Birthday

First of all I want to thank you all so much for your birthday wishes. I got some comments and emails and it means the world to me that you all remembered.

But anyway, I thought you would all like to know how I am spending my birthday weekend because so far it has been totally amazing. (well i guess the weekend is actually over but our special trip for it isn't yet).
So for my birthday Brandon and I decided to spend it going to some of the most interesting places we've heard of in Ghana. I would be interested to hear from Karen to see if she has been to either of these places. Anyway, here is my long story of traveling:

So on friday we had an early start. We walked the half hour from the house at the school into the center of the village to teh trotro station. Here we were lucky being one of the last ppl to get onto the tro tro heading to Kumasi (The tro tro is basically a big van for travelling in. It is the cheapest way to get around but there are some problems. First is if you are the first one to get there you have to sit and wait until the whole thing gets full which can take a while. The other problem is that tehy will stuff ppl in so it often really uncomfortable). Anyway so we took the trotro into Kumasi, head to the STC bus station (which took forever thanks to our guidebook lackng a decent map) which took us to Takoradi. After a 5 hour bus ride we arrived just as it was getting dark. We had to get help from a local to help us find an open hotel. Wondering around the streets at night listening to squeeking mice was not fun but we knew that the next day we would be heading off and it would be wonderful.

The next day (my actual bday) we knew we had to go to Beyin a beach town that is known for it's beauitful beach resorts as well as neighboring a stilt village that we were looking forward to seeing. THe book gave us wrong directions on how to get there though, so we basically wasted 30 bucks on a taxi ride going one direction and then back to get on a tro tro going there. That was annoying. But acouple hours later when we got to Beyin was totally worth it. We checked into The Beyin Beach resort which was absolutely amazing. We got the economy room which was nothing special, but the view was fantastic. Right on the beach with huge palm trees swooping over. It was amazing. I can't wait to show everyone the pictures. But anwyay, we spend the rest of the day unwinding form our traveling, swimming, reading, relaxing ,and enjoying the scenery.

The next day was the highlight of the trip so far: The Nzuelo stilt village. This is a village made up of only 500 ppl, built on the water, and raised up on stilts. No one is sure exactly why they built the village teh way they did, but many have found it interesting enough to make the exhuasting trip out there. You see, in order to get to the village you must first canoe over to it. I never knew how exhuasting that would be. It was an hour each way! So needless to say I am sore the next day. I def. couldn't stop thinking about mom though, and how much she woudl love this. If anyone is tough enough to handle that ride easily it would be her!
So while that ride was tiring it was also beautiful. It reminded me of the jungle cruise in Disney Land except real. (and no wild animals). But it was amazing, with lilly pads and water lillies all along the path and great trees framing around us. Once again, another site I can't wait for everyone to see when i can show my pictures. The village itself was pretty cool but def. the trip there was teh best.

So when we were done with this we took the appropriate trotros to start heading to cape coast. (this proved to be much trickier than it normally would have been because it was a sunday and many of the normal routes for the trotros weren't running. Anyway, we were able to get to capecoast, settle into a hotel, and prepare for the next day... which is actually today. Today, after leaving this internet cafe that we have found, we heading to the Kakum national Park. THis park is best known for it's huge canopy walkway. This walkway is a 40 meter high rope and wood walkway suspended from the trees, and the only one of it's kind in all of Africa. It's supposed to be incredible, so we are both looking forward to it quite a bit!

Anyway, as you can see I have been enjoying myself sooo much. It has really been an amazing experience so far... and i still have about 2 months more of experiences to go!


One more thing -- I have some friends that somehow I didn't get your email addresses before I left. Kailey, Rachelle, and Chris, I would love to email you so please shoot me an email at banananna445@gmail.com.

Glad to know ppl are reading, love ya lots!