Now that's what I call a warning.

Despite the fact that every Dutch person* I know is a smoker, they sure don't mess around with their warning labels.

*I only know one Dutch person.

Monkeys and waterfalls

On Friday, we took a day trip to the Volta Region. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake on Earth (oooh, ahhh!) Shortly outside of Accra, we stopped the Shai (pronounced shy) Hills, where our driver Joseph called out to the baboons and we fed them some bread. Nana wanted to climb the hill (aka, a gaint cliff) but we had other stuff to do for the day.

We then continued on, stopping in a small town to get some shrimp for Nana, Kwesi, and Kurt. I had one, but didn't really care for it. Kukoa (Nana's littlest sister) is shocked that I didn't care for the shrimp and wants some of her own. (There was something about eating the shell too that didn't really do it for me.)

Then we stopped at a monkey sanctuary and fed monkey's banana's, which they really do like. A lot. It was a nice hike through the forest.

We then drove on to the Wli waterfalls (I believe that is how it was spelled, Nana isn't here for me to ask.) We had a guide take us there, it was about a 45 minute hike through the forest to get to it. I have pictures of the mountains all around us, I may post later. Just over the mountains is Togo, the next country over. The waterfall comes from a river in the mountains. When we got there, there was a school group of ex-pat girls there, but no one else (they all had brought their swimsuits, and were getting out just as we arrived.) I had considered this, but for some reason taken my suit out of my bag before we left, but Tiff, Kurt, and I still got in. It was freezing, but we figured there aren't a lot of massive waterfalls in the Midwest, so we might as well get in while we could.

Yesterday we drove up into the mountains close to Accra again to go shopping for gifts in Aburi. Tiffany bought enough to feed the village for a month. (I'm not really even exaggerating on that one.) We thought about going out last night, but everyone is pretty broke now, so we didn't. (I've only spent around 100 dollars, but I don't want to go to the atm to get more money unless I have to. Everyone else has spent more. But that happens when you buy a Magnum bar almost every day, like Tiff has, or you pay 100,000 cedis [$1 us dollar=9000 cedis] to get into a club for a half an hour, like Kwesi has.)

So, we have basically four days left. It's gone fast, yet somehow I feel like I've been here forever. The driving no longer freaks me out (gasp!) And, while I thought the first night that I would see a billion accidents, I have yet to see one. Several broken down cars, but no accidents. (Oh, and Dad, I've only seen 12 American cars my entire time here. 12. I asked Nana, I had my theory, but he said "American cars are crap. They break." So there you go.)

Summer greetings

Summer greetings from Ghana. Because there is no other season. Just wetter summer and drier summer (or the Hammatan, which is probably not the spelling, is the dry season, meaning everything is dusty from winds from the Sahra.)

But the beach is still lovely. Hopefully we will get to go again today (our plans were uprooted a little by a dentist appointment.)

Yesterday we spent most of the day shopping in Osu. It was strange, because it was with all Drake students, except for Kwesi's cousin. So there are six of us in total. I didn't buy much, a few gifts for people, but we sure were a nice target for begging children, which I don't mind too much until they get grabby. I was digging around my bad for something, and in about two seconds I had about five boys around me, pulling on my. Kwesi was kind enough to get them off of me. (That was the only time it was really bad.)

I love how the previous post, since I started it three days ago, gets posted before the new year. It was in fact posted on the second of January.

Yes, Ma, I'm alive!

Not much of an update. It actually has taken me about three days to make this post, as everytime I finally get a hold of a computer, it seems we are leaving to go somewhere.

Today we went to a party, and it was finally the first time going out that I enjoyed myself for the most part. The music wasn't so loud that you couldn't hold a conversation, and we had a good conversation because of that. It also wasn't too dressy like a lot of things end up being. So woot for that!

Later this week we are going up to Mole Park. While the country is only about as big as Oregon, the drive will take us 12 or so hours (including stopping times.) And Mole isn't even all the way to the north of the country. There are a lot of elephants and other wildlife there, but it will be a very long trip. But I'm sure it will be worth it.

I meant to post pictures, but I loaded them on a different computer, and it is late, and I just don't feel like putting forth the effort.

Happy New Years from Ghana!

Well, here is some sort of update!

Actually, it is more-so a "what I have learned/observed thus far..."

1: International flights rock. Seriously. Who would have guessed. You get fed three times, the food is good, warm towels, movies...It almost makes me want to fly international all the time.

2: People are the same no matter where you are from. Warm, long flights, will make children cranky. Babies will cry.

3: Planes can get hot. Really hot when 200 plus people are stuck inside for 15 minutes without power.

4: Don't think anything is normal for too long, because it can, and likely will turn very strange. For example, we were leaving the Accra airport upon arrival and we thought that it all was pretty easy and normal. And then we stepped outside. There were literally hundreds of Ghanians waiting for people held back by gates, that we had to walk to and through to find Nana's parents.

5: Avoid looking into taxi lights when you are walking along the road at night. You likely will fall into the open ditch (picture to come later,) like Tiffany did the first night.

6: Fences a must; grass, a novelty.

7: Driving is a free for all. Including the type of driving surfaces.

8: Deoxycyline (the anti-malarial I am on) on an empty stomach will cause Liz to vomit.

9: The ocean, in fact, is really salty.

10: I actually don't have ten, but tomorrow we are off to Cape Coast to see the slave forts, which will be our first "touristy" thing. Thus far, I've mostly just met every person Nana has ever known. And I'm not exaggerating about that.

Two Weeks.

In a mere two weeks, I will be on my way to Africa.

Sometimes I just have to say it out loud.