana wasn't comming wih us his cousin was. Anway we were finally off around 745. We drove speedily for about 2ish hours before we had to stop becaue the car was over heating and he had to add some water too it. There were also a couple of police stops that mensah had to give 5cedis around 3usd to the police officer as a bribe, terrible corruption here apparenlty. We finally got to cape coast and they guys kept having to ask for directions it was ridiclous. Nana asured me these guys knew where they were going and everything. I don't think they had a clue. We finally made it to Kakum park were it was super crowed with people. We, take that, I had to pay 10cedis around 7usd to get in. Namas cousin did manage to get us student prices though haha. We had to wait for our tour group to start the canopy walk. They have set up a system of laddters with wood on them as pathways suspended by ropes 20 meters or so above the forest floor. There was no wild life with in miles becaue of all of the screaming people but it was cool to see and do, I suppose. From there we went to cape coast castle where I again paid 10cedis for us to go in and have a tour. The castle it self was around 500 years old or so and was really cool looking. The tour was somewhat mind bogeling. The showed us where they use to put the slaves 150-200 in a tiny room with no light and only a small latreen to go to the bathroom in. It was unbeleiveable oh and the worse part was there was a church above the slave cells., truely ridiclous.  They then showed us around the castle, the battle station, govoners quarters, examination room and a few others. We also got to see and walk through the door of no return, self explainatory. He told us it was owned by the Portugeese at one point the Dutch and then the British.
After our tour we got some food in the parking lot as I was starving and hadn't really eaten anything all day. I told the guys I wantted to go up and see the forts and then the other castle in Elimina but they were trying to head home and claiming it was to far away. I told them no it's 15ks 20 mins from here says so in the book and nana said you would take me there. So thankfully they flipped around and started asking how to get there. We finally got there I paid admission again and had our tour. It was a very similar tour but this castle was much bigger and older so it was cool to see. The guide told us 12 million slaves had past through there in 400 years and only about 4 million lived. That's amazingly terrible. I was ashamed to be white (I was the only white person in the caslte on tour). The guide explained there was a church there as well and through each reign.  the dutch just moved it's location in the castle. It's amazing people could worship a god, life and everything that goes with religion yet capture other human beings to sell as slaves and kill so many in the process. Absolutely horrible. 
When that tour finished we speedily made our way back to Accra but not before we had to stop again to put water in the radiator and bump some other car atthe toll boothhaha.  Mensah is a mental driver, actually they almost all are here it's crazy and it didn't help they smoked on the way home. But we made it home safe, we picked nana up from the amaerican house place and then dropped me at kens place. We spoke about plans for tomorrow then nana left. Ken wasn't here so I decided to go us the net quickly ans go get some bread and milk mix as a snack befor bed. When I came back I ate showered and went to bed ken came home a bit later. 

April 6
Well it stormed like crazy last night which actually made the morning not has hot and humid but I know once the sun is up it'll be crazy hot because all the water will be evaporating.
I got ken up and asked him to come to immigration office with me. We took a tro tro across town through crazy traffic all the while I was conjuring crazy ideas in my wad about this situation. When we got there we went to the reception and asked if I would have any problems because it was expired she said "no" the stamp superceeds the sticker visa and I was fine I could stay until June if I wanted. Wow what a relief. That made me so happy and worry free now I just have to wait 2 days so I can leave. Once we were finished there ken and I went to his mechanics shop to pick up his mechanic to bring him over to the house to fix his vespa. Ken explain his mother was supposed to send him some money but he wasn't sure how much or when and asked if I would pay 10 cedis about 7 bucks to his mechainc. I said sure I'm staying at your place no worries. I'll probably throw him some money before I leave which I think he keep hinting at it. He's got a debt with his mechanic, he wants to join the swimming pool near by, he needs parts for his vespa and ever time we go out I pay for everything and no thank you. I don't like that. You should be thankful for everything you recieve weither it's from a person or nature wiling. I'm not saying he's not thankful but would it hurt to say thank you everynow and then. Anyway we got back to his place the mechanic started doing his work I ate some breaky/lunch then went to the Internet net place for about 1 and 1/2 hours trying to post this but the wifi wasn't working. Then I went to the store to get some juice and went back to kens expecting them to be all done and waiting for me. Well the mechanic is very through and is cleaning every bit of the old thing but better through than not I suppose. I decided to have a bucket shower and relax a bit seeing as I have no where to go and nothing really to do, wish there was a tv or something here. Ahh well.
Well it took all day to get lens bike working. I gave been just sitting around all avo watching movies on my iPod n listening to music. It's about 430 and ken just went to drop the mechanic off. So well see if we do anything when he gets back. 2 more days.
Well the day wasn't a compete loss. Ken gave me a tour of his university and even his primary school where he and nana addo met when they were very little. The campus was pretty cool there was a cool massive garden with a pond at the back of it. He also took me to the top of a hill that had a good view of the city below. Then we went to a night market to have some dinner. We had fufu which is kasava, a type of root like a potato, that sis boiled then mashed into a doughy subsance which is then served under a peanut soup with some goat and fish meat. It was pretty decent. The soup reminded me of a spicy thai or Asian peanut soup. We then drove around a bit more then went back over to the garage spot were we are now just chilling. Ken and I went back to his placed watched a movie that I fell asleep to from my iPod.  

April 7
I have been waking up so early here so I watched a movie befor ken got up. When he did he took a shower did his morning habit I went and got some bread and that milk mix for breaky. He finnaly finished his morning ritual ate and we were on our way. We went to makola accras main house hold market. Wow was that intense so crowded and everyone was carrying something on their head it was crazy. Girls were carrying 50kg over 100lbs on their heads, ken said the could do 300 kgs freaking crazy. From there we went to the cultural market.  Ken sat at the little restaurant by the entrance because he didn't want to have to deal with anything. I got approched in the first 10 seconds and taken to 2 far back shops. I made the mistake of asking where I could get a tshirt so one ran off to get them. When we were bartering over price I forgot what currency I was using so I made an offer and he accepted. I didn't realized I over paid by atleast 10 bucks but not till after I left. Oh well. I then managed to get a nice wooden statue thing for someone at a pretty good price I think. I then mailed some postcards. Then ken took me to his post office and his dads house where they have 2 monkeys as pets. Pretty sad though, ones chained up and the other is in a cage then the dog out back is also chained up and looks worse off then some stray dogs I have see. On the streets. His hair was falling out and looked so mangy and dirty. 
From there we went overto the Accra mall and walked around in the ac for a bit. Then we headed back to his place where we will most likely waste the avo away. I went and used the Internet for a couple of hours then back to kens watched part of a movie then ken and nana addo came home. We chatted about the plan for tomorrow and chilled a bit then we walked nana to the tro tro stop and waited with him. Then we walked up the street so I could grab some food an egg sandwich. After that we walked back to kens where I watched a movie and fell asleep. 

April 8 states bound tonight. Yipppeeee

Well I didn't sleep to well which is ok, so i can sleep on the plane tonight. Nana texted me at 5 am seeing if I was ready to go. I had to wake ken up and plug his phone in as it died. Ken took me to the American house place then got a taxi for me to meet nana at the medina junction. We both arrived around the same time. We then took a tro tro up the mt to a small town then a taxi from there to where is dads farm is. We walked through some hospital entrance to some back dirt roads and around to his fathers farm. Where nana got one of the workers to take us on a walk/hike through his land. It's not really a farm more of just mointainous land so it was pretty cool we basically went on a small hike of the area, down to a small stream that divides the land. We had some good chats along the way talking about uni, reminising of high school and other non sense. It was pretty sweet. When we got back to the hut we wrang our shirts out because you sweat a ton here. Then the workers gave us a bunch if oranges to eat wow they were so juicy and delicous. Nana gave me some small berry like thing that that apparently makes things taste better. It was very sweet and tasted like dragon fruit. We hung out there a bit more then walked back to the main road where we caught a taxi up the hill to nana addos home town. We got to see his old house and I met his dads 93 year old sister. She was awesome so nice and sweet and still very sharp in the mind. She was super cool I could have sat all day there with her. Haha but nana had to get back so we grabbed a tro tro back to Accra. Then a taxi to his moms house. Where he had a shower and changed. I hung out with his adorable niece and nefew. Then we took s taxi over to kens house where I hung out for the afternoon using the net repacking, showering and what not. 
When nana addo came back we got some grub then ken took me to the airport on his bike. Which was very intresting/hard. I was struggling to hold on as my pack was pulling me off. I coul barely stand up when i got off the bike. Haha. 
Anyway I got my boarding pass and went to see how immigration would go. I had paper clipped my photo page and the page with the stamp so he couldn't see the expired visa sticker page. He looked at it, leafted through the other pages as they a do that and I don't really know why. Then asked is this it to which I said yes(sweat dripping down my face deep breath) haha. Well he stamped it and on I went. Feeeeue made it. Well then I went through security and there was another immigration officer check point after that and this one had a long line and he seemed like he was interogating people. I thought shit I'm caught. Well I clipped the pages together again he barely looked at it and let me through. Well I went another 30 feet or so and there was another check there. That one too was a breeze. I've never been through so many checks in my life. I'll list them. 
1. Boarding pas check before immigration
2. Immigration
3. Boarding pass n passport before security
4. Immigration officer after security and boarding pass when they rip it in half
5. Another boarding pass and passport check 20 feet from the last one 
6. Before leaving the building to go on the tarmac an old air Egypt ticket was ripped in half
7. At the bottom of the stairs of the plane boarding pass check
8. Half way up the stairs the other half of the old school air Egypt ticket was taken
9. Flight attendant silly check ( this one always gets me)
FA boarindg pass
Me here
FA your seats down there. 
Me are you sure I thought it was the other way, I'm flying this bitch today. Haha it's ridiclous
So that was 9 checks to leave Ghana crazy and it's not like it was a direct flight to the states or anything. We flew to cario where I ran to get my next boarding pass and get to the gate as the first flight was a bit late. Both flights were realitively smooth. I started to get a stomach, pretty weird for me. I remember one of the meals on the plane not tasting right but I ate it anyway. 
Well the plane landed and I ran to immigration where I breezed through there then waited ages for my bag. I was worried going through customs becaue of some of the wood and stuff that I had but he looked at my card and waived me through. Sweet. I ran and hopped on the air tran and called Jordy as he was getting a car to drive down to LBi for kens bachelor party. So I then took the subway to a stop a few blocks from his house where he met me and we went and got the car and drove down to the island. Ahh back home. Thanks for reading and keeping up with me. Photos will be posted on facebook but give me a while to sift through the thousands. What will next winter bring?  

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