Been a While...

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Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. We've been working like crazy on our reports and are FINALLY at the internet cafe to print out the final copies. It feels REALLY good get everything wrapped up and finalized. Pratt, Spencer, and Ben are all leaving on Sunday so we're all heading to Accra tomorrow morning to spend a day or two until the rest of group goes their seperate ways.

I thought a lot about how I wanted to spend my final week here and finally decided to head out to this Eco-lodge in the western part of Ghana for a few days...and then will head back into Cape Coast then Accra before I leave next Saturday. It was built a few years ago by a British couple and is supposed to be amazing...check it out at greenturtlelodge.com. I'm really excited about being able to spend a few days relaxing and reading. After being in hectic cities and the center of attention everywhere we go, it's going to be really nice to be alone for a bit to process everything I've seen and experienced.

The last few days have not been too eventful except for hard work that's been going on to wrap up the projects. We've all been typing away at the computer we have at the house, drawing, doing layouts, etc...It's been interesting how different things have been since we're all stressed out and don't have time to "play" with the locals outside. They've gotten brave and have started coming into the house while we're working and will just for hours and stare at us. We've started calling it the "obruni show"...even if we're not doing anything interesting, they're content to just sit and watch every move we make. Pratt made a good point that it's the same as us taking pictures of them going through their daily activities, they have no idea why we're so interested in what seems common and everyday to them.

The thing they seem the most interested lately have been "obruni grooming" We've all been here for a while (Pratt and Spencer were even traveling before they came to Ghana) so needless to say we could all use some grooming. Spencer's nails were out of control and I've been giving him a hard time about it...it turned into manicures for everyone including Hannah, who still talks about how clean her nails are. Manicures turned into a haircut for Spencer and all the kids in the courtyard LOVED it. Obruni hair is really interesting to them so they got a kick out of someone getting their haircut.

Nothing else really interesting has been going on. I made a HUGE find at the mobil mart the other day (the best place to find intesting food)...chocoloate chip cookies from Holland and vanilla ice cream in little plastic packets called FanIce. I bought some for Lisa and I and we locked ourselves in my room after dinner and ate them...it was UNBELIEVABLE. We don't really get anything sweet here so it was a much-needed sugar fix. I'm very much looking forward to coming home and having some of the food I've been missing so much.

Oh, another find we made (thanks to Pratt)...we found natural shea butter at the market. It's hard to find and kinda expensive at home and we got a whole bunch for 15,000 cedis (under $2!) It's GREAT for skin and you can melt it down and put essential oils in it to make nice smelling body cream. Lisa was so funny when she bought hers. We both bought containers at the market to put it in and the lady was filling Lisa's up and she kept pointing out that she wasn't pushing it down to get as much as she could in the container. We're constantly worried about being taken advantage of because people will try to sell us things for MUCH higher than their worth because we don't know any different. Lisa started pushing it all to the bottom so she could put more in it and the lady got soooo mad. I was behind her laughing so hard...she's a tough one and doesn't let ANYONE take advantage of her. When we were walking off, Lisa was like, "I just yelled at an old Ghanaian woman over 10 cents". It was priceless.

Well, that's all for now. I'll probably be away from internet for a while so this will be the last post for a while. I'll try to get back on before I leave though to let you all know how Green Turtle Lodge was. I'm a little worried about traveling around by myself trying to get there but am looking forward to the adventure. Hope everyone is well...take care!

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Comments

[Tommy]

The Lodge
I totally looked at Green Turtle Lodge, and it looks amazing!!! I'm so jealous! It seems beautiful, and I think that eco-tourism is SO the way to go! Just know that I laughed my head off about obruni hair - totally priceless! I can't wait to see you back in the ATH!!!!