Bushmeat and a Snail named Steve

Akwaaba! So many events like elections and Halloween and finals are fast approaching. I have decided to be Michael Essien on Friday for Halloween. i will wear my Ghana jersey and put on a knee brace (he just tore his acl) and carry around a FanYogo. (he is the face on the ads)
This last weekend I had a great trip back to the Volta Region and climbed Mt. Adaklu. This mountain is the second highest "peak" in Ghana and is located by the small village of Helekpe near a bigger town of Ho. The trip to Ho was fairly uneventful once we got under way. We first had to go to a main tro station in Accra where the mates engaged in their usual fighting and shoving matches over getting the white people into their tro tro. It is rather overwhelming but if you just stay calm and wait things settle down and you just look for the tro who actually has other people in it. The ride to Ho was about 3 hours and on the way I saw one of the funniest things in my life. There were little boys running up and down the side of the road holding up squirrels for purchase. This bushmeat was tempting I must say but I was unable to stop and buy a dead squirrel.
When we got to Ho we had to ask around about how to get to Helekpe. We were taken to the Adaklu station by a crazy taxi driver who told us all about how the Volta Region would be it's own country in the next year because it's really owned by Germany and that the Queen was going to sign the papers that would make the Volta it's own country. We just smiled and nodded.
The "tro tro" to Helekpe traveled for about an hour on a dirt "road." The reason for my sarcasm is that the tro was a small truck with a cage on the back with benches and essentially 16 people got crammed in the back and then the truck went down the path of rivers and holes the size of hippos. After surviving this we arrived in the small village and introduced ourselves and found the guest house to sleep in. There were six of us on the trip and the guest house consisted of one room and two and a half beds. Two were on one bed three on the other and I was on the small mat on the dusty floor. The next morning we went with our guide, Bright who led us up the mountain. Bright was a delightful man who lived in a nearby village who climbed the mountain in a pair of broke flip flops. This hike was a beautiful but difficult climb with several places where there were ropes to climb with. The view from the top of this mountain was one of the best I have ever seen for just being a vast expanse of African bush and the feeling that the world is so immensely vast and isolated. We saw at one point some monkeys jumping through the trees about 30 feet below us. On the way down the mountain Bright decided to climb a tree to give us oranges. These were quite delicious and a great snack on an increasingly hot day. Also on the way down, we saw signs of several large snails. Bright got very excited and hunted three of them down to give to us and his friend. We wanted to get the one cooked to try it but somehow it never happened. We named him Steve and he climbed up the walls of the guest house. One of the joys of Helekpe were the abundance of goats. While the baby goats are cute, the goat population in general is very loud and at all hours of day and night. The first night we had a goat directly outside the window scratching himself and bleating at about three in the morning. The place we stayed was sponsored by an NGO who was trying to build up the tourism industry in the village. We only had to pay 2 cedi a night for the room and meals were on 2 cedi each. We decided as a group though that we would add a donation of about 5 cedi each towards the village in use for development. The entire village was great with many kids and nice people wanting to play and talk to us. One man even chased us down and gave us a gift of two bunches of delicious bananas. While in Helekpe we were encouraged to try the local gin called akpeteshi. (ahpetehshay) This is an interesting and incredibly strong drink but surprisingly good.
The next day we started the journey back to campus and it went by really fast. The only delay was when we got stopped at a police customs checkpoint. None of us had our passports with us but we had our student ids which worked fine. I thought that I would have my dance final yesterday, but surprise surprise it got delayed until next week. I did find out however that our class will be performing in a dance recital this weekend so that should be really fun. It will be great to perform as well as see the advanced classes because the students in them are amazingly talented. The internet keeps failing today so I should try to post this soon since it will take a while. Hope everyone has a great week and is sweating less than I am.

My new haircut!!!

I finally got my hair cur for the first time since being here. It's rather shorter than I am used to but it's great since it's so hot. The pricing for a hair cut in ghana is 1 cedi for a haircut and 2 cedi for "white man hair." So for a two cedi haircut I was quite happy. Other than that it's been hot and I have had a good time saying "Charlie why?" Basically if you don't know someone's name or are being informal you can just call them charlie. except you have to say it charlay. By the way, the instrument that I have to carry on is a djembe. A drum. I think most of campus now thinks my name is mr. mayhew. After the play I have had really random people call this out at me or stop me and talk to me about things and assume I should know who they are since they were in the audience. It's been kind of fun though being known for something in particular rather than just being stared at cause i'm an obruni. It's crazy that my dance final is already next week. My regular lecture class finals aren't until the end of nov/beginning of dec. but I still only have about 5 classes left, Thank god!! The classes are interesting just most of the time interesting does not have anything to do with the content. It's more fun being in a class where the students are more "vocal and interactive" hard to explain but it makes for lively classes. I'm looking forward to this weekend climbing some mountains and exploring the town of Ho more than I was able to a few weeks ago. Have a good day!!

FREEDOM!!!!

Apologies for taking so long to update all of you eager followers of my adventure. It has been a long couple weeks but the time has flown by quite fast. The last two weekends were the performances of the play I was in. The first weekend went great and the audience really loved it. The second weekend started out really rough but it got much better by last night. On saturday there was a brownout all day which meant I had no fan to keep me from dripping sweat. That night however, it meant that there were no lights on campus which obviously meant it was very dark. Once a generator was procured, the show went on (40 min late) and ended up being a good show. It was quite interesting trying to get changed and find props in the pitch black. All of the Ghanaians thought it was hilarious that I couldn't find anything backstage. The study abroad crew went to Kumase this weekend so I was lonely without them but it sounds like they had a fantastic time. Can't wait till I get to go. The most exciting thing I get to look forward to is that with all my free time I can finally go out and play football everyday and be more active. On Saturday I went with my friend Bernard to a restaurant in the Airport Residential area where he grew up for what he claims is the best waakye in accra. It was a good relaxing day just walking around the city and the meal was quite good. I remembered yesterday that I am actually in school so I should study at some point soon. Crazy Idea I know!!! I'm excited for the Coe Luther soccer game in a few days because a friend here goes to Luther so we'll probably have a bet going on the game. (ssshhh don't tell NCAA it won't involve money or steroids)
I woke up today and realized that it was an extremely beautiful day and there are really no big cares in the world. And this thought just sparked a memory from the other day which is completely unrelated. On Saturday I was in a taxi going back to the hostel when I saw a really random super skinny horse in a field and there was a large white bird just sitting in it's back asleep. I really wish I had my camera because it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while. Hopefully after this weekend of climbing some mountains i will have more stories to tell. If anyone reading this has any information about the regulations of musical instruments as carryons for airplanes, they should let me know. Have a good day!

Volta Region

This last weekend the Study Abroad crew heading out to the Volta Region and more specifically Ho, Hohoe, Wli Falls, and the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. Ho is located to the northwest of the Greater Accra region. Leaving in the morning on Saturday, we loaded up three coaches and traveled through a beautiful region which consists of a more mountainous landscape than the coast and there are palm tree forests along with cocoa and banana trees. It is great leaving Accra to really get the picture of how the actual majority of Ghanaians live out their lives. The city is quite modernized and Western in a sense but it is only in the outlying towns that one really gets the sense of the culture and the history that the peoples of this region have. After arriving at the hotel, most of us put on shoes for the first time in several weeks in order to hike to the Wli Falls. In pictures I have seen of the Falls and other large waterfalls it is always a serene picture of gently cascading water into a blue calm pool. The Wli Falls absolutely smashed these images in a fantastic manner of spray being hurled about 100 yards away from the waterfall and a wave pool style water at the base. The entire scene was incredibly beautiful with jungle surrounding the huge cliffs with hundreds of large brown bats. Many of us decided to get into the pool to try to reach the water fall. Not only was the bottom of the river quite rocky, once you enter the water it seems as if the water is being hurled at you like hail. You can't even face the waterfall to see how close you are and you must crouch in the water to avoid the spray. It was an amazing primeval experience of trying to battle nature in attempting to reach the actual falls and stand under them. After leaving the Falls somewhat battered, a completely random jungle party started with a few army guys, locals, and our group starting to mix traditional dance and "popular" dancing styles to some intense local and Nigerian hip-hop. One very popular artist here is called PSquared. That night we went back to the hotel and sat around outside eating dinner and enjoying the relaxing air. The next day was the trip to the Monkey Sanctuary and then home. The monkey sanctuary was an incredibly fun experience feeding Mona monkeys. The majority of the Mona's are about the size of a cat and have very funny faces. The tour guide gave us each a banana to feed the monkeys. These things are incredibly intelligent coming out of the trees and taking the banana in their hands and peeling the banana themselves and pulling of a chunk to sit there and eat. The monkey sanctuary was my first place I 've actually gotten a touristy t-shirt. It's fantastic with a monkey sitting with a banana saying Ghana and Tafi Atome Monkey sanctuary. One observation I made on the way back is that it's an interesting experience being white in this country. Besides some obvious reasons, when one passes police barriers and checkpoints many times vehicles get stopped for overloading or bribes or other things. But whenever our group bus goes through or if I am on a tro-tro, whenever the police see a white face it's like an automatic pass. I feel like I am a commodity sometimes. It's great! This upcoming weekend the play opens but also means that I am missing out on the Black Stars World/Africa Cup qualifier against Lesotho in Sekondi. Not exactly happy about the situation but these things happen. Also, with the show performing next weekend I will miss the trip to Kumasi, but I should be able to get there in a few weeks. I am quite nervous/ excited for the play since the entire experience has been so much different than I am used to. This semester has been flying by and will continue to do so. My dance class only meets for two more weeks and then we start our final exam. Crazy stuff!!! I was reading a book the other day on reverse culture shock and it's funny to realize how long I've been here and the things I have gotten used to and grown to love. Things at home are definitely missed in the forms of people and some foods. But such a vibrant culture and friendly people will certainly be missed and craved. I have an informal football match tonight with my hall and other so I gotta run. hope everyone has a good wednesday and a good rest of the week.

Rhode Island and sweating

I have officially decided that my new Ghanaian name is Rhode Island. not sure if it will stick but we will work on it. Many of the Ghanaian guys that live on my floor go by nicknames completely different than their given names. Examples include Franchize and Montana. This is why I went with another state name. Sometimes we just get bored.
Whether we are bored or not, the absolute constant sweating is starting to increase. The sun is starting to get quite intense and my clothes are starting to cry out for an actual washer and dryer when I get home. Yesterday was the celebration of the end of Ramadan. This was celebrated by all classes being canceled and the Islamic community gathering in all areas of the country. Huge celebrations took place all over Accra and many places were closed down. I took advantage of the holiday in order to go to Busy Internet which is the sweetest place ever. It seems to be the one magical place where the internet is fast enough to upload a few photos. Hooray!!! They are as present on facebook but I am working to put some on this site. Tonight I am craving fan yogo and banku with either okro stew or groundnut soup. Big decisions tonight. In other news, I have about one week until my play opens and the disappointment is that the National theatre part fell through. At max, there will only be one or two performances there with 6 or 7 at the drama studio at the University.
That's all from Rhode Island for now! Have a good beginning of October and enjoy your fall.