(not so) HOT TAMALE

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My title implies that I'm not having a good time, but what I actually meant was that the weather is not too bad and for all the scary stories I have heard about the heat here, I find it bearable, even cool at times. I'm wondering what is to come... perhaps this is just an odd couple of days.

Tamale is a seven hour bus ride from Kumasi. Someone on the bus started the most ridiculous sing along of all time. I was immediately reminded of high school cross country. We sang "waterfalls" and one of us actually remembered the words to left eyes rap. so impressive. We sang Disney songs and I was tempted to just put on my earphones and be that annoyed cool kid, but shiiiittttt, you couldn't avoid getting wrapped up in the theme of Pocohontas, and what a beautiful message.

The Northern region of Ghana is much different than what I've been getting used to. Unfortunately the North is underdeveloped because the government pumps money into the Southern regions and ignores this area of the country. There are a lot of people under the poverty line here and most people depend on agriculture to survive. We had a lesson today and the professor talked about how badly the North was hit by slavery and that after all the strongest women and men were enslaved there wasn't much for strong villages to be built on. This place has been doomed for years. The sad part is that there doesn't seem to be much hope for fixing it, until the government stops separating the North from the South like they do, the North will always be more poor and less educated than the South. The population density is less and everyone rides bikes, which is nice. Many people end up leaving here and venturing toward the large cities in the South in hopes of making money - because of this Kumasi and Accra were both much more crowded.

I am staying in a hotel with half the group. The accomodations are okay and the food is very good but the water is not running and this is the first time I have dealt with that yet. I have been lucky to have showers and I know that now. This morning when I was splashing cold water on myself I had a brand new love for hot water.

The streets are wide and dusty. I saw one of the biggest trees I have ever seen and I climbed it with the girl from Jamaica and the one from Maryland. My head feels fine now but the braids are starting to look fuzzy. There is much more vegetation here. There are a lot of goats, chickens, guinea fowl and cows around. The houses are smallers and resemble huts. There is a market day every 5 days and we went. I bought some beautiful fabrics and am going to have some dresses made. The people here keep to themselves much more and even in the market didn't seem to care whether you bought anything or not. There are a ton of young guys who ask for our emails and follow us around. They dont know that much english. theyre usually 12-16. theyre pretty cute but kind of creepy too.

well, Im running short on time.

tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow

Becca

The women are soooooo beautiful it's a little ridiculous sometimes.

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