Our weekend started on Friday at 6am as we all got the day off work, and we tro tro-ed to one of the bus station places in central Accra and got a tro tro after lots of waiting around for the tro tro and then waiting on it for it to fill up! It's hilarious because whilst you're waiting loads of people try to sell you stuff through the windows - pure water, frozen yogurt, bread, soap, razors, pies, rice, watches, children's books, biscuits, soft drinks, hankerchiefs you name it!
We finally set off at 8.45am and rattled our way for 3.5hours to Takaradi. The tro tro wasn't particularly comfortable and I was the middle seat middle row and didn't have an awful lot of leg room so I didn't sleep I just took in the scenery and
watched the road and observed some skillful tro tro driving! I also know now why the colour green in the Ghanaian flag is supposed to stand for "vegetation" - 
because Accra is so dusty and urban that I kind of forget they have grass here too...So after arriving in Takaradi we were directed to yet another tro tro to a place beginning with A (the name of which escapes me, sorry! We weren't totally sure where we were going either!) and when we arrived here we were pointed to yet another tro tro who would drop us off at the Green Turtle Lodge.
This journey started normal enough - driving through little towns with everyone leaning through the windows selling their water and plantain chips (even more so when they saw threee "obrunis" sitting there!) and the towns with their colourful corrugated iron shops (interestingly coloured for the mobile phone networks - yellow for MTN, red for vodaphone, purple for tigo) with names such as "Jesus Cares Ent" or "Virtuous Ladies Beauty Salon". But then the lovely tarmac road disappeared and we were following a red dirt road and bouncing all over the place through small little rural villages even picking up a lovely boot full of smelly fish in one (we were on the back seat) and the road got more and more rough and bumpy! I now have even more resp
ect for the tro tro divers that manage to swerve and miss potholes and ditches quite successfully whilst still going quite a pace! (The picture left was taken in the taxi when we left).Finally - we were deposited on the side of the road next to a sign saying GREEN TURTLE LODGE.
Below - Anna and Katter on the road by the Green Turtle sign.
So, this place was a paradise with a bit of a dangerous rip tide (that we kind of got stuck in the first time we went in the water - I swallowed A LOT of sea and had a few rather unpleasant moments stuck under the water being dragged around but I wont dwell on that and I was fine and learnt my lesson well and truly!) Anyway, when we first staggered up the dirt track we were told that the place was full... how full? Really full. The guy hadn't received the text I had sent making reservations (as instructed by guide book) but he offered to let us sleep on the beach with mattresses and moz nets. We accepted, gladly although with some reservations about quality of sleep, and proceeded to enjoy a coke before jumping into out bikinis and braving the waves (and you know what happened there!)Luckily for us a large group didn't turn up so at 10pm we were told we could sleep in tents which we greatfully climbed into! By that point we were exhausted and the worst part was not knowing where we could sleep so the relief when we were told we could have the tents was immense. And, a rare treat, I had a tent to myself!!!! Another lovely factor of being near the sea was the breeze, which made a change of the oppressive heat and humidity of Accra. In the tent there was a lovely breeze and I actually enjoyed using the silk sleeping bag liner I brought. Also, whilst I'm loving things I would also like to thank my nice travel towel that folds up so small!
The next day we decided to stay again and so spent the day sunbathing, reading, eating and generally relaxing!The lodge made very nice food and drinks and I particularly enjoyed the lovely fresh coffee and having real milk in some tea. Below are some photos that I would like everyone to see! I think it is particularly weird because it's MARCH and yet here I am sunbathing, sweating, unable to wear jumpers (I miss them...) and riding around in little broken things that are actually transportation!
Below - Katter and I in the hammock
Below - Me, Katter and Anna posing
Below - me in the hammock!
Below - Loving the shade!
Below - two children walk to the village along the beach
So we left on Sunday after breakfasts to make sure we got tro tros back. Sunday is always an issue because everyone is in church! For this reason we got a taxi from the lodge to the nearby town as we didn't fancy walking along the beach to the village only to find out everyone was in church and there wouldn't be a tro tro for hours. Once we were in the town it was fine to get a tro tro to Takadori and back to Accra. We also got EXTREMELY lucky with the tro tro on the way back - it was COMFY! It had air conditioning (oh! to be cold again!) and a video (not great, but I love my ipod for noisy moments like this, and the seats were sooofffttt which made me happy! I doubt I will ever ride in a tro tro like it again. It was worth waiting for it to fill up before we left! We were back in Accra by 4.30pm or so which was nice!
So I've been struggling to post this blog and now I have there are a few things I will add since I wrote this...
It is definitely a bit cooler here in Accra! Last week I actally had my hoody draped over myself from about 3am! Last night there was also a craazzyy thunderstorm and I woke up with the wind blowing on me and actually got into my sleeping bag liner! Wow! Today was cool... but not enough for a jumper or trousers, although I did wear I tshirt
At work it is just me volunteering in the school full time now - with Emily (who is doing a semester abroad at the university here) with me on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I have started to seriously write some notes on each kid I see so that I don't work just on things they can do - however tempting this is! Today was a little slow with Cephas and Eyram but as they know so little it's not surprising. If anyone has any teaching tips on how to teach kids basic letters and how to write (they can do basic counting) when they barely speak any English it would be much appreciated! I don't mind it being hard though - Cephas is a lovely kid who has such a cute laugh and who is truly proud of himself when he gets it right. Eyram seems to be trusting me more now, and is getting a little bit cheeky and laughing a lot - which makes a change from a week ago when she sat stubbornly refusing to even look at me! I'm considering buying one of those boards you can write on with the special pens and then erase it because this would be soo much better than the scraps of paper I carry around, or the poor quality exersize books. I wish I could write in some of the workbooks we have rather than just tracing the letters with our fingers!
Anyway, I better be off :) you know on Thursday I will have been here ONE WHOLE MONTH! I hope I am making some progress! More and more kids are knowing my name (not just obruni, thank goodness) and every day I fall in love with more and more of them! The heat is becoming less and less of an issue, which an only be a good thing.
I'd love some comments from some of my readers?
Love, Sal xxx
hi sal
ReplyDeleteglad everything going so well.. a month already you will be home before you know it.. no goss but will keep you posted..liz