After two solid weeks of procrastination and not a small bit of technical difficulties I am once again in front of the computer screen ready for mass-correspondence. It seems like a lifetime since Wa, but then again, it almost took a lifetime just to get to the next "city"! Where to begin? Where to begin? I know: chronologically!
Yes yes, so after the harrowingly-grizzly accommodations in this quite northern of Ghanaian cities, we took a six hour bus on terrifically bumpy and dusty roads to the little junction town of Wenchi. What it is a junction for I haven't the slightest clue. However, I was able to get fufu with THREE pieces of meat at a restaurant for 10,000 cedi ($1.10)! We used Wenchi as a jumping off point for our two-night exploration of Bui NP. Bui is renowned for its 200+ hippo population and the scenic canoe trips on the Black Volta River, which just so happens to run right through this little blip on the map near the Cote D'Ivoire border. The four-hour canoe ride took us up (and subsequently back down) rapids and through some beautiful scenic nooks. Pictures to follow when the connection speed doesn't make me want to vomit! Quite nice.
Alright, let's get this moving right along because I want to go to the Cultural Center and find Prempeh II brass bottle openers!
We arrived in Kumasi on the 5th and we found ourselves immediately put off by the absurd levels of hustle and bustle, as well as the general lack of regard for "proper directions." In Kumasi the rule of thumb is if you don't know where someone is going, instead of saying that, just make things up! So after an hour and a half we traversed the ONE KILOMETER from tro station to guesthouse and sat down. The 6th, Ghana's much-anticipated Golden Jubilee, was just as fun. We spent more than an hour finding the Palace only to discover that there's nothing going on at the palace and that we can't find a tro to the place we actually wanted to go! So, in honor of "Ghana@50" we went back to the Presby Guesthouse and read a book! Hooray Ghana! Oh but what followed made up for every wrong we've experienced and much more...
THE GREEN TURTLE IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD! At least I would like to think so. GT is around Takoradi on the west coast of Ghana near the villages of Dixcove and Akwidaa. It's a strip of palm-lined beaches with excellent cocktails and even better food and truly intriguing people and lots of sun and great breezes and $3/night tents on the sand and I stayed there for five night for about $70--how much better can it get?! We met up with the German med students that we came across in Mole (we're now with them in Kumasi as well) and made some other friends and just had a blast. I miss it already, but like MacArthur, I shall return. Unlike MacArthur, I will be drinking pina coladas with fresh pineapple and coconut juice and chilling on the beach for about two weeks. Excellent. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever been or will ever go to Ghana. Oh the food!!!
Now, on the Ides of March I await the Watkinson School contingent that is currently blasting their way through the Ghanaian interior. Loaded down with four books, chocolate, and goodies for me from my mother they are en route to Kumasi, the city of love (not really), to build houses and be tourists and such. I suppose their betrayal will be that the chocolate melted, but that is to be expected. Hopefully they will call.
Alright, I will go drink my 10 cent porridge now and go find the likeness of Prempeh II as previously stated. Good looks.
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