the promised land

well, word on the peace corps street was that ghana is the land of greatness where everything is just better. they're SO right! the food, transportation, customer care, FOOD, and most everything was spectacular. Tom, Liz, and Annie were my partners in crime as we took off for a northern border crossing the 9th of sept. Togo is not a huge country so we passed through Kara and right over the Ghana border in less than 5 hours. The road from the Ghana border to Tamale (the major northern town) was ....bumpy. We had estimated getting there by 2 and arrived at dusk. No worries because we found a cheap, centrally located hotel right away and got some great street food right away. I will admit that it was no fun figuring out the new and old currency on an empty stomach when all i wanted to do was toss fried rice down my throat. Ghana changed their currency in July and now 1 new cedi is equal to 10,000 old cedi. We got the hang of it and I think between the 4 of us kept the getting ripped off to a minimum. Street food is fabulous in Ghana! Fried rice and beans w/ rice (called wachai, same in Benin) is big and the sauce is not quite as spicy as in Benin but a little thicker and a great taste. We planned on eating locally until Accra then going wild, which is pretty much what we did. Tamale is a beautiful city and apparently the volunteer capitol of Ghana. We did a two day sidetrip to Mole national park and saw ELEPHANTS! like a BILLION! it was a 6am walking bush tour with a ranger. we all had sandals so they made us rent knee high rubber boots that really came in handy in the marshland where annie and i both bit it pretty hard. Aside from the elephants, we saw monkeys, warthogs, baboons, and various types of bush deer/antelope. It was amazing and a great tourist experience. We had to catch a 4am busride out of there and slept the whole way back into Tamale. Peace Corps has a transit house there so we found it and had 7 hours to kill before our bus to Kumasi left so we played monopoly and made omelettes for everyone there. The Ghana volunteers were so nice and welcoming! We took the STC bus which is airconditionned and leather seated. It was beautiful and seats are coveted but good good was it cold. By the time we got to Kumasi, we all had clothes wrapped around every part of our bodies, we looked homeless. In Kumasi, we stayed at the Guestline lodge. It was a fabulous experience, very clean and again, centrally located. The market is supposedly the largest in West Africa and when Tom and I decided to brave it we only covered about 1/16 of it. The main language people speak throughout is Twee and I once again, realized the power of speaking local language and wish I could learn them all. People respect it a lot and it makes discussing prices much easier. The other great thing about Kumasi was the artisans center. It had a fabulous gallery and all the workshops set up right there from bronze casting, to drum making, to pottery. All very cool and it look as if Ghanaian people enjoyed it as much as the tourists. We also visited the Arms museum, which gave a tour of the military history of Ghana. SO cool and very well presented. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and it was by far our best museum experience. After Kumasi, we went to Cape Coast where we saw the slave trade castle built by the Portugeuse. It is a beautiful structure but the tour is haunting, especially standing in the underground holding cell where captives were held in transit. There is also a very well done historical museum inside, tracing the history of the Gold Coast inhabitants and the route they took to the new world. Cape Coast is a nice, relaxed fishing town and I felt it was the down time in our vacation. Accra was next and we did it right! Nachos, burgers, beer on tap, soft serve ice cream, thick crust pizza, chinese food galore......truly the promised land. It also had quite a large ex-pat community, I've never seen so many Brits in all my life! The WEB Dubois house is there and tells the history of his life and things he was involved with in Ghana. We stayed at the salvation army which had a great location and the people were really nice. We visited the national museum and walked around a lot. It is a great city and I can see why ex-pats seek out jobs there. After Accra, we headed to the Volta region to see the dam and the largest man-made lake in the world. Very impressive but we took it easy as Accra burned us out a bit. We were home for the new volunteer swear-in in Cotonou so the timing worked our perfectly. Travel was so easy! They pre-sell tickets and all the cars are 15 place tro-tros. In Benin, we pack cars to the max and it is never EVER comfortable. None of us could believe it when they told us it was only 3 people across to seat. I highly recommend Ghana to any first time traveler, the people are sweet and there's something for everyone. I just posted over 100 photos so check them out, sorry if they're out of order. I had to try the upload a billion times and just didn't feel like arranging them at midnight. Hope you enjoy, can't wait to get back to post!