Ada Foah

This last week has held many exciting adventures like a journey to Rum Island and battles with jellyfish!! Now that I have built up some intrigue I will get the boring stuff out of the way quickly. I have been sick for about two weeks and finally was made to go to the hospital in case I had malaria, but I just have bronchitis which is great!! I'm pretty much all better now thanks to the free and easily obtained pharmaceuticals found in Ghana. I also decided not to participate in "Our husband has gone mad again." The rehearsal schedule just interfered too much with wanting to travel. Now to the good stuff!!
This weekend I went to paradise. A little town called Ada Foah which consists of a little village and then many islands around where the Volta River meet the Atlantic Ocean. To get to this village a friend and I took a tro from Accra to Tema. This trip took around an hour and cost 50 pesewas. (50 cents) We then walked around Tema for about 40 minutes trying to find anyone who knew what we were talking about when we asked for a tro to Ada. After finally wandering through a sleepy market we stumbled across the tro station where we paid 2.20 for a 3 hour trip to Big Ada and then Ada Foah. Then came in the beauty of the bargaining system. We tried to find where to catch a canoe to take us to an island. A taxi driver tried to get us to go with him for 4 cedi up the road maybe 10 minutes and then we could catch a boat. After refusing this outrageous price we stared around in a daze trying to figure out what to do. After a minute a glorious sound of marching band filled the air and my friend exclaimed, Hooray a Parade! which we then quickly realized was a funeral. After viewing the procession a young man named Kwame approached us an offered to take us to the island for 4 cedi in his canoe. We thought he was a little sketchy but figured he was our best option. After a little journey involving a few goats and huge ducks we arrived at his little canoe and he proceeded to paddle us upriver for about 45 minutes for only 4 bucks. We were very grateful and pleased with the trip so we paid him 5. The island paradise we arrived at was amazing!! This place is a skinny island with half of the island being a river bank and the other side being an ocean beach. The accommodations were only 10 cedi a night and consisted of a "bed" (a little short) with a mosquito net and a sand floor surrounded by a thatched hut that sort of keeps the rain out. My friend Mike and I shared this fun little sleeping hut. Our activities on the island consisted of eating, drinking water, sitting on the beach, sleeping on the beach, walking on the beach, and body surfing!! The waves were incredibly fun and big which made for some intense times. On Saturday morning the fishermen were out pulling in the nets which were full of fish, shrimp, jellyfish, and one giant "thing." Literally have never seen this thing before in my life. When it was curled up it looked like a brain on the half shell. Then it unfurled and was a weird wiggling grey slug monster with a tiny shell for a face. The irony of the trip is that this was the first time that I had liberally applied sunscreen, and the first time I have been burned in Africa. That night we ate shrimp which we bought from the fishermen that morning. We probably got about five pounds of shrimp for 10 cedi. Needless to say ten of us could not finish them and we had to just give them to a couple other people on the island to enjoy. The next morning after taking my bath in the river, we started the journey home by first going to Rum Island. Rum Island is a hidden little family island that was been owned by this particular family for about 100 years and has been producing white moonshine rum for about as long. We got a tour of the "facility" and we showed how the rum is made and the sugar cane fields that they use to make the rum with. This rum probably could clean engines but is actually very smooth. The family sells this rum in 1.5 liter water bottles for 6 cedi each. Apparently they have quite a business with affluent Accra hotels making trips to the island in order to stock up and then sell this authentic Ghanaian rum which is very very cheap at very expensive prices. We then took a boat from Rum Island back to the main town and caught a tro to Accra.
Overall, this trip was one of the best times since I've been here in terms of relaxing and just being able to play in the ocean without crowds and see the sunset over palm trees and sand. Other fun things from the trip involve burying Mike under about four feet of sand and playing the hermit crabs and the little sand crabs which run around the beach.
It was actually a weird feeling after the weekend arriving back on campus and feeling like "home sweet home." Even though campus life is so different than the states, it has grown familiar and has developed a routine.
Tonight I have my rehearsal for Witness for the Prosecution and I have to be off book. AHH!! Other than than, my Twi class is almost over!! just this week left!! In a few days we will actually be half way done with the semester which is incredibly fast.
Hope everyone has an excellent day and a good week.