the road less traveled--our weekend in the North

It’s Monday night and I just returned from a 5-day trip to the Northern part of Ghana. The trip consisted of several stops, and we ended up visiting five out of the ten regions in the country.  

The trip was quite an adventure with both ups and downs, as well as bumps in the road—literally.  There is a route that winds from the South to the North(but in a roundabout kind of way), and large stretches of this route are unpaved.  For one part of the drive we were going in and out of ditches, bouncing up and down, rocking from side to side, in every direction imaginable…for three hours. One of the girls on my trip described it pretty accurately when she compared the car to a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

We were told beforehand about the increasing level of poverty that we would witness as we went further north, but none of us were fully aware of its extent until we experienced it for ourselves.  As we made our way up the unpaved road and entered new regions, we were able to see visible changes before even stepping foot out of the car.

We started to notice very different settings, leaving behind the metropolitan atmosphere of Accra, and replacing it with increasingly rural communities.  There were small villages with “hut” houses, and a lush, green rainforest consumed most of the leftover space. 

ancient mosque (still in use)

Part of our trip included visiting local markets and villages in the North.  In one village, we were given a tour and local residents told us about the ancient mosque that was located there. We were also shown the inside of one of the huts, which was the home of a village midwife.

As with everywhere else we go, there were tons of adorable kids who wanted to hold your hand and know your name and talk with you.  It can get pretty overwhelming though because a lot of the time they are looking for money or some other form of help.  I try to give them what I can when I can, but most of the time I don’t have anything to give.  I also end up feeling disheartened because I start to wonder whether any of these kids genuinely like us.  I always choose to give everyone the benefit of the doubt though, especially when meeting new people, because most of the people I meet do end up being very genuine.

I am still getting used to how friendly Ghanaians can be, and I sometimes need to remind myself of this fact, so that I act appropriately in greeting acquaintences and passerbys.  We visited a waterfall on our way to the North, and we ended up sliding down part of the waterfall with complete strangers.  The locals hadn’t even hesitated to include us.  I’m still not entirely sure whether it was just friendly or maybe a little weird, but it was definitely fun, so again I want to give the situation the benefit of the doubt. . .

Since dealing with people can be overwhelming and at times confusing, it was definitely a nice respite when we visited Mole National Park for a few days.  We spent one night in a motel that had a breathtaking view of the Savannah below. We went on a safari by foot and were able to see what we had all been looking forward to. . . elephants.  Seeing the elephants up close definitely exceeded my expectations, and after our safari was through, the presence of animals only seemed to increase.  Warthogs roamed around close to our room, there were herds of baboons close by, and some of the footprints on the ground supposedly belonged to hyenas. I saw a definite trend forming, and I tried to sing Hakuna Matata to a warthog, but he didn’t have the reaction I was looking for. . . Later that same day, as we lay out next to the pool, we could see elephants off in the distance. To say the least, it was a pretty surreal experience.

My favorite part of the trip was when we spent the following night in a treehouse in the middle of the forest. We were lying high up in a tree, looking up at the stars through the leaves, and any trace of stress dealing with cultural/societal norms couldn’t have felt any further away.  I was also pretty stoked in the morning when the first sound I heard after waking up was the call of monkeys in far off trees. 

Though many people complained of not being able to sleep that night, I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat.  On our way back from the treehouse, we saw more elephants, and a final one in the parking lot as we left that morning.  We probably ended up seeing around 15 elephants in all, which will probably be one of the most memorable parts of the trip, at least for me.

This trip was eye-opening in more ways than one, but I am really glad to be back now.  Every time I leave a place that I am living, it feels more and more like home upon return, and it feels good to be home.

Kintampo Falls

   

the beginning of a good thing

After a few weeks in Ghana, I am starting to feel much more at home, but I am also far from figuring this place out.  It’s very strange to learn the ins and outs of a culture that you haven’t grown up with. Unspoken social norms can seem pretty odd when they need to be verbalized to you.  Like the taboo of waving with your left hand or the compulsory snap at the end of a hand shake.  Though there is a lot to learn, I feel like I am slowly making progress.

Ghana definitely has a lot of contradicting qualities, which makes it even harder to figure out. Most people are dressed more conservatively(and are often more put together) than us Obrunis (foreigners), but it isn’t unheard of for there to be a naked person on the side of the road in a more rural area.  There are strict rules when it comes to social etiquette, but absolutely none when it comes to driving. I feel like I have somewhat of a responsibility to learn to play by the new rules, no matter how long they may take to learn.

On one of the first days, we had a lecture about assimilating to the culture here. We were told that there were 4 stages that we could be sure to find ourselves in at any point in time. These are the 1) Honeymoon Stage, 2) Hostility Stage, 3) Humor Stage, and 4) Home Stage.  I definitely find myself jumping back and forth between these stages quite often.  I am in the honeymoon stage whenever I am at the beach or see a Ghanaian smile(which is very often), and the hostility stage when I have trouble communicating with people or getting things that would normally be easy to come by. 

I have made some great friends here already, and we are perpetually in the humor stage, whether we are bitter or blissful.  Being able to laugh about everything is really the only way you can approach this situation if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy.

I will try to keep stories and pictures flowing on a regular basis, partly for myself, and for anyone else who is interested in seeing them! 

Cape Coast, Ghana

Ada Beach

Cape Coast: former slave castle