Catching UP

I've been doing pretty bad at keeping everyone updated. In fact, not everyone knows the end of our tumultous journey up north, so I'll take it from where I left off!

Upon arriving at Tamale, I was very suspious of anyone wanting to help us. I read in the guidebook that we should watch out, especially for teens, who just wanted to take advantage of us. So when we met this kid named Mohammad, I was pretty hesitant to trust him. Immediately after getting off the bus he approached us and was asking us about our travel plans. Before we knew it he was in our taxi with us on our way to the hotel we had selected. The hotel was full so we had no choice to get back in the taxi and look for somewhere else to stay. While driving Mohammad told us that the price we shoudl expect to pay for the taxi was about $1.50 each way but then all of a sudden our driver got upset. He told us that Mohammad was speaking nonsense. At first I thought our driver was saying that Mohammad was cheating us, but it turned out the driver was planning on overcharging us and he was afraid Mohammad foiled his plans. So we paid the driver right way and got out to find another one. Mohammad was upset, saying he didn't think it was right when they tried to take advantage of people just because they are white.
Soon, thanks to Mohammad's help we found a sweet hotel for only $10. It was comfortable, clean, had it's own fan and self contained bathrooms. One of the best values we had on the trip. Later we met with him for dinner and he showed us where to get our bus tickets to mole and called up to make reservations for us in a guesthouse for once we got there. Over all he was unbelievably helpful, and didn't expect a thing from us!
The next morning we had to wake up early-- 3:30 AM in order to get to bus stop by 4 and ensure that we got seats on the bus that was leaving at 6. We waited for a couple of hours before getting onto the bus which proved to be a long and bumpy ride. Pretty much about 4 hours of me wishing I had worn a sports bra.
When were arrived in Larabonga (a town right next to the Mole National Park. This was where we were planning on staying for the night), we were immediatly greeted by Hussein (have you noticed the Muslim influence in this region?). He and his twin brother owned the guest house we would be staying in for the night. He gave us a ride to the place and showed us around. Turns out the guesthouse consistted of 5 little huts. Each was made of mud but slatered in plaster and each had a roof made of sticks and grass. Inside there was a small talbe with a candle (no electricity) and a bed with a big gauzey misquito net hanging above. SO AWESOME. Staying in a place like this is def. a chance in a lifetime. Hussein also showed us a menu of some local dishes we could shoose from and after picking out our meals for the night we immediatly crahsed to nap for a few hours.
After our naps Hussein picked us up to go to the Mole National Park. Once we were there, we got put into a tour group and began our walk through the park, scoping for wild animals. Unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to see any elephants (this is waht I wanted to see the most) but we did see monkeys, baboons, deer, antelope, and warthogs.
After the walk we went back to the guesthouse and had a big fire and our meals waiting for us. Brandon had a bowl of stew with bushmeat, while I had a mashed yam stew called something like Doduiodouni. It had been recommended by Hussein and was sooo good.
The next day we had planned to catch an early bus back into Tamale. We weren't so lucky. At 8:30 a bus came in early but was too full to take us. We were todl another one woudl come soon. But we waited for hours and it never did. Finally at around 11:30, we poke with some boys who said we coudl ride motor bikes to teh next town and catch a bus there. They said they woudl just charge us a small fee. This sounded good and we were tired of waiting so we followed them over to where they had there bikes. We were about ready to go when they requested $15 for each of us. THis was for a 20 km drive. We said it was too much adn walked back to wait for a bus. When we got back back to the station we had learned that while we were gone with teh boys Hussein had come by because he had a friend that was heading to Tamale and would give us a ride. We had just missed him! SO FRUSTRATING! But we were told that a bus shoudl come at 4pm or we coudl catch the bus the next mornign. we decided we'd try to catch the 4 oclock one and kept waiting. At around 1 we finally got lucky. A pickup truck heading towards the next town offered to take us along with some others. We were probably over charged at $5 each but it was our only hope. So we hopped into teh back of the truck and were on our way. Eventually we made it into the bus station and into Tamale by around 6. We got a hotel and planned to head further north the next day.
The next morning we caught a trotro into a border town, Paga. Here, we checked out their sacred crocadile ponds. We were able to check out the crocodiles here and even went so far as to hold their giant scaly tails! The trick was to purchace a chicken. The poeple working there would take teh chicken and hold it out by the pond. Soon, several crocodiles were crawling out of the water heading towards the chicken. It was fed to him and while eating we were able to grab onto him.
After that we went to a famous slave camp. This camp was where they kept the slaves from the Atantlic Slave Trade while on the way to one of the forts. We saw their eating quaters (holes in a big rock served as their bolws) the graves of those that died (each grave had several bodies buried in a heap). We also saw the punishment rock. They were chained to it as they were beatan as an example for the others. Often they would die while chained to the rock. It was a positiviely chilling experience to see these places.
The next morning we woke up early to head into Burkina Faso. This country is just north of Ghana, and while I had not interest in it, Brandon had his mind set on making our way up to teh capital Oaugadougou. We went through customs and were told taht since brandon didnt' have a multiple entry visa we would be best off to do while in the capital. We were told the prices would be cheaper. So after crossing the boarder we exchnaged our money (horrible exange rate!!) we were able to make our way there. Unfortunately almost immidately after checking into our hotel brandon had to run to the bathroom from being sick. I checked his forhead and it seemed fine, but when i checked it again it was burning. Brandon appeared to have the symptoms of Malaria.
We had always heard that Malaria should be treated right way. The problem was that we were in a country where they didn't speak English and we had no idea how to get to the hospital. We couldn't wait to take the time to go back into Ghana though either. The only thing I could think to do was assume that it was in fact Malaria and get the necessary medicine at the pharmacy across from our hotel. So, I went in and was lucky enough to have someone that spoke english waiting in line. He was able to communicate to the pharmacist what I needed as well as translate for me how the medicine should be taken. So the only thing we could do was give Brandon the medicine and rest in the hotel while watching french television. (if you ever thought Ace Ventura was obnixious, let me tell you it is much worse in french)
The next morning Brandon and I were completely out of money for this country. The money we needed for a taxi and bustickets had been used teh night before for his medicine. So, in a city where we knew nothing, didn't speak the language, with brandon's malaria, we had to walk around looking for a bank that would exchange money or one with an atm. We finally found one and were also able to find the bus stop. Problem was that our bus wouldn't be leaving for another 6 hours. We decided it was important for brandon to rest so we forked over some more money for another hotel room so he could rest and have immediate access to a bathroom.
At 4 we got on our bus and headed back to ghana. We never got a round to getting brandon's visa but we figured it would only be a little bit extra cost to do it at ther border. The problem was that by the time we got to the border at around 9 pm they said they it was too late to issue a visa. At first I was afraid they would turn us away, or make us stay in the customs office until morning, but he said that if we gave him our passports to hold onto we could stay in a hotel on the ghana border and come back first thing in the morning. I was a little nervous about letting him have our passports.. this after all gave him a lot of power and we had already seen that the police here can be corrupt. But we felt we had no other choice so we went along with it.
The next morning we headed to the office at around 5am and had to wait for a while. When they finally got to us, they said that the visa would be $100 (it woudl have only been 50 if we had done it in while in burkina faso). We handed them the 100 and then they said, oh actually it's 130. Frustrated and ready to move on we gave them the extra 30. Later we recieved a receipt for 100 dollars. I think we all know where teh extra 30 went.
When we finally took care of everything, we headed towards the nearest hospital. We thought it woudl be best to get Brandon checked out right away. But once we got there they were not at all helpful. I tried to explain to a nurse that i thought brandon had malaria and she kept saying "who? who?' even as i pointed and gestured. When she finally understood she took us to a waiting room. She said that we would need to have our number called and then brandon could be seen. But when we went to the front desk to ask for a number they said they didn't give numbers but to just wait. This was annoying so finally we decided we'd be better off getting back to a Wiamoase where we knew the hospital.
So we got on a bus back to kumasi and got home late that night. The next morning we took brandon to a hospital and sure enough he had Malaria. He had the mildest form and it was nothing to worry about since we got him treated right away. In fact now, he is doing much better. He is still on some other medicine they gave himbut he feels back to his normal self.

But really, how is that for an adventure?

Heading up North

Two days ago Brandon and I began our journey up north and already we have had some of our most memoriable experiences.
The plan was to head up towards Tamole, a major northern city nearby the famous Mole National Park (A wild life park). Instead of making it all in one trip, we decided to split it up by stopping at Techiman and checking out some of the sights in villages around there.
The first place we wanted to check out was the Fiemma Monkey Village. This village is known for having loads of monkeys that are seen regularly throughout the village. Monkey's are considered sacred there -- so much so that they even have funerals and propper burials for any monkey that dies. When we first arrived to the village we were taken on a tour through teh forest. This took up the majority of our time and was a little dissapointing. We were able to see some incredible trees and the monkey grave site, but other than that nothing too spectacular. The really great part came at the very end when we got a chance to feed the monkeys. We had brought a bundle of bananas and all it took was whipping them out and the monkeys began to flock. I was a little nervous about teh monkeys (especially since i opted out of the rabies vaccine) but they were totally friendly and just excited to grab at the treats we brought for them. We got some really good pictures with the monkeys and a video of me feeding them. Unfortunately though, these will never be seen. After get a ride back into techiman we realized that I had left my camera on the taxi. I know, I suck. Anyway, we had the phone number of teh taxi driver and called him. He came to us, let us check all through his car, and took me back to the spot where we got out to see if it fell out of the car. We asked all the street vendors around that spot an no one had seen it fall out or anything. Our driver even went so far as to make an announcement on the radio saying we were looking for it. He was so nice and concerned about it. But we still had no luck. I came to the conclusion that teh woman we shared teh taxi with must have taken it when we left it there. ugh. so frustrating. Not only did I lose my nice camera, but i also lost teh opportunity to document teh rest of our trip. So bummed.

Anyway, the next day we made a trip to Bouyem, another small village in the area known for it's bat caves. I was more excited about a taking the trail along large rocks and to a waterfall, but they were convincing and brandon was also pretty excited about the bat cave, so we decided to do both hikes. We started off treading through some thick bush. The vegitation was very thick and it probably would have been wise to have worn pants instead (my legs were cut up from all of it afterwards). Numerous times our guide had to pull out his knife to cut away vines and branches. Our first stop was a water cave and it was bat free. We crawled in on our hands and knees until we reached water that trickled down from above into a stream. Later we went into another cave that was full of small bats. I had heard too many stories about people getting bats cuaght in their hair and was a little freaked out. It was incredible though when our guide caught a bat in his hand. He took a hold of it and spread its wings out for us to see while the bat tried frantically to escape. When he finally let him go the bat responded with a pathetic bite (didn't come close to breaking the skin) and then quickly flew away. After we left his cave we rested briefly and had some fresh papaya that our guide had picked while we were on the trail. The last cave we visited was definitely the most remarkable. It is cave used by fetish priests for doing traditional ceremonies. However it was past this, and deep inside that stood out the most. Once again we had to crawl far into the cave. However, this time it wasn't just low down but we had to go through a tiny little tunnel. The space barely had enought room to crawl through, which was already scary enough in itself. But in addition to that it had bats flying through it so while we were crawling through in this impossibly tight place bats would fly through and brush against us. ughghg it gives me chills just thinking about it. This was the moment when i realized that I am terrified of bats. Once inside the belly of the cave, we were finally able to stand but that did little to calm me down. We could hear the bats screeching their wings flapping. There were bats flying around everywhere, swooping closely near our heads and with eachswoop you could feel the air from the wings. Looking up on the top of the cave you could see them hanging with their beedy eyes gleaming. After watching for a minute I was ready to go back -- only problem was that meant going back through teh claustrophobic tunnel, and probably another run in with a bat. There was an opening upwards in teh cave and a latter leading out. I asked out guide if we coudl go out that way, but he said it wasn't safe. Our only choice was to head back through. So I got on my hands an knees, shaking and trying desperately not to cry, and i crawled as quickly as I could back through. Finally, I was out! And as traumatizing as it was, I am glad that I did it. It was quite an experience.
After this we checked out some impressive rocks and were able to get an amazing view of the rainforest below. Our last stop was Bibiri falls, a small waterfall that was great for cooling off after a 5 hour hike. When we got back to teh guesthouse we had a meal waiting for us and after that we collapsed into bed.

Today we headed up to Tomale where we are staying for the night. Next we will hit up Mole! Can't wait. =)

Photo Update

Here, brandon and I in front of a cool hut we saw in a nearby village called Penteng.

Some kids playing "football''

Laurndry day at the secondary school. Since the students don't have clothes lines they spread it out on the grass(the same grass that they are required to chop with machetes for P.E.)

This is me on our shortcut trail into town.

Main Wiamosee road.

This is me and our best friend here, precious. She is the sweetest girl and sofunny.

Mainroad.

I made Brandon take this picture because i loved the sort of tunnel the trees created.

We thought this abandoned pile of guns was funny but when we got caught taking the picture some military guy came running after us yelling.Apparently it's not aloud...oops.

Chelsea with some kids at the babies home.

This girl loved brandon. she kept on scratching his beard and stuff.. so cute.

This girl was my favorite.I loved doing silly things to make her smile.=)

The four of us at our favorite restaurant in mampong called "the Simple Store'. They don't have menus so you just have to ask if they have certain things.

I just had to undo my hair. It was itchy and I was getting bugs caught in it. ew! anyway,it took about 3-4 hours but everyone helped so that was nice. Brandon especially spent a lot of time.He had us take a picture as proof of what a good guy he is.

good lookforme?

this is outside the central market in kumasi.

Inside the market--thebiggest outside market in the entire world. i'm telling you, it was huge!!

Thisis the market from up above.

You can see here how crowded kumasi is.

Kumasi again

one of the ridiculous dashboards in a trotro. notice the green shaggy carpet on the bottom? This picture was also taken right when a woman with a vacuum cleaner on her head walked by but unfortunately she wasn't in the picture.

Brandon with some friends at the school. Do you love their uniforms?

this might be my new favorite picture of brandon andme.

cool statue in kumasi....

...but not as cool as this one!



























Last of all,here is the video i wanted to share last post,when i uploaded the wrong one. it is from the drive to mampong,and one of my favorite views ever. hope you enjoy: