lady turns into chicken

I was talking to a friend of mine here and he was telling me about a rumor that started early in the morning a few days ago and by noon it had gotten all over the city. It seems that a woman that makes a living carrying things for people bent over to pick up some money she saw on the ground. This is considered greedy here and should never be done. The story goes that as she picked up the money she turned into a chicken. People really believe this kind of thing. The next day it was on the front page of the most respectable newspaper in Ghana.

random pics from the trip

Hopefully, I will get back to writing about the trip for my benefit as well as those reading, but right now I think I will try to upload some pics...If you want to know more about the pics just ask.

break from trip

A few weeks agao, I wrote about how I had missed an exam and thought I failed the class. Well, it turns out that I somehow got an A- in that class. Strange considering the fact that the entire grade was based on an exam I did not take.

days four and five

day three

We woke up, got an egg sandwich and headed to catch a tro to Bolgatanga (Bolga). We got some of the last tickets and we learned that unless you are in a huge hurry you should just wait for the next one, otherwise, you end up with the worst seats. Drew ended up sitting in between two very large women on an already overcrowded bench. I ended up in a jump seat in the middle of the bus next to a woman with 3 children piled into her seat so that she only had to pay for one seat. At that point I knew that this was going to be one of the longest four hours ever! Along the way we saw a recently crashed tro tro turned on its side and people crawling out of the windows. This was not very comforting. We finally arrived in Bolga and went to look for some food to eat. It was Sunday, so there was not much open. We ended up getting some jollof (rice cooked with tomato paste and a few spices) and an egg (I have eaten more eggs here than I ever have in my life.) After eating we headed back to the tro tro station and found the van going to Tongo. The fare was 4,000 cedis. I asked how much it would cost to put my backpack on the roof and was told 5,000 cedis. This seemed like too much since it was more than the fare I would pay so I decided to carry it on. When it came time to pay I handed the tro tro mate 10,000 and paid for my ticket and Drew’s, expecting 2,000 back in change. The mate told me that he did not have change and would give it to me later. I told him that would be fine. In fact, I did not really care if I got the change or not since it is really less than a quarter. Later, he came back and told me that he was going to keep the 2,000 because I carried a bag on board. This was a new rule designed to squeeze extra money out of the tourist. At this point I decided that I really wanted that change and demanded he find the change and bring it right back to me. After arguing back and forth, I ended up getting it back. All left to do was wait for the tro to fillup and then we could leave. Since it was Sunday, we ended up waiting over an hour. For some reason, people are expected to wait on the tro and not leave after you have paid the fare. It was hot and I was still a little upset about the mate trying to take my 2,000. I could not wait to get off that van!

We finally arrive in Tongo and exit the tro. The driver comes up to me and tells me that I owe him 5,000 cedis for the bag. At this point I was in no mood to humor him and did what you should really not do in Ghana. I just said “NO!” and walked away. He was offended and began yelling at me. There was a time when I first arrived in which this would have intimidated me and I would have given in. Not anymore! He was saying that I can’t just say no. I could say that I did not have the money or I don’t want to pay, but not just “no”. Again, I just said “No!” and that I was not going to pay extra since the woman with the goat on her lap did not have to any anymore and my bag did not smell nearly as bad. I walked away as he was still yelling at me.


A kid, Zachias, on the tro was from Tenzug and said he knew our friend Tonya. We had heard that Tenzug was about 4 km away and located on top of a hill. Zachias picked up his bike in Tongo and agreed to carry one of our bags and water. We followed him down a path into the hills. The landscape was amazing and the setting sun made it look golden. It reminded me of the American Southwest. After about 5 minutes of walking and following Zachias we told him that he could go on ahead since he had his bike and we would be in Tenzug shortly. This was a mistake since we forgot to ask him for directions before he left. Ten minutes later we realized out mistake and we were lost. It was also beginning to get dark. We ended up asking some people we met along the way and they showed us to the road we were supposed to be on.


We finally arrived at Tonya’s village and found her house. It was a small building next to the school. We asked her about the area and if there were places that we were not allowed to explore. She pointed to two hills she said were off limits because they were considered sacred. If we went there she would have to pay for a cow to be sacrificed to cleanse the place. Not wanting to put her out we agreed not to go to those hills. That evening we sat around her house around a coleman lantern. Electricity had yet to come to her village and there were no immediate plans to connect it to the grid. She had lived there for over a year by then and said she enjoyed the simplicity. We were all pretty tired so we turned end after a couple of hours sitting around listening to Tonya play her guitar and sing. Drew and I decided to sleep outside in her courtyard. Because it was so dark here we had great view of the stars as we fell asleep.

The next day we got up had some breakfast that Tonya had gotten from the chief's house. Porrige and my fave food in Ghana, cosi. Cosi is smashed up beans that are made into a patty and fried. After that we playes some frisbee and then headed to take the tour of the village. The village is made up of people with traditional religious beliefs and they perform sacrifices of all sorts to the gods. At one point we went to a shrine in a cave on a cliff. This is the main shrine of the village where people come for advice. When you go there, you first have to have permission from the priest. You also have to bring a fowl to be sacrificed and you are not allowed to wear a shirt of any kind. It interesting to see and hear about since these people really believe in this stuff.

We spent the afternoon rock climbing around the village and the evening drinking warm beer that we sent a ckid to go get for us from the closest store (about 3 miles away).

day two

Woke up at the Catholic Guest House. The room we took had no electricity and the guard told us we could stay there for free (we gave him 10,000 cedis for his kindness).

After finding an egg sandwich stand we began to explore the city. The first thing I noticed was how clean it was when compared to Accra. Also, bikes and scooters outnumbered cars. In fact, they even have bike lanes! In Accra, people rarely ride bikes, because only poor people would have to ride a bike and nobody wants to be seen as poor. They would rather walk. We passed a stand by the side of the road displaying cow heads for sale. They told us we could buy one and they woulc break open the head so we could get to the brain. We the guy flipped one of them over hundreds of flies flew out. They also sold tails and feet. We moved on with out making a purchase.

We then moved on to the market. I have been to markets before and always found them to be a bit annoying. In the south it is hard to walk more than a few feet with out someone grabbing you and telling you to take a "nice good look". We weren't bothered at all in this market. For anyone who has not seen an African market before: it is kind of like a flea market in the it is generally in the open air. Vendors are behind their stands on either side of a narrow dirt path. Goods are spread out on tables and usually neatly stacked. You can get everything from tomatoes to fabric, get a haircut or have clothes made. I made one purchase that day. I bought what I was told was a bracelet. It was made of iron, very heavy and I could just barely sqeeze it over my hand. I was pretty happy with it and got it for 10,000 cedis ($1). Later that night someone told me that it was not a bracelet at all. It was a link from a chain used to imprison slaves during the slave trade. I took it off right away and felt pretty foolish. Other than that, this market did not really offer anything different from anyother than I had been to, but it was a nice walk.

We had heard that there was a leather tanning shop in the city, so we set off to find it. When we got there we peaked into the courtyard to see what was going on. It smelled like chemicals and rotting meat. A man was hammering tanned goat skins to the ground to dry. We wanted to learn more, bnut were told by one man that we would have to pay 100,000 cedis to the elders before looking around more. We decided leave. Instead, we watched people making sandles down the street. For about five dollars you could have a pair of sandles custom made. We talked a little bit to the people making them and found out that the family had been making them at that site for generations.

We were still pretty tired from the bus trip, so we decided to head back to the hotel and nap. Before that, we stopped and had lunch. A meal called red red. This is basically a stew made from beans and fried ripe plantains served on the side. Both the beans and plantains are red from the palm oil in which they are cooked. Food stands on the streets are called chop bars and are just about everywhere. In Ghana, you order your food based on how much you want to pay. For instance, I had 1000 cedis worth of beans and 500 cedis worth of plantains (total about 20 cents). It was enought to fill me up. Downside to chop bars...there is no running water, therefore, not always the cleanest for conditions. If you are not careful that the food is hot when served to you you could get sick! In the end it works out, with the money you are saving on food you will have enough left over and then some to by the meds you need to treat whatever illness you catch! Finally we reached the hotel and fell asleep.

We did not really know anyone in Tamale, but had gotten numbers from friends of friends. We gave them a call and were invited to a pub crawl that was going on that night. we ended up hitting it off with these people and meeting a ton more along the way. At about 1am we were in the back of a pick up on the way to the hotel for the night. The next day we would head further north to Bolgatanga.

day one

The trip actually begins the day before leaving Accra. I finished packing and left the hostel and got a cab to drop my things off at Octavio's home (where I am currently house sitting). I arrived around 8pm, we had dinner and some wine and did not even notice that it was close to midnight. My original plan was to stay with my friend Heather for the night and meet up with Drew the next morning and head north. I knw that Heather had been working long hours and she was probably asleep by then, but I called her anyway. She did not answer. I went to her house hoping I could wake her; I couldn't. I ended up sleeping on her porch for the night in a hard wooden chair. The next morning Drew called and said he left his "traveling pants" (whatever those are?) at work and would be late in meeting me. When we finally leave to catch a bus we find that they had all left earlier that day and they were booked for the next few days. We looked for anything that would take us north and finally found a bus at another station that sold us the last 2 tickets. It was 3pm by then. Eventhough we got the last tickets more people kept getting on the bus. In Ghana, bus companies want to make money, in order to do so they haev eliminated the aisle and put in jumpseats. Even after these filled more people got on the bus. I sat for 12 hours without moving my legs more than 5 inches and had a sweaty armpit resting on my knee.
We finally arrived in Tamale at 3am, found the Catholic Guest House and got a place to sleep for a few hours. Tiring ride, but it was meant to be the longest single haul during our trip, but as with many thigns in Ghana, things don't always go as planned.

trip

I just got back from a 2 plus week to the Upper West and Upper East regions of Ghana. It was one of the best trips I have taken in my life and allowed me to see a completely different side of Ghana. I took lots pictures, but then ended up deleting a good deal of them by accident halfway throught the trip; the ones that remained I have been unable to upload because I lost the USB connector cord somewhere along the route. Not sure what I will do about that since I dont think I can buy one here. If anyone has an extra they would like to send me, I would not argue!

Why did I like the North so much? Well, for one thing the weather was awesome-dry and hot. The landscape reminded me alot of the southwest US. Most of all it was the people. In the south, Accra especially, people are much more aggressive and I often get the feeling that people talk to me only becuase they want to sell me something or get get them to the US somehow. The endless obruni calls are also annoying in the south. The North is culturally much different. It is less developed and less
westernized for one. It is also mostly Muslim. They get far fewer westerners visiting and when they do visit they seem genuinely interested in talking to them. Not once did anyone want anything from me. In fact, most people were offering things for me to eat or drink all the time. My time in the North made me love Ghana and was sad to head back south. Fortunately, I am house sitting again. This time for a guy from Brazil, so I will live in a nice place for a while after a couple weeks of camping, sleeping on rooftops and riding in the back of pick up trucks on bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Also gives me time to find a place of my own before classes begin again.

Quick overview
Day 1 & 2
Left Accra for Tamale, pub crawl in Tamale with some Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)
Day 3 & 4
Tamale to Bolgatanga then to a town outside the city (Tenzug) to stay at a PCV's site
Day 5
Left Tenzug through Bolga again and then stopped in Tumu to rest for the night.
Day 6
Arrived in Wa and headed to Wechaiu Hippo Sanctuary
Day 7
Hippo Sanct
Day 8 & 9
Back to Wa and then to Sombo for a PCV Christmas party
Day 10
Back to Wa, spent the night with some more volunteers
Day 11-13
Left Wa and headed to Mole National Park
Day 14
Left Mole and headed back to Tamale to catch a tro tro to Kumasi
Day 15-17
Left Kumasi and headed for the beach in Axim and then Busua for New Year's Eve
Day 18
Back to Accra to House sit

It was a long trip and did get a little tired of the endless tro tros, but I actually really loved the whole thing and had a great travel partner. With the exception of the money that was stolen from me between Wa and Mole I actually saved money by traveling rather than staying in Accra. Today I will begin the trip and hopefully find a way to put the pics on here too. Until then, Happy Holidays!