Ghana Anyone

Our trip to Ghana was quite the experience. Transport was interesting to say the least. We left Ouagadougou at 8 in the morning. Its was 20 hours in a bus until we reached Accra. It wasn't the worst transport we've taken but definitely wasn't very fun. When we finally got into Accra we hopped a taxi over to the airport to pick up the family. The airport was pretty nice for a smaller airport and there was a pretty good Chinese Restaurant there. As the parents arrived we called the hotel and they sent a shuttle to pick us up. Lambadi Beach Hotel was pretty amazing. The landscaping was gorgeous tropical rainforest. There was a good sized pool to swim in and then we had direct access to the beach. The beach was beautiful if crowded. Having private access was nice and hard at the same time. Once you left the private area there were venders everywhere trying to selling you things. That isn't so bad but the fact that they mark the price up 4 or 5 times the real price, then won't budge on their price. Becky and I are used to discussing prices to a reasonable level but this was ridiculous and really annoying. Once you got by the venders and into the water, it was pretty fun. The water was perfect and the surf wasn't too heavy. We tried to body surf a little and it was fun. Becky had some extra friendly Ghanians wanting to teach her how to swim until she told them she was married to me. Getting a town of Accra was OK, nothing too horribly interesting. The Makola Market was fun to go to and we found so really nice cloth there. When we went to the Cultural Center we were swarmed before we even got out of the car. The venders there were assholes and completely ridiculous. We gave up trying to shop there after about 20 minutes. To finish the tour out we had a great lunch at an American style sports bars called Chaps. Speaking of food, the breakfast buffet at the hotel was to die for. It was like a real American breakfast buffet. There was eggs, bacon, two kinds of sausage, and the best fresh fruit I've ever had. Becky and I ate till we were nearly sick. It was fabulous.

After 3 days in paradise, we had to take transport back. The way down wasn't pleasant but not unpleasant. On the way back the driver stopped every hour to hour and a half for something. Then when we stopped to get gas, he took and hour and a half and then had only filled one of the tanks. So he let half of us on then had to circle around for my gas then back for the rest of the passengers. It was so bad that the Africans were staring to get pissed at him.

As we finally got in, the parents and I hopped a cab to the local transport and just got on a bus out to Boulsa. So after 26+ hours of travel we spent another 4 hours getting to Boulsa. We were exhausted when we got in. The parents seemed to enjoy site quite a bit. They were interested in meeting all the people that we work with and seeing where we usually go. The lycee was abandoned because of Christmas break, but I showed them my room and one of Becky's. After a whirlwind tour there we headed back to Ouagadougou for another couple of days and me supposed to be going to In-Service Training.

I didn't make all that much of training, but Becky was able to catch me up in about 5 minutes. We went out to Artisan Village and spent a lot of time and money, and found some pretty cool stuff. We got to eat at some pretty good food. Chris, Dad and I went golfing at the Ouagadougou Country Club. It was pretty entertaining. We had two caddies for our clubs and AstroTurf. Then a guy for smoothing out the oiled-sand greens. Then our taxi driver and his wing man carried our drinks. The hazards were either painted or you didn't get to use AstroTurf, plus the occasional livestock wandering across the fairway.

The last day of vacation was spent tracking down souvenirs for everyone. It was fun and stressful at the same time. Then we hung out at the airport for a couple of hours before the flight buying random stuff and talking with a RPVC about his business in BF.