Easter Travels

Okay, get comfy because this is going to be a long one, sorry!

Friday 10th april - we woke up at 3 am and made our way to the STC station to catch our 4am bus, which of course didnt leave until 5.30am, our bus to kumasi took 5 hours and was a bit of a bumpy ride but we finally got there and booked in to a place recommended called guest line lodge. I still wonder why anyone would recomend that place, the floor was growing mould, the toilet leaked onto the floor when u flushed it and the shower water smelt funky :S so we quickly chnaged accomodation the next day to something still grotty but slightly less hazardous to health. In kumasi we went to a "cinema" which turned out to be a room with a tv in it, and also went to kejetia market which was absolutely insane but good fun until i got lost in the raw meat and fish section which smelt very offensive :( a few of us also went clubbing on our first night which was pretty fun too :) On easter sunday all our travel plans changed, we were supposed to be heading to bolgatanga which is at the very north of the country but i got a call from another guy in our group saying they had been armed robbed on the road to bolgatanga. none of them were hurt but some locals were which is sad, so we decided it was best to just avoid that area, there was no point taking the risk.
we made our way to beomen-feima monkey sanctuary next and fed monkeys, then next got to bouyem to a 3 hour hike into bat caves where a bat flew into my face and cut me! have to say i handled the situation very well and fled screaming from the caves with my hands over my face haha so brave :) after that was kintampo falls which were beautiful and we got there early enough to be the only ones there as well so nice and peaceful too :)
A four hour trotro ride to tamale was next, which i sat half on some mans lap, my butt went completely numb and i got to watch brittany and katie sitting comfortably infront of me in the front seats for the entire journey, have to say i was pretty jealous, not that sitting on a strangers lap who is soaking you with his sweat isnt lovely. We stayed the night in Tamale and got the bus to mole national park the next day. At mole i saw elephants and baboons and antelope on the walking safari which was amazing, the elephants were the most exciting part of the walk, i was a bit nervous because they were so huge but really glad i got to see them in the wild :) the baboons were pretty cool, until i saw one attack a local woman who made the mistake of eating outside :S after mole we took motorbike rides into the village nearby called larabanga and stayed at the salia brothers guesthouse, which had no fans so we had to sleep on the roof which was pretty cool, but also a bit scary when i fell over someones leg and did a very graceful forward roll over everyone sleeping, thankfully not off the side of the roof! lots of trotros and buses on our way to our next destination which always tires you out but eventually we reached yeji. What to say about yeji? other than that if i ever am there again i know im in hell. possibly the worst place i have ever been in my life, FLIES EVERYWHERE all over you! and we couldnt leave because we were taking a ferry from yeji all the way down lake volta to akosombo, a day and a half trip (or so we thought) so we waited for the ferry which was to arrive at 8pm, it arrived at 2 am, i was trying to sleep on the floor covered in flies and pretty much at the end of what i could take but eventually the ferry arrived and i watched as evryone getting on didnt wait for everyone getting off so again there was a huge riot, then a fork lift truck decided to make it way through the crowd which didnt really help the situation. eventually i got on to the boat and pretty much dont think its worth talking about my time on the ferry. a day and a half turned into 60 hours of transporting yams, cattle, and arguing with scary ghanaian women. A soldier tried to take my mattress and i started the most ridiculous argument with them, over the most disgusting, thin dirty mattress you will ever see, but i hadnt had one yet and my hips were bruised from sleeping on the benches and i was so excited to have a mattress and then they took it away from me :( i eventually told them they could have their stupid mattress and proceeded to burst into tears, very embarrassing but oh well i was so tired from all the travelling it was going to come out eventually, obviously over something important like a mattress! lol. after we finally escaped the ferry i stayed at henrys in accra and then at brittanys friend johannahs house for a few days where we were very well looked after and got a lot of rest :) we went to see a film in a real cinema this time! and went to the craft market too. Next was cape coast to the canopy walk and the slave castle. Finally got back to my placement last night (3rd may) and am so happy i am back! i think i start teaching again sometme this week or next not sure. But although travelling here is tough and takes a while, i had so much fun, laughed a lot and ate so many omlette sandwiches i have lost count! but still happy to be back in my bed and not living out of a bag anymore :) sorry this account isnt mega detailed, but i can tel u all properly when i get home. love you all lots, thanks for all my posts i read them all and its nice toknow you guys are reading this blog xxxx