Mimi and Avra Take Ghana Part 1

Well, well, well. We have been SO busy since Monday when mom arrived.

Monday-stressed around to pick her up cause there was such bad traffic. Got her an egg sandwich and we headed to class. She stayed awake through most of it so I was proud. We got lunch at the night market- rice and beans- she liked it. Then we just hung out until we went to dinner at Monsoon- this super nice and cool restaurant in Osu. There was no power in the dorm that night so I slept with her in the Guest Houses with A/C- good call.

Tuesday, woke up and headed into Accra! We went to Kwame Nkruma Memorial Park- we snuck in and didn't get caught until we tried to leave- oops! It was so beautiful and interesting. Then we walked to the "cultural center" aka tourist trap to spend money on crafts. We got some cool stuff, then we headed to Independence Square to check it out. We headed into Osu for lunch at Sunshine Salad Bar and then to Artist Alliance, this AWESOME gallery where local artists display their work and you can buy it. So expensive but we really enjoyed walking around. After that we looked at the beach and then headed to Danielle's for a great dinner. Danielle invited Daniel's mom (just turned 70 and is hilarious) and her friend Kati who makes jewelry and is a bead historian and know everything about beads from Africa- if someone needs a reference or a resource or has questions- they call her. Also, Christianne and her son Yannick were there, they have a non-profit in Ho that works on teenage pregnancy and the problems surrounding it, like lack of education and lack of jobs. Such a good group! great convo and a great feast!!

Wednesday, we went to class and just hung out- packed up and headed to Danielle's to sleep- but when we left my dorm, mom was like where are my shoes? she freaked out so we tried to figure out where they must be- we guessed the guest house. We headed over there but the receptionist told me that the key was gone with the housekeeper and that we couldn't get them until the morning. NOT OK! I freaked out but the lady had no answer for me. I remembered that mom hadn't locked our room after we left so I RAN over there and the door was unlocked! Inside the closet were 3 pairs of mom's shoes. Ha! Good work me! We headed to Danielle's to sleep.

Thursday morning we woke up to head to Ho with Christianne and Yannick. On the way we stopped for awesome bagels and cinnamon buns. Christianne took us to see the four teenage girls who they trained to make jewelry so they could support themselves and their children. Then we went back to her house and met the volunteers that work and live with them. Then we went to the teen center/counseling center that they're working on starting in Ho for teenagers to come and get the help they need. We took a quick tro-tro to Hohoe and then a taxi to Wli Waterfall Lodge. We got some yummy chicken with pineapple and couscous with veggies.

Friday, we woke up to the most beautiful scenery ever that we hadn't noticed the night before. We headed to the Wildlife Center to take a 45 minute hike- it had rained the night before with strong winds so a bunch of trees were down so we had to off-road a little bit. After crossing 9 bridges, we finally got to the falls! They were beautiful and huge! There were fruit bats all over the rocks and we even saw a snake that fell down off the rocks! It was crazy. We waded into the water and then our guide came, grabbed our hands, and took us under the falls! It was so windy and powerful. Very cool. We headed back to the camp, got our stuff from the hotel, and cabed to Hohoe and tro-tro to Labne junction to get a cab to Tafi Atome- the monkey sanctuary village. We walked around, sat and watched the monkeys for a while- had rice with stew and eggs, and we danced and drummed with the local kids for awhile. They taught us dances and mom taught them the bunny hop. I almost died -it was hilarious. The kids loved it and so did we. I took tons of pictures of the kids and showed them the pictures on the camera and they loved that. We played cards with a boy, Kwesi, for a little while who told us about his studies and his life.

Saturday we woke up at 5:45 to meet our guide, Foster, to see the monkeys! It took two tries but we finally got them to come close enough to take the bananas from us. Foster threw the "father" monkey a banana which he ate happily. I held out a banana and the monkeys started to peel it and eat it out of my hand. When they got close, I worried that they were going to bite me so I let go but Foster told me not to. He gave me another banana and I held it while the monkeys grabbed my hand and the banana and fed themselves the mush and took chunks of it. They were holding my hand and they were so close to me. Mom did the same- we each got two bananas. It was surreal. We went back for breakfast and then tried to get a taxi back to the junction. The taxi was broken and there weren't any others so we jumped onto the back of motorbikes! We tried to avoid it but it was inevitable and it was a great ride! We went pretty slow but it was so great. We got on a tro-tro headed to Ho. At Ho, we waited for like two hours for our tro-tro to Ada. We finally just bought out the last two seats so we could finally go. We made it to Ada finally and went to Dreamland lodge. It was cute, bamboo, sand floors, awesome. We relaxed, read, walked to the beach (dirty and very very rough), ate dinner- mom's first banku!!

Sunday, we woke up and headed to the Volta River to take a little cruise. We got on a canoe with Seth who took us across the river to the biggest of 15 islands to see a place where the villagers make sugar cane rum. The chief showed us how it worked and then it started to pour! We sat with him, his wife, his two daughters, and three of his grandkids for like 2 hours, just talking and hanging out, waiting for the rain to stop. He gave us shots of his rum- good but it was so early in the morning I thought I was going to pass out- and we gave in and bought a $2.50 bottle. When the rain stopped we headed back to land to get a tro-tro to Accra. We got back and went to MaxMart to get some food to cook for dinner. We went to Danielle's and made rice and chicken. We just hung out, talked to dad and E and William, and then we went to bed.

Today, we woke up early to head back to campus. Went to class, tried to run some errands but pretty much wasted $30 and 2 hours cause traffic was so bad. We got tickets for our bus tomorrow morning- 4 am to Kumasi to head to Sefwi Wiaso to see the Jews!! We might go to Wa to see the hippos or Takradi to go to the beach- we'll see! Next blog in a week!