Ghana Glasses-Eater

Well, my spare glasses spontaneously came apart today! Again, completely unprovoked, like with my original glasses. I don't understand it, I don't think I've damaged glasses at home for over 10 years but as soon as I'm in Ghana, they all go to crap! Luckily, this was just a screw coming out for some reason, and I was extremely lucky and found it (actually the british girl beside me on the trotro found it) and was able to put my glasses back together later. But I am having my spare-spare pair coming here with Geoff. They also have clip-ons which is a plus.

Oh how plans will change! And change back again. That british girl this morning convinced me that taking the train would be fine, so I decided to ignore the warnings of the people a couple days ago, and take the train anyways. But then later in the day once I actually went to the train station to buy tickets, it turned out for some reason the train wasn't around, so there'll be no trip tonight. So I had to go quickly to the bus station and hotel and arrange to stay here another night, get a bus in the morning.

Yesterday evening was really great! (how often have you heard me say that?) I went to Vic Baboo's Cafe... looking through the menu was amazing, I was thinking "I want that, and that, and that, and that, ..." There were so many delicious sounding things! A bit expensive, but worth it! Then, I was invited over to a table of 5 girls, since they noticed I was sitting alone. Turns out they are also americans in the same program as the folks I met at Bosumtwi! It was really pleasant chatting with them, they were more my type of people compared to the Bosumtwi people, a bit calmer I suppose you could say. It was especially funny a little later in the evening when the other americans showed up and found me there, i think they're stalking me or something! I even owed one of them a little money and had forgotten to pay him before I went, so i got to pay him back :)

So the food was amazing, and I had good company. Then, to top the evening off, back at the Guestline lodge, I have a cheap super-tiny room, but the bathroom has a HOT WATER HEATER! Wow! Those are such a luxury here. I have gotten used to cold showers, but once in a while the hot water is wonderful. And it's nice to find it in a cheap hotel, where I don't have to pay for extras that I really don't care about like TV, air con, and fridge.

So today I went to Bobiri. It was slightly raining, so I didn't get to see many of the butterflies that place is famous for, but it was still a really nice hike through the forest. I heard from my guide that there is a football (soccer) game on this upcoming Sunday, some kind of qualifier, Ghana vs. Uganda. I got excited, I think that would be quite fun to attend here, and it's the day before I meet up with G & E, in the right place, so therefore seems pretty well scheduled. I considered trying to go to the stadium today to get some tickets, but who knows if they'd be available this far in advance, and I was having enough trouble getting transport back into Kumasi, i didn't want to make an extra stop. Also, if I am to go to that game, it really changes everything about this upcoming week, so I think maybe I'll let it pass. See how things go. If I do head up to Kumasi in time maybe I can get tickets last minute.

Visited the market here in Kumasi, it's ultra-huge, and you can get pretty much anything. I don't actually want anything though, but it was interesting to wander around for a bit.

So now another relaxing evening, think I may splurge for fancy food again, and enjoy another hot shower.

Drugs are bad, mmm'kay

My last post was very rushed, I was in a busy place, had to pre-pay, and wanted to get a trotro soon. Anyways, lets see what did I miss... Oh the reason I said getting the expensive hotel was a mistake is because it was kindof far from city centre... so I had to take taxi to city center, which was especially bad when I had the 4AM bus, the taxi driver demanded megabucks for working that early.

Anyway, Bolga was nice enough, quite hot though. Stayed at the sand gardens hotel, again somewhat out of city center, but walkable. The receptionist was fairly useless when I arrived though, told me some wrong stuff, but that's why you confirm with other people. Went to Paga, played with a crocodile, spent more money than it was worth. Got back to the hotel after dark though, which I'm not too comfortable with... not cause of fear of being mugged or anything, just can't see where you're walking. Met a couple swiss ladies at the hotel, they had been leaving wechiau as I was arriving. Also met some dutch guys, and hung out with them for part of the next day. We went with a local guide to some village, not the official tourist village but similar stuff, to see painted walls and other artistic architecture. Rented bikes to go there which was a good bit of exercise. Later in the afternoon, they went back to the hotel, but I retained the guide to go into the Tongo hills, and to a famous shrine at Tenzug. I must say, I was fairly disappointed. Firstly, the guide misrepresented himself and some fees, secondly there wasn't really much there at the shrine. Essentially a pile of feathers. I'm not sure what I was really expecting, maybe something drawn or carved in the rock at least. But at least the environment around that area was pretty nice. Back at the hotel later, relaxed and chatted again with the dutch folk. The next morning, got up early and got an OA bus ticket to Kumasi. OA isn't listed in the Bradt Guide, I think because they are pretty new, but they are quite good, comparable quality but lower price than STC. The bus left at 3:00 PM, so I just wandered a bit then relaxed at the hotel for the whole rest of the morning. I needed some time just sitting doing nothing.

I arrived in Kumasi after midnight, so I got a taxi to take me around, had to try a few hotels before finding one with vacancies. It was ok but a little expensive. Next morning wanted to change some money, do some internet, but it was early, and Sunday, so noithing was open. So I got the trotro to Lake Bosumtwi. The guesthouse I stayed at there was soo expensive, but the place was by far the most beautiful place I've been so far, landscaped gardens, staying in my own beautiful hut, the lake down the hill a bit, the forested crater walls rising up all around. Can't wait to show photos. Even could swim in the lake, everyone's pretty confident teh water is safe, the austrian owners of the guesthouse have some tested onbce in a while. Yes, it was a luxury experience in my opinion. Six americans showed up as well. They were very american, but I still enjoyed spending some time with them. They are doing a semester of school in Kumasi, sounds like a really neat experience. Anyways, didn't do much activities there, just relaxing, and swimming. Didn't get around to hiking upwards, or biking around, and didn't have enough $$ to stay longer. Also, the owners left shortly after we had all arrived, the place was officially closed for a week while they went to Accra.

Stayed there all morning and some of this afternoon before regrettably saying goodbye. Now I'm in Kumasi, gonna stay a couple nights, go to Bobiri for a day trip tomorrow, maybe visit the market or cultural centre for a while if there's time. I aborted the overnight train idea, some people at the lake very strongly recommended against it, and I let their fear mongering get to me :) So I will take a bus down to Takoradi, and stay at what should be a lovely beachside guesthouse according to several people, called "Green Turtle Lodge". Relax there a few days, then head to Cape Coast for a few days, see castles and Kakum Nat Park and check out some festival happening there, then head up to Kumasi to meet with Geoff and Evelyn.

Wow that's a long post, and I haven't even got to explain the subject line. Anyways, now to be a bit serious, and emotional. I haven't actually been enjoying my time travelling around a huge amount. Sometimes I've been feeling very anxious/nervous, tense inside, sometimes I've almost felt like crying, generally with no reason at all. And I think the explanation of it is the mefloquine (Larium). It's the anti-malarial medicine I'm on. It is known to sometimes have negative psychotic side effects. I took it in vietnam, and was fine, so I'm on it again. I was fine for the first few weeks. But here in Ghana it's a longer trip, I've heard that it's effects can increase with time. Also I'm travelling by myself (which I've also done before and been okay). Also I'm in the least developed country I've ever visited. I think each one of these things alone I can handle fine, but together they have been starting to overwhelm me. I honestly don't think I'd last another few weeks here by myself, I'd change my flight and come home early. I've considered it. But I am confident that once Geoff and Evelyn arrive, I will be okay again. Though I am also looking into the possibility of getting different antimalarial drugs, or even stopping them altogether, though that's a bit dangerous too. Another reason I blame the larium is that the worst mental state was the day after I took the pill. Anyway, that's the deep part of this post.

Beside the mental health, people will be possibly almost glad to know I have finally gotten sick. I guess I'm not quite invincible afterall! It's just a slight cold, throat's been feeling somewhat sore/itchy. It's mainly just an annoyance.

Anyway, off to try the famous Vic Baboo's Cafe for dinner.

A Week Early

So I left BFMS on monday, got a trotro to Wa. The road was paved mostly, but had a section that was not and was extremely dusty, I was covered! (even inside the vehicle). Not much to do there, spent a night, then went to Wechiau. It was pretty relaxing there, went on a canoe ride for 1.5 hrs, really liked it. But other than that, there wasn't really much to do, just sit around. After getting back, I chatted with Donna from Calgary Zoo for a while, it was really pleasant. Learned that Brian Keating will be there upcoming monday, along with a few other people! That would have been so cool! But it's not really worth going back there just for that, I'm sure he'll be busy anyways. Maybe I visited Donna too long, cause suddenly it looked like there was no transport back to Wa! I was getting stressed, but eventually a truck was going that way and gave me and a couple other people a ride. Once there, I started making some bad decisions. I stayed in a nice hotel, but that means a bit expensive, and I was there for such a short time that I didn't really get to enjoy it. (never saw it in daylight). I ordered a meal that I didn't even really like, don't understand why. Left this morning at 4:00 AM on an OSA bus... it really sucked. If you were one of the 50 first people, you got a proper seat, otherwise (eg. for me) you got stuck in one of the tiny fold down things crammed beside other people, with lots of other people standing, like calgary transit is after picking up people after school. Super bumpy road, kept sliding into the crevace between the pseudo-seat and real seats, was really uncomfortable, one of the worst transit experiences so far. Anyways, now in Tamale, going up to Bolga very soon. Hope it's nice. Not much time now, so that's it! Oh yeah, saw a satellite the other day, made me happy.

Farewell to BFMS

Probably the last post I'll make before travelling. Tomorrow is wrapping things up, and the next morning Julie and I are off. I have modified my plans a little, I will skip Bui cause it's a little risky time-wise (esp transport-wise), and my schedule was already pressed a bit. Now also if I find some other travellers to hang out with, I can do that for some time while still getting to see things I want to see.

Will miss this place a bit, it has been my home for a month. But at the same time, I am not that much attached to it. There have been a few good people I met here, hopefully will visit them again as we pass through on Sept 6 with Geoff.

Better go find a trotro back to the sanctuary or I could get stuck here!

PS sorry to those who post comments I don't have much time to reply to them, but I love receiving them!

My Hero

I made a terrible mistake! I called my bike the "African Champion." It's actually the "African Hero", Evelyn's bike is the "African Champion". What an insult, the champion's only a major piece of crap while the hero's an enormous piece of crap.

Anyways, finished work yesterday, yay! Some of the equipment is in such bad condition... I want to do the "office space" photocopier/fax machine scene on it. So now I'm doing a bit of touristy stuff nearby, and hanging out at BFMS, then I will start the travelling Monday when Julie leaves. I'm sure time will start going faster once I'm travelling.

Received a swiss army knife (with field experience!) from Evelyn as a 'completed work' gift, it's great!

My mind's drawing a blank, not sure what new exciting stuff to talk about, so I guess I'll go 'home'.

No Satellites

Nothing much new to report, things are the same as a few days ago. My bike (the "African Champion") is still painful, though I duct taped a dishtowel to the seat to make it a little better.

Had some neat ideas on how Evelyn should have used GPS and/or satellite imagery for some stuff, I guess it shows I still have a bit of Geomatics Engineering mindset.

Another interesting thing: When I look at the sky at night, I see tons of stars, but I don't see any satellites. In Calgary I can look up and usually see a couple satellites within a few minutes. Strange. Oh, and if you think a moment you should know it has nothing to do with the lower technological development of Africa.

Long-ish update

Well, work's going well enough that Evelyn decided to take today as a sick day so I figured I might as well come into town. The plan remains to work a fair amount for the next week and a half or so till it's all done, then Evelyn will go with Bright to Kumasi to start getting export permit stuff (Aug 17). Not sure if I will go along, doesn't seem to be any need for me to be there. Probably I will stay here, hang out a bit more, do a couple day trips to nearby things. Then I'll leave, to travel by myself for a couple weeks... check out Bui national park in the west, go to Wa in the northwest, maybe go to Bolgatanga in the north, then head down to Kumasi and see some stuff around there, then down to Cape Coast for slave forts, then head to Accra to meet Evelyn and Geoff August 4 when Geoff arrives. I will then travel with them for two weeks before leaving here, heading to Mole national park in the central-north, then down the east side of Lake Volta. Then I'm outta Ghana, for a week in United Arab Emirates, then on home. Of course, all these plans are not fixed in stone.

Several weeks left... still seems a little overwhelming at times.

Weather here has been kindof cool... a thermometer says it's been reaching 30 but I think it may be calibrated wrongly. Or maybe I'm just more used to it. The insects didn't bother me for a long time, but now I have lots of bites and stuff on my feet and hands, they are pretty itchy. I will have to take more caution about them.

Two weeks have past and I haven't been sick. I'm quite surprised. We'll see if things keep up this way, though that seems over-optimistic.

Wish I was a little bit shorter. I'm around 6 feet, and most beds are about 6 feet. Generally, my feet hang off the bottom of the bed. But when sleeping under a mosquito net which needs to be tucked in around the mattress, it means I can't stretch out at all. So sleep hasn't been that great.

My glasses broke a week or so ago. No impact or anything, they just spontaneously fell apart. They look easy to fix, just a bit of glue, but I'll probably wait till I'm back home to do it. Meanwhile, I will wear my spare glasses that I was smart enough to bring. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite smart enough to bring my older glasses which don't look as good but at least have clip-on sunglasses.

The bike I have to ride to the work sites is horrendous! The seat is a total ass tenderizer. The chain often slips or changes gear. The right pedal is a bit bent. The seat is too low. The brake (not plural) barely works. Oh well that's life.

A few assorted things of interest here:
- Cell phones seem far more common than ground lines. Kindof neat to see, like they skipped a step of technological development. But it makes sense, since the infrastructure isn't here, it's easier to start with cell phones.
- Lots of litter everywhere, pretty sad to see.
- For our research, have to chop a lot of paths, and damage a lot of trees, also saddens me.
- There are some kittens at the guest house, they are the cutest things ever! So fun to watch them playfighting!
- Lots of very Christian names of things. eg. "Christ Is The Answer Fashion Store."
- No daylight savings time, and we work according to the light, so we generally are up around 6 am and preparing for bed around 9 pm.

Not sure when my next post will be, but this is long enough.