Best Week Ever: “Loud” in Accra, Guinness White Party, Art Exhibition, Kokrobite, Toga Birthday Party

So this post should have gone up about two weeks ago when all the festivities began, so I apologize, but hopefully this is better late than never!

The Loud in Accra Concert had two performances scheduled: one for Saturday at the La Palm hotel, and one for Sunday at the Trade Fair Centre. We went to the Sunday concert because it was less expensive. The banners advertising the show boasted an audience of over 20,000 people, and the hottest performances by the biggest artists in Ghana, like Batman, Ofori Amponsah and Wutah. What was odd was that none of the ads gave any indication of what time the concert would begin. We figured it would probably take place after sunset, after things cooled down a bit, and since it was supposed to be the greatest concert in Ghana yet, we would just ask our Ghanaian friends about the exact time of the show. What was weird was nobody besides us seemed to even know about the concert, or they had heard about the concert at La Palm the night before, but had no idea what time the concert would take place on Sunday at the Trade Fair Centre. So we guessed.

We made dinner first. Del made her fabulous hot wings, Katie made her amazing baked macaroni and cheese, and Franny made some delicious homemade potato wedges. I cheered them on. Dinner took longer to prepare than expected – because you can’t rush the making of a masterpiece, so we didn’t head out to the concert until around 8pm or so. There were five of us in tow: Katie, Del, David, Mariamma and myself. When we arrived at the Trade Fair Centre, everything looked pretty dead. We approached the gate and there were people clad in Loud in Accra attire, and they told us to go ahead and buy our tickets and come back in about an hour (around 9:30pm). So we went to a nearby bar across the street and just hung out and listened to various hip life music for about an hour, during which I invited everyone back at the compound to come out and join us for the concert.

We returned to the Trade Fair Centre a little after 9:30, operating on Ghanaian time as usual. We heard music in the distance, but it sounded like mainstream American hip hop. As we walked through the Trade Fair Centre, I felt like we were walking through a deserted amusement park, or Coney Island. We passed this dome-like indoor arena that looked like a UFO ready for lift-off. And then we arrived at the concert field site, and we were the only people there! The only people there to see the concert anyway. There were a few people wearing Loud in Accra T-shirts that were walking around, but there was no concert. In fact, they seemed to be taking stuff down. We asked around and found out that the performers had come earlier and left because there was no audience! Since the stage was empty, they let us go on stage and hold our own private concert. The novelty wore off and it was time to ask for refunds and free T-shirts and hats. A few people ran back to the gate to find out about free T-shirts and hats, and that’s when we met Frederick Steve and Pauly Blaze, who were working at the concert that night. While we waited, they took us back on stage and taught us how to salsa dance. I wish I had pictures – but we were expecting to go to this huge concert and didn’t want to bring anything valuable with us! We headed back to the main gate, where we learned that there was an after party at some nightclub that all the performers were at, and they were going to try to get us in for free, VIP. Cool deal, why not. However, this just resulted in lots more waiting. The free T-shirts and hats ended up being locked in some guy’s car, so we finally just got our refunds and left.

Anti-climactic, I know, but good things come to those who wait! Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze had told us about another concert happening on Thursday, sponsored by Guinness, that was invitation only. They said they would call if they could get the five of us invites. And they did, Wednesday night. We met them at Celsbridge, a neighborhood bar, and after some more waiting, they gave us four invites, which each allowed two guests, which was great because we had talked to other people in the compound in the concert and other people were excited about going, so now we could bring a few more people. My friend Kakra that I work with at West African AIDS Foundation said he was going to try to get me an extra invite as well.

The one condition about the concert was you had to wear all white. None of had all white ensembles, which meant some more shopping Ghana style! I was too busy working on Lyle’s art exhibition for Friday to break away for a shopping spree, so Katie and Del did the dirty work and went to Makola Market and stocked up on all white attire for all of us.



All decked out in white, eleven of us headed out to the Trade Fair Centre for a white party extravaganza. We met Kakra, Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze at the gates, where we cut the line and they gave us the extra invites we needed to all of us in. It felt like we were walking the red carpet as we walked toward the UFO-esque indoor arena, where the concert was being held. We arrived in time to see Praye perform, which was cool, and then the concert turned into a big dance party, which was so much fun! We only stayed for a few hours because the UFO had turned into a sauna, between the lack of AC, all the people and lights, and of course the African heat! It was a great time, and the guys that invited us turned out to be really chill. It’s too bad we met them only a few weeks before we leave!



The next day, Friday, was the opening of Lyle’s art exhibition. Lyle Ashton-Harris is my photography professor, and we decided as a class to hold an art exhibition to feature some of our work from the semester. We collaborated with Lyle’s other class, and invited other students in the program to submit artwork as well. There were almost 40 pieces in all. The art exhibition was held at the NYU Faculty House, and we were able to use both inside and outside spaces. I was in charge of coordinating the artwork in the exhibit. Lyle’s friend Nii Obadai helped to curate the exhibit, while I kept tabs on what everyone was submitting, and worked with Tom to put together the program for the exhibition. The exhibit was originally scheduled for 4pm, but last minute Christa, the Assistant Director of the program here in Ghana, rescheduled it for 3pm, which put us in a bit of a time crunch, but because we’ve adapted to Ghanaian time here, the show didn’t really get started until around 4pm anyway. Christa arranged for a high life band to perform outside in the garage area, and for the catering of some hors d’oeuvres. When people first arrived they had a chance to look at all of the artwork, listen to some music and eat some food before the poetry reading began around 5pm. Four students had prepared pieces to read. Annette read a poem about her experience here in Ghana. Nate read two spoken pieces that he had written for classes about life in Manhattan, which he juxtaposed to his experiences here in Ghana. Nicole read a story she’d written that voiced her views against abortion. Suzette arrived late because she had an exam, so she read three poems that she had written upon her arrival. I became the emcee during the performance segment, and at the end announced that it was World AIDS Day and talked about the significance of wearing the red ribbon.



Earlier that day I made a bunch of red ribbons for people to pick up with a program to wear during and after the exhibition. My piece in the exhibition was my final project for Lyle’s class, which is a collage of photographs I’d taken of the signs all over Ghana about HIV/AIDS prevention, with newspaper clippings about HIV/AIDS from several of the local papers, and items I’d collected from West African AIDS Foundation. I wanted to get more photographs of people living with AIDS, but even though I’ve been working at WAAF all semester, it was still difficult to get people to let me take their photograph. Nobody wants to be exploited, and there is such a stigma attached to living with HIV/AIDS here in Ghana, that being photographed for a student project about HIV/AIDS is the last thing most people want to be a part of.





On Saturday, seven of us headed to Kokrobite for a weekend of relaxation. Kokrobite is a beach town that is about a 30-45 min. drive via tro-tro. Joe and Del rode there on Joe’s motorbike while Katie, Molly, Emily, Ben and myself traveled tro-tro style. The hotel there is called Big Milly’s Backyard. All seven of us stayed in one room, with two people sharing each twin bed, and three people sharing the double. The room cost us the equivalent of $3 per person for one night. We headed out to the beach, but were advised to leave everything behind because theft is a big problem. The beach there is so much nicer than Labadi Beach back in Accra. I felt like I was back in Wrightsville Beach. Well, not exactly. People don’t really lay out on the beach here, and there were a lot of fisherman working on the beaches here that you wouldn’t see at home. But the sand and water and waves were almost identical in nature. We were able to swim out pretty far too because the water stayed relatively shallow.



We ate an early dinner at the Garden Restaurant next door to Big Milly’s, which was so good! The couple that owns the place are Italian and Spanish, and were so sweet. Most of us ordered pizza, which was phenomenal, as were the bruschetta appetizers and the pasta dishes. Stuffed to the max after dinner, we strolled back to Big Milly’s and listened to some live music and hung out at the beach for a few more hours before going to bed early.



The next morning we woke up sandy, and enjoyed an amazing breakfast at the hotel. I ordered banana pancakes, cinnamon toast, an omelette, tea and orange juice and paid only 30,000 cedis (approx. $3.50). Then it was back to the water for me. I really can’t get enough of the ocean. I have this thing about not being able to live anywhere that’s landlocked. There’s just something about being near water that I can’t get away from! Kokrobite was a lovely way to spend my birthday weekend.



We had to check out from the hotel by noon, so afterwards we headed over to the Garden Restaurant for another amazing meal before heading home on another quick and painless tro-tro ride. That night, we decided to kick-off the birthday celebration with a trip to Champs, a local sports bar that serves the only Mexican food in town, which is my favorite! Unfortunately, we found out that Sunday nights at Champs are movie nights, which meant paying a 60,000 cedi cover, and being quiet while people watched the movie, which didn’t sound like too much fun. So we just ate outside at the Paloma Restaurant. I was still very full from lunch at the Garden Restaurant, so I didn’t eat too much. Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze stopped by for some food a little later, but I didn’t get to talk to them very much because I was at the opposite end of the table. It was still very nice to go out with everyone though.

Monday was my birthday, December 4th, and I decided to spend it at Labadi Beach Hotel. I paid for a club membership at the beginning of the semester, which gave me access to the gym, pool, sauna, and beach. It’s a cool idea, and it’s definitely nice to go every now and then for a day of R&R, like on my birthday. I probably haven’t gone often enough to really have used the membership to its fullest, but I think that’s okay because I didn’t really come to Ghana to spend it at a hotel. Katie joined me at Labadi for the day. That evening, everyone sang Happy Birthday at dinner at Tante Marie. After dinner I had to write my final paper for my Journalism class, and study for my Traditional Medicine final, so the remainder of my birthday festivities were postponed until the following night.



Everyone I know seems to have someone close to them with a birthday on December 4th. Another girl in the program, Sonia, shares my birthday here, except while turned 21 this year while I turned 20 – yes, I know, I’m a youngin’! Katie, Del and Lisa planned a joint birthday party for us at the compound Tuesday night, but not just any birthday party – a TOGA PARTY! Katie and Del also compiled a list of our favorite songs to play throughout the night. The best part was that they did everything in their power to keep me in the dark about everything until right before things got started, and it was the best birthday party ever!

Wli Falls Trip

Last weekend we took our final trip as a class to Wli Falls. Up bright and early Saturday morning, we piled into two vans and headed towards the Volta Region. The drive took about four hours, and we passed a bunch of signs along the way for other waterfalls, and wondered why these falls were so special they were worth a four hour journey on Saturday morning. Actually it wasn't that big of a deal. I slept most of the way.

To get to the falls, we walked through a forest, crossing over seven or eight bridges along the way. The forest was beautiful, with the small streams running through it and butterflies all over the place.





The falls were unreal. I had never seen a waterfall before, so it was really exciting. We were able to swim all the out and underneath, which proved to be rather painful with all the water beating down on us, but awesome. Then Gerald suggested we go in as a group, so we all held hands and backed up into the falls, which was so much fun!





After the falls, we walked back through the forest and ate lunch before heading home. On the way home, one of the vans broke down, so several students climbed into the one remaining and headed home while the rest waited at the restaurant at the Shai Hills Hotel. I was on the first van home, but I hear the people who stayed behind had a good time at the hotel bar. That's just how we've learned to do things here. Nothing is ever easy, so you just make it fun and go with the flow.

I feel really rejuvenated after the Wli Falls trip. Things were coming to a point where I was just ready to go home, but now I'm excited about making my last two weeks in Ghana the best yet.

Mom and Nina Visit

Mom and Nina arrived the night of November 4th, and I met them at the La Palm Royal Beach Resort. It was late, so after they checked in, we ordered dinner in the room and played catch up for a little bit before bed.

Sunday morning I woke up early and played around with my digital camera while I waited for Mom and Nina to wake up. I had a photo project due the following week and decided to document Mom and Nina’s first few days in Ghana, which they were really good sports about. Nina decided to sleep through breakfast, but Mom and I hurried downstairs to check it out before it closed. After breakfast, we explored the La Palm complex – which is huge – and has everything from an ice cream parlor to a casino. Unfortunately the pool was under construction, so there was no swimming to be had at the hotel, so Nina and I tanned for a little while on the room balcony.

While Mom slept, Nina and I checked out the lunch buffet, which was good but ridiculously expensive for what it was. Later that afternoon, Nina came back with me to the NYU compound. NYU had organized a “Cooking with Linda” activity for the evening. Linda’s our CRA, and everyone was cooking in House 3 (my house a.k.a. the best house ever!), so Nina got to meet most of the kids in our group here. We helped out in the kitchen, making a variety of different salads, fried plaintains and chicken. After dinner, we introduced Nina to Nerts, a card game that Ben introduced us all to, and we’ve pretty much played every day since we’ve been here. It’s a mix between Solitaire and Spit, and it’s basically the best game ever!





Nina and I spent the night at the hotel, with plans to go to the market bright and early Monday morning. Nina decided to sleep in, so Mom and I headed to Kaneshie Market for some one-stop shopping Ghana style. The market is both indoors and outdoors. When we first arrived, we walked through the outdoor market which is primarily comprised of various food vendors selling everything from tomatoes and onions to pig feet and cow tongues. The first floor of the indoor market is an extension of the outdoor market, selling mainly food products. The second floor is full of household items and jewelry vendors, and the third floor houses all the fabric stalls and seamstresses. Mom and I bargained for a few necklaces and bracelets, and Mom bought some fun fabric to make a tablecloth.





Nina came to dinner with me at Tante Marie that night, the restaurant that serves us five nights a week as part of our meal plan. She spent the night at the compound. I had a presentation and a midterm to prepare for on Tuesday, so I couldn’t play, so Katie and Del – who are the best roommates ever – showed her a good time. Nina slept in on Tuesday while I went to journalism class in the morning. We met up with Mom for lunch at Ashesi. I took her to the close canteen which is run by Auntie Vic, which Mom was really excited about because one of our aunts is Auntie Vic too. After lunch I had to run to my Traditional Medicine class, so Mom and Nina hopped in a taxi and headed to the STC station to get our bus tickets to go to Cape Coast. After class I spent several hours in the digital photo lab printing out pictures for my photo project, and then I met up with Mom and Nina at the hotel. Nina came back with me to spend the night at the compound. Not much was going on, and I felt badly that I didn’t take her out or anything, but going out in Ghana is just not as easy as going out other places. During the week most area bars and clubs are pretty dead, so even though the taxi fare is really cheap, it isn’t worth it. And walking to places in the neighborhood at night can get unsafe at times because the streets aren’t well lit.

After photo class on Wednesday I took Mom and Nina to the National Arts Centre, which is a big tourist trap but is a great place to get gifts via one-stop shopping. They sell everything there from jewelry, sandals and paintings to drums, masks and kente cloth. The sale strategy there is very in-your-face, which can get very stressful but Mom and Nina were cool about not cracking under the pressure, and we made some good purchases. I wanted to bring them both to dinner that night at Tante Marie, but Tante Marie ended up catering at the compound, and since our family and friends are not allowed to eat the food that Tante Marie provides us as part of our meal plan, we decided to go out to dinner elsewhere. We went to Mamma Mia in Osu, which has delicious pizza, a little on the pricy side, and definitely an obruni spot, but it was nice for a change of pace, and everyone at the compound appreciated our leftovers.

On Thursday morning Ben and I went to West African AIDS Foundation to talk to Edwina and Mama Lou about setting up a program to help pregnant women living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. It’s going to be hard to get a lot done with the little time we have left here, but if we can at least establish a foundation for the program and get the ball rolling then hopefully the students that study abroad here next semester will be able to pick up where we leave off and really get a good thing going here.

For lunch Mom and Nina met me, Ben, Molly and Lisa at Sunshine Salads, which is right around the corner from where we live. It just opened several weeks ago, and it’s cheap salads and Magnum ice cream bars have been all the rage at the compound lately. After lunch Mom and Nina and I took a trip to Makola Market, which is mainly outdoors and in my opinion, much more hectic than Kaneshie. Nina found some fun fabric to make a dress. I looked at a bunch of fabric, but most of the vendors weren’t selling less than six yards, when you usually only need two or three to make something. I do want to try to get some fabric to make pillowcases and a bedspread before I leave, and that will probably require twelve yards or so, but I still need to figure out what kind of design I want.

The original plan was to go to Cape Coast on Thursday, but tickets were sold out so we got tickets to leave early Friday morning instead. Mom and Nina couldn’t extend their stay at La Palm because a big conference had booked the hotel for the weekend, so Mom got a reservation at the Paloma Hotel for Thursday night. After Makola, we checked into the Paloma Hotel and packed up everything we weren’t taking to Cape Coast for the weekend and stored it at the compound for the weekend. The Paloma Hotel is right next to Champs Sports Bar, which we’d been trying to get to all semester, because they’re the only place in town that serves Mexican food! Molly, Ben and Lisa and I had been talking about going there all semester, so Nina and I picked them up at the compound to join us for dinner. It turned out to be another hopping obruni spot, but the food was good and the company was fabulous.

Mom, Nina and I crashed early because we had to get up bright and early to make our STC bus to Cape Coast. We had paid for an air conditioned bus, but it turned out to be without air conditioning, which meant refunds for all! Déjà vu to fall break! This ride wasn’t so bad though, because it was only three hours and it wasn’t raining like the eight hour ride from hell to Tamale. There were no buses still available to Accra on Sunday, so we got tickets to head back Monday morning.

We took it easy Friday afternoon, ate lunch and dinner at the hotel – the Coconut Grove Resort, the same one we stayed in on the NYU trip at the beginning of the semester - rested in the room and by the pool. Saturday morning Nina and I woke up for buffet breakfast at the hotel, then swam in the pool while Mom made plans for the day. That afternoon we arranged for a driver to take us for a tour of Elmina Castle. Our driver’s name was Jojo and he was so nice. He was really excited about our visit to Cape Coast, and wanted to show us all around. We visited the castle in Elmina, and while we paid for a guided tour, Jojo became our unofficial tour guide when two groups of Ghanaian schoolchildren joined our tour and it became impossible to hear anything our tour guide was saying. They are also in the process of restoring the castle, so there was lots of noise, so it was really nice that Jojo knew so much of the Elmina Castle history.











After the castle, Jojo drove us around Elmina and Cape Coast, and we stopped at St. Jago’s Fort and saw the first Catholic church in West Africa.



Then we ate at Castle Restaurant for dinner, next to Cape Coast Castle. Mom really wanted to get some Ghanaian music while she was here, so Jojo said he would make some CDs for us. We went back to the hotel after dinner and crashed early because we had to get up early the next day to go to Kakum National Park.

Jojo met us early Sunday morning with three CDs in hand with mixed Ghanaian and Nigerian hip life music. We listened to cassette tapes he had of similar music during our drive to Kakum National Park. The last time I went on the canopy walk I spent a lot of time helping Lisa and Molly across because they’re afraid of heights, so I was excited to go on it again and really take it all in. Nina and I had a great time up there together, and Mom said her share of Hail Marys to make her way across. After crossing the seven bridges, our guide offered to take us on a nature hike for about an hour in the park, which was great for Mom who was excited to learn about all the different plants.















On the way home from the park, we stopped at Hans Cottage Botel, the restaurant our student group ate at over the crocodile pond. The food was much better this time, because we ordered off the menu instead of eating buffet style. Nina and I also took one of the yellow paddleboats around the crocodile pond, but only saw a few crocodiles close to shore.





When we arrived back at the hotel, Nina and I spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool while Jojo played the CDs he made for us in the pool bar and wrote out the titles and artists for all of them. Mom, Nina and I ate dinner out by the beach, which took a little longer than expected because the power unexpectedly went out while our food was being prepared – déjà vu fall break again!

Our bus back to Accra was scheduled to leave at 10:30 Monday morning. Mom woke up early and went with Jojo to visit a traditional medicine clinic in town where she met some local nurses.





Nina and I slept in and ate the buffet breakfast again, and then Jojo took us to the bus station. We checked in at Labadi Beach Hotel, and then I went back to the compound to work on my presentation for Traditional Medicine the next day.

We didn’t have journalism class on Tuesday because the graduate class at Legon had ended and our professor had gone on vacation for the week, so after my presentation in Traditional Medicine that afternoon, I met up with Mom and Nina at the hotel. Nina had spent the day at the pool and Mom had gone to visit the Artist Alliance Gallery in Teshie. They had planned to come to dinner with me at Tante Marie, but ended up eating right beforehand, so Mom stayed at the hotel, while Nina came to dinner with me and then spent the night at the compound. I didn’t want her to spend two boring Tuesday nights here in Ghana, so a bunch of us went out to the After 1 Spot for a little bit, which we frequented a lot in the beginning of the semester, but hadn’t been to in a while.

Nina wanted to come to my photo class Wednesday morning, but something she ate upset her stomach and she got very sick, so she just slept in my bed all day. I tried to get in touch with Mom at the hotel, but of course they put her in the room with a phone that didn’t work, and weren’t relaying the messages I left. It was probably for the better because Mom spent the day on her own exploring Osu worry-free. People get sick here all the time, and during the first two weeks we were here almost all of the students got sick just adjusting to Africa, to the temperature, to the food, to the living situation, etcetera (as my photo professor Lyle would put it). There’s also no concept of an urgent care facility here, so even if you just have a stomach bug, it’s off to the hospital if you want to get any sort of treatment. We do have a nurse on duty to help us with the most basic problems, but if anyone shows any flu symptoms, you’re assumed to have malaria until proven otherwise. Not that the otherwise really matters, because all the students who have tested negative for malaria have still been treated for it, just in case.

Nina spent the night at the hotel with my mom that night, and rested all day Thursday too. My African Art class went to the bead market in Koforidua, which ended up being an all day adventure. Our class is only supposed to run for three hours once a week, but it runs on Ghanaian time, so it never starts on time, and because it’s largely field trip based, usually takes up most of the day. The bead market in Koforidua was pretty small – you only need to spend about an hour there to see everything. Most things were very cheap – 3,000 cedis (40 cents) for a bracelet, 8,000 cedis (90 cents) for a necklace, and you can buy individual beads to make your own jewelry as well. On the way home we stopped at the Cedi Bead Factory, and learned about the bead making process. Most beads are made from clay or recycled bottles.









We arrived home just in time for dinner at Tante Marie. Unfortunately Nina was still not feeling very well, so they couldn’t meet me for dinner, but I went over to the hotel after dinner to check in with them. We were planning to go to the Liberian Refugee Camp in Buduburam tomorrow morning with West African AIDS Foundation, but Nina still wasn’t feeling well enough.

They ended up not missing much anyway. We arrived at the camp and were about to begin our tour when the authorities said we didn’t have permission to be there. Apparently WAAF was supposed to submit some authorization letter, even though they had visited the camp without one several weeks before, but because we didn’t have one today, we couldn’t take a tour of the camp. NYU had been nice enough to let us take one of the vans, so we decided to go out to lunch to make the trip not a total loss. Matthew, the head of WAAF, took us to this restaurant that a lady from his tribe runs. Yes, I said “tribe,” but that’s what he said, so as far as I’m concerned it’s politically correct. We all ate fufu, which is a traditional Ghanaian dish that consists of mashed kasava and plantain in soup with chicken or fish. You eat it with your right hand, and the mashed kasava and plaintain ball soaks up the flavor from the soup. The soup at this restaurant was very spicy, it was almost painful to eat, but so good at the same time! I was sorry that Mom and Nina didn’t get to try it, but Nina wouldn’t have been able to stomach it being sick and all, and Mom was pretty content with her red-red: beans and plaintains.

Nina still wasn’t well enough to go to dinner that night, but Mom came, which was really nice because all my friends really wanted to meet her, and were beginning to doubt whether she was actually in Ghana. After dinner Mom came back to the compound with me so I could pack a bag to spend the night at the hotel with them, since it would be their last night here. We shared a taxi with Franny to Labadi, and even though I had just eaten, Nina was starving when we arrived, so we went downstairs and ate the Labadi dinner buffet.

Mom and Nina’s flight didn’t leave until late Saturday night, so we had one more day to do our favorite thing – shopping. We ate buffet breakfast at the hotel, and as we were heading out, we ran into a few students in the program. They were fumigating our compound that day, so we all had to be out of the house. Emily wasn’t feeling very well, so Mom gave her some nurse/Mommy love, and we let her sleep in our room while we went out and about. First we went to Osu, which has some fun things, but they always overcharge. Then, we went back to the Arts Centre, which also overcharges, but Mom and Nina had their bargaining skills down, and we found some great kente fabric, leather wallets, jewelry, drums, and a batik tablecloth and napkin set.



We stopped by the compound on the way home, so Mom and Nina could pick up all their other bags to take home with them and say goodbye to all my friends. Then we went back to the hotel and packed up and ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. Mom and Nina’s flight left at 11:30pm, so they took the hotel shuttle to the airport at 8pm, to allow for things running on Ghanaian time. It was really great to have them here. I wish they could have stayed longer so they could have seen and done more, but I think they had a good trip and enjoyed themselves, and they got a taste of what it’s like to live here, and that’s what counts.



Love and miss ya’ll already!

Fall Break Fun

Fall break began by beginning two days early. Annette, Mikey, David and I went to the STC bus station intending to buy tickets to go to Tamale early Friday morning. When those were sold out, the alternative was to take a bus to Kumasi early Thursday morning, and go from there to Tamale Thursday evening. Our plan was to stay up late Wednesday night to make the 4am bus to Kumasi. To make things interesting, the generator shut off right before dinner, so we started to pack and plan in the dark. Fortunately, generator power returned after dinner, so we were able to take a last shower before the adventure began. For some of us, it would be the last shower we’d take until our return!

The bus ride to Kumasi went relatively fast because we slept most of the way. The Miklin Hotel, where our NYU group stayed at Kumasi several weekends ago, was kind enough to let us drop off our bags there while we spent the day in Kumasi. At lunch, we ate burgers and guessed at what meat they were made of, and tried to contact the Yeji ferry office to reserve a cabin on the MV Yaqui Queen yam boat. Reservations were unattainable, but we learned that the boat would be departing a day before we had planned for it, so we made the first of many adjustments in our plans. We spent the afternoon in Kumasi, playing cards and hanging out by the Miklin Hotel pool. We tried to make reservations at several hotels/motels/guesthouses in the Bradt guide for the night in Tamale, but all the numbers were changed. The people at the front desk of the Miklin told us about the Radach Memorial Center, and we were able to call and make a reservation there, and let them know that would be arriving around 3am Friday morning.

Our bus was scheduled to leave Kumasi at 5pm, but we didn’t embark until around 6:30pm or so. We met a little boy and passed the time kicking a ball back and forth with him, and spinning him in circles.



We had paid for an air-conditioned bus, but it turned out not to be so, and our fellow passengers were outraged. We witnessed a mini-riot in the station, which was followed by luxury ticket refunds. We stocked up on Snappy snacks, Pringles and juice boxes to tide us over the long bus ride.

We all thought we were going to die on the bus to Tamale. The road was dark and unpaved at points, and it was raining very hard, but none of this slowed our bus driver down in the slightest. We fishtailed at one point, and caught air going over a small hill. The bus also transformed into a canoe when the rain leaked in so much that the people sitting next to the windows were soaked, as well as all of our bags that were at our feet. There was no bathroom on the bus, so at one point, the bus stopped for a bathroom break. We were directed to a small row of stalls, with piles of trash surrounding the holes in the ground we were meant to pee in. Instead, Annette and I resorted to squatting in a corner and peeing down a wooden plank. There were empty hair product containers at the exit that we filled with water to wash all the urine and whatnot we’d stepped in along the way.

Finally, we arrived in Tamale around 2:30am, and were swarmed by taxi drivers before we’d even had a chance to get our bags. We asked one guy to take us to the “Radik Memorial Center.” After pretending to know where it was and then asking a few fellow taxi drivers, he realized we meant “Radauch Memorial Center,” which sounded almost identical to us, but I guess not to the Ghanaians. When we arrived at the Radach, the guy at the front desk was sleeping. It took him about ten minutes to wake up and get his bearings before he would listen to anything we tried to say. We took two rooms, girls in one, guys in the other. There were two sets of bunk beds in each. The rooms were private in the sense that the doors locked, but the windows did not. There were community bathrooms and showers at either end of the hall. Around 3am we laid down to sleep for the first time in two days.

Sleep was short-lived. Five hours later, we were up and heading to town to visit the Ghana Tourism Board in Tamale. After confirming some information about catching the yam boat in Yeji, we stopped for breakfast. Eating in Tamale was weird because Tamale is largely Muslim, and the community was still observing Ramadan, so we were the only people eating.

We arranged with the management of the Radach Memorial Center for this guy, Antoine, to drive us to Mole National Park. It’s only a two hour drive, and as you can probably imagine, we were kind of over the idea of taking STC buses at this point. Antoine drives a pick-up truck, so David, Lulu and I sat inside while Mikey and Annette rode in back. We passed lots of mud-hut villages along the way, crossed a river, and slowed down for goats and cows crossing the red dirt road.







We arrived at the Mole Motel Friday afternoon and checked into two private chalets, which meant private bathrooms and balconies, air conditioning and running water. Mikey and Annette were covered in red dirt from the ride and were ready for showers, but the running water wasn’t running, and the pool was being treated. After bucket baths, we walked to the lookout that, um, looked out over an elephant watering hole.





We met a Dutch family visiting their girls who were volunteering in Larabanga, a town near Mole, and an English guy who was traveling on his own. We put in our dinner order right away, because the kitchen often has to run and get the ingredients to make dinner, and takes several hours to prepare dishes. After dinner, we were dead tired, and more than ready for a full night’s sleep. We crashed early, but shared our beds with lots of bugs Friday night because the air conditioning was not working.

Saturday we woke up early to go on the walk safari that the Mole Motel offers. Decked out in galoshes, we trekked up and down grassy hills, saw lots of antelope and warthogs, and two elephants. One of the elephants was around a nearby village, and it was walking through the village’s trash dump. The other elephant was bathing in a watering hole.









Our safari guide, James, has been working for the motel for thirty-some odd years, and was saying that while the national park is huge, the area for safari is limited. There are lots of other kinds of animals deep into the park, including lions, and James invited us to come back in April and trek 45 km into the park and camp out to see the wildlife there.

After the safari, we ate breakfast and spent the day swimming at the motel pool, playing cards and hanging out at the watering hole lookout. We met a bunch of American students who study at Calvin in Michigan, and are studying a semester at the University at Ghana-Legon. Their program is similar to NYU’s in the sense that their group takes lots of weekend trips together to the different highlights of Ghana. We stayed up a little later, and slept with air conditioning that night, which meant our first real night of sound sleep – sans bugs!

We slept in Sunday morning. The boys ordered the same breakfast we had had the day before – Spanish omelettes, toast, pineapple and coffee. We spent the morning hanging out by the pool and the watering hole lookout again. At one point, a baboon stole a loaf of bread from one of the guests, and sat in a nearby tree and ate it as we all watched in awe.



Lulu, David, Annette and I scheduled an afternoon vehicle safari, which was significantly more expensive, but we ventured much further out into the park. We had some issues getting lunch beforehand. We ordered three tuna sandwiches, potato chips and a sweet corn salad an hour before we had to leave for the safari. Our food came a little over an hour later, except for my salad, with our waitress sweetly saying, “Please, we have no more sweet corn.” This is very typical of eating out in Ghana, so it’s just something you come to expect, although I couldn’t help getting irritated at the time. If we hadn’t already learned to go with the flow before the trip, we learned quickly.

James was our guide again for our afternoon vehicle safari. We saw lots more antelope, and warthogs and baboons, and monkeys for the first time, and another elephant wandering by an old rusty car. We also saw a bird which according to James, sounded like it was called a “saw biii staw,” but turned out to be a “saddle bill stork.” James let us get out several times to take pictures by a watering hole and by the elephant close up.











The motel did not have running water again, so we took bucket baths once more. Before dinner, the motel lost electricity entirely. We sat outside by the pool and ate dinner under the stars and watched the heat lightning. We placed a lantern near enough so we could see our food but far enough away to distract the bugs away from us. After dinner, we hung out with the boys for a bit, and then Annette and Lulu and I stayed up late talking. We tried to go to bed around 11:30, but I ended up not getting a wink of sleep because no electricity meant no air conditioning, which meant lots of bugs!

On Monday morning we woke up for the same breakfast again. Annette, David, and Mikey had to negotiate the price of our bill with the management because we had paid extra for rooms with air conditioning but clearly only had it one of the three nights we stayed. Antoine picked us up in his pick-up around 11am. Lulu and I rode in the back this time. We had just gotten used to the bumps in the road when it started to rain!





Fortunately the rain did not last too long, and we were able to dry off for the most part from the combination of wind and the hot Ghanaian sun.

David works at the Body Shop in the city, and on our drive home, we just happened to pass this shea butter place that exports to the Body Shop. We stopped there, and we also stopped at an ostrich farm that Antoine was excited to show us on our way home.



When we arrived back at the Radach, Annette, David, and Mikey had to negotiate with the management there as well because they had charged us for gas when it was supposed to already be included in the negotiated price. After that was settled, we put down all of our stuff and I took a well-needed shower – the first and last I would take during the trip! Then we took a taxi to town to get tickets for the bus to Makongo the next morning, but surprise! Ramadan ended Tuesday, and no buses were going to be running during the festival, so if we wanted to go, we had to go today. The tro-tro driver told us he was taking people to Salaga and would continue to take us to Makongo for 20,000 cedis each. Mikey and I hurried back to the Radach to get our bags while the rest got food for the trip, but it turned out to be really unappetizing chicken and rice.

When we first boarded the tro-tro, all five of us were squished in the back five seats across! Thankfully, the bus didn’t fill up entirely so I scooted to a seat further up and held all of our bags. After about a two hour tro-tro ride, the tro-tro dropped all the other passengers off in Salaga, and tried to get us to pay 500,000 cedis more to take us 20 more kilometers to Makongo. We were able to get him down to 300,000 cedis, which was still a rip-off, especially when the drive ended up being far less than he said it would be. We knew we were being cheated, but we had to get to Makongo that night so there was nothing we could do but, go with the flow.



Makongo is just a small village, so there aren’t any places to stay. When we pulled up to Makongo, everyone was celebrating the end of Ramadan, and the tro-tro driver introduced us to this guy who, as he put it, “takes care of the white man when he comes to town.” The guy told us we could spend the night at the ferry station. The ferry station guard set up mats and mosquito nets for us, and we took turns sleeping and keeping watch over our stuff, while the Muslim community celebrated the end of Ramadan through the night.







We woke up early enough to watch the sunrise, and then Annette and I walked to town to try to find something to eat. There was no food, but we were greeted by groups of Ghanaian children chanting “Obruni! How are you? Thank you. Fine,” over and over and over again. We waited for the ferry to take us across the river to Yeji, and around 10am, a hollowed out wooden boat docks, so we get on it. We have to take several steps in the water to get to it – thoughts of river blindness and schistosomiasis racing through out minds! - and it even tries to leave before everyone is on! As we are traveling across the river to Yeji, we pass the actual ferry we had planned to take!





We arrive to Yeji and walk to town. The markets are open but most of the hotels and restaurants are closed for the Ramadan festivities. We find Pauline’s Restaurant & Catering, and eat our fill of egg sandwiches and fried rice. It was so delicious – we ordered seconds! We meet this kid Eric who spends the day with us as we hang out at the ferry station, taking turns sleeping and watching our bags again.





We also met Mark, who is part of the Ghana Navy. Mark and Eric taught me how to play this Ghanaian card game, that doesn’t use the 2’s, 3’s, 4’s or 5’s in the deck, and even though I played about a hundred games, I’m still not sure I understand how to play!

David and Lulu went back to Pauline’s and stocked up on egg sandwiches and fried rice for all of us for dinner. When the yam boat docked around 11pm that night, Eric walked with us to board the boat, and talked with the guy in charge of giving cabins in order to secure us one. There are only two passenger cabins on board, so we were ready to race to get at least one for us! Mikey ran ahead to get one, and the other one went to this English couple. It turned out there was no need to run though because no one else boarding the boat could afford the cabin prices. All the other passengers slept on the decks, or in the dining room or among the yam crates. Our cabin consisted of two mini bunk beds, a miniature bench and desk, two miniature storage closets and a small sink. Our cramped quarters turned out to be the most luxurious yet, with running water and air conditioning the entire time! The yam boat wasn’t scheduled to leave Yeji until 3am the following morning, but we didn’t wait to wave goodbye. Mikey and David shared the top bunk, Lulu and I shared bottom, and Annette slept on the floor with this foam mat she had bought back in Tamale, just in case. It took us a while to figure out how to work the air conditioning, and we woke up freezing in the middle of the night!







We’re not sure what time the boat left Yeji exactly, but we think it was about 4am. The boat had already docked at its first stop when we woke up around 9:30 or so. Breakfast was egg sandwiches and coffee, and then we stepped off the boat to explore the town. The boat docked for about three or four hours at every stop along the way. We had to step in the water again to get to shore. We walked through the market set up at the dock, and then through the adjacent village. A bunch of Ghanaian children joined us along the way, and we skipped along, holding hands, singing songs, and picking flowers. We got out pants soaked while re-boarding the boat. After changing, we spent a relaxing afternoon on the boat, reading, sleeping, and taking photographs.





I took a few photos with the manual camera I checked out from the NYU Academic Center, but I’m not sure about all the settings, so I hope some of the photos turn out! Dinner was yam chips, rice and plaintain.



We watched the sunset, and hung out of the room. The yam boat docked at the last port before Akosombo, and we went out for drinks with the English couple, before returning to the room for the night. It was difficult to chill on the deck at night because the boat wasn’t lighted, and there were people sleeping on the deck, so you had to be careful not to step on them!



Thursday morning, Lulu, Mikey and I woke up to watch the sunrise.



Breakfast was egg sandwiches, coffee and tea once more. Lunch was rice, beans and plaintain. Dinner was all that was left over, rice and yam chips. The yam boat didn’t stop anywhere the second day, so we spent the day reading, writing, sleeping and taking photos of the different islands we passed along the way.



We arrived back in Akosombo around 9:30pm, and boarded a tro-tro for Accra. It took about an hour to get everything packed in and everyone on board, including a baby goat strapped to Mikey’s backpack on the roof. About two hours later we arrived back in Accra, and took a short taxi ride to the compound.

It’s great to go away, but it’s always nice to come home. Our fall break was intense, but amazing. Plans changed constantly, but we were such good sports about everything. I’m really happy I went with the group that I did too. Mikey, David, Lulu and Annette are all amazing people that I had not really gotten to know before, and I’m really happy to be friends with them now. Fall break was not really vacation for us, but rather exploration. I was able to see so many places in Ghana I otherwise would not have been able to, and got to know four really great people, and for me, that makes it all worth it!