Outroduction

Well, if you remember my very first post after arriving in Ghana, it was clear that I had a bad first impression. Now that I am about to leave, I unfortunately had an even worse last impression. Thankfully, there were some good things in between.

Anyways, since last blog, went to the Wli waterfalls, they were really nice, relaxed there for a few hours. Next day, did a pretty strenuous hike up Mt. Afadjato, the tallest mountain in Ghana(though there were higher points around, I guess they mean highest from base to peak, not from sea level, who knows). And saw some waterfalls near there which were also impressive. Really tired by the end though. Great views all around though, it was quite enjoyable.

Today, came to Accra. We had plans to visit Aburi on the way, but the tro tro took a different route than we thought, and we had to wait much lnoger for it to fill, so we didn't have a chance to go there. I honestly wasn't really interested in that place anyways. Went out for lunch once we got here. Accra is clearly Ghana's link to the outside world, it has a very different atmosphere. Big billboards advertising american products and such. Anyways, after lunch we were going to rest a little before going out for souvenir shopping. This is where the terrible final impression of Ghana came up.

Someone stole $310 from me. It must have been stolen at one of the last couple hotels I was at. It was in my large backpack which I leave in the room, someone must have gone in while I was out and taken it. And they were careful about it too, didn't take anything that would be immediately obvious, just money. And instead of taking the whole envelopes the money was in, or taking all the money, they left one bill so on quick inspection it would seem the money is still there. So, from two money stashes, a total of $310 was stolen. I can't believe it. I wish I had been more careful, checked on the money more often so I'd know exactly when it was taken, etc. But now there's nothing really I can do, there's no proof of who took it, and even if I knew, nothing I can do about it. I have reasons to think it was at the hotel in Nkwanta, on tuesday. However, I'm not positive it was them. After telling Geoff and Evelyn about my loss, they checked into their stuff, since they had noticed it seemed they had much less ghanaian money than expected. And they had a single US$100 bill that they now can't find, so they think they
maybe got robbed too. But for them, they know it would have to have been in Hohoe (the place we stayed a few days between Nkwanta and here) since they had just changed some money there. And they had it with them most of the time, except for going out to dinner one evening. So maybe the hotel there went into our stuff carefully when we went out to eat and came
across the money and took it. Oh well, nothing any of us can do about it. It just really sucks. What a great experience for the last little bit of time in Ghana. We didn't feel much up for souvenir shopping after that.

Anyway, I guess it supports a point I was going to make in this outroduction, observations about this trip, and the world in general. One point I wanted to make is that although many things are different here, fundamentally people are pretty much the same anywhere you go. Some people have been relly great, but some people are really terrible. Some are very generous, some are greedy. Some are friendly, some are not. Many people tell me how Ghanaians are so friendly, which is true as far as saying some of them are, but as a people on the whole, it's similar to other places.

Some people are cynical and are anti-western society (the one that they often choose to continue living in) in such a way to glorify "third world" places. They believe that a poorer society automatically means a more nobel one, or perhaps one with a higher moral standing. But this is complete silliness, a twisted view of the world. All of the inherent evils of our western civilisation are generally found in other societies too.

Anyways, that'll be it for my world-view analysis. On a smaller scale, my experience here. Overall, from a pure "enjoyment" standpoint, i have to say I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed myself more if I had just stayed in calgary for these past two months. However, I have had many experiences here, memories to take with me from this little chapter. Also, as I think I mentioned before, I have learned a great deal, especially some things about myself. So it's far from being a wasted trip.

I'm sure I have many more things to say, but they're not coming to mind right now. At least there'll be more opportunities to talk about them, even if the situation isn't as prime.

So tomorrow, in the morning we will do the little bit of souvenir shopping, then return to the hotel for final packing of everything, hopefully I can send some of the stuff I don't want with me back to Clagary with Evelyn. In the early afternoon we head to the airport, where Evelyn and I depart around 3:00. Geoff unfortunately has to wait until the evening.

Haven't heard anything from travel cuts about the possibility of changing my flight, and haven't heard anything from the youth hostel assciation in UAE about reservations, I'm disappointed in both of them, but not surprised. Hope things work out. After today's bad experience, I'm even more in the mood to just come home soon.