Before I begin part 3 I thought I should update you on life here... We had no running water again. Only four days this time before it came back. I made it a point to ask people why they put up with it, and their responses were basically ''what can we do?''
Demanding something from a government that is 1) corrupt and 2) unable to help its people is not something any of us have experienced. If there was a water shortage in the States, there would be riots and angry people heading for the water company. I get the feeling that people here are completely struggle to have their voices heard. One place we sometimes eat dinner has a nice lady that I have befriended. She told me that she had to go past Kaneshie Market to get water. That's almost 2 km or over 1.5 miles!
Second piece of news, our interschools competition finally began! After studying HIV/AIDS for 4 months, we decided to test the children's knowledge. With 17-schools in the program, we designed a 4 round bracket competition. Round 1 was this past Friday so we are now down to just 8 schools. The school I teach won the first round and I am excited to see if they continue to advance to the final.
Back to the story.....
Chapter 6: Elephants and the Journey Home
We had just left Wechiau and were now arriving into Wa. Wa is a fairly big city with a decently sized bus station. The station had signs indicating where the buses were going, which is rare here in Ghana. Before we boarded a bus we decided to take out some money from the bank and eat a real meal. Full and back on track we headed to the station.
We quickly found a sign that read Wa to Tamale. On that route to Tamale is Larabanga and 1km outside of Larabanga is Mole Park. It is very common to drop at Larabanga on the way to Tamale, especially since there are a very limited number of direct buses to Mole. We entered the bus and triple checked that it was the right bus. Kate even clarified by saying ''first this bus goes to Sawla and the next stop is Tamale. We can exit at Mole, which is on the way to Tamale, correct??'' We got the affirmative from 2 people and felt relaxed. This was the first time we would arrive to our destination in the daytime and have a chance to relax at the lodging before sleep.
The bus waited until it was full and we took off. We arrived to Sawla in about one hour and a half, and that meant about another hour to Mole. The bus continued driving to the next city, stopped and the driver called out ''last stop'' meaning end of the line. Well, we looked around at the extremely small city and then I noticed a sign that read ''Bole.''
Bole. A tiny city 30 minutes south of Sawla. Not even remotely in the right direction of Mole or Tamale. Not even close. Not a side track or short cut. Complete the wrong direction. According to the driver, he thought we wanted to go to Bole first and spend the night and then leave for Tamale in the morning. This is the sort of assumptions many people made during the trip. Either they didn't listen to you or they just assumed. They never ask to clarify further and as a result we received constant false information.
Now stuck in Bole we had to figure out how to leave. Luckily we were only 30 minutes from the bigger city of Sawla and there was a TroTro heading there. It was waiting to be full and that took about an hour before we could leave. It was now about 4pm. Around 4:30 we arrived to Sawla and had to find the next available bus to Tamale.
In the north, anything past 4pm is late. Because the roads are so bad and it gets dark early, most TroTros end around 4, meaning the only available transport is maybe a truck or hitchhiking with someone. The locals all know, if you are later than 4pm, just wait til morning.
Well, we didn't know that and more importantly we were going to Mole on the last day of our trip - the same day we had to head back to Accra. Our time was running out and we needed to get to Mole asap. In Sawla we happened to run into 2 Spanish people from Barcelona. They were interns teaching kids just like us and were in Ghana for about a month. More accustomed to life in the north, they helped us procure means of getting to Mole. One option was getting in the back of a truck and heading to Larabanga. As we got out of the TroTro when we first arrived I heard a man in a truck yell Larabanga. Not knowing that was our only chance, I ignored him. Mistake number 234843542309 of this trip.
The next option was hiring a taxi to take us. The first guy wanted 150 Cedis. The second wanted 100. After a lot of negotiating, which would not have been possible without the Spanish and their connections, we agreed on 80 Cedis. That's about 60 USD. A ridiculous price, but the only option. It had since become dark and we needed to leave. We were told the ride would take about an hour -- which I guess really means 4 hours because that is what is actually took! 4 hours downs a busted, dusty road. At least we had a private TroTro to ourselves and not a truck bed.
We didn't arrive to the gates of Mole until 11pm. We paid the entrance fee of 5 cedis (Kate meanwhile had an issue getting the student price since her ID is in Chinese... even though it says Shingua University right at the top. Mole Motel was actually pretty nice. Our room had 3 beds and a decent bathroom. Exhausted from the day, we all showered and then passed out.
The safari the next day began at 7am and we hired a Safari Jeep to drive us around the park. I stood about 50 feet away from this elephant and then watched a few others play in a lake. It was really pretty cool... definitely a highlight of the trip. Our safari lasted about 2 hours and other than the elephants we saw some monkeys and birds. It's not the type of safari you are probably picturing, but this is West Africa. Northern Ghana is wide open, dry, barren. It is not a vast open land space with lions and hyenas and zebra. Nonetheless, it is still beautiful in its own right.
After the safari we planned to swim in the pool and relax for a while. Noticing it was already 9am and considering it would take 4 hours to get back to Tamale just counting the driving time and nothing else, we decided that we'd better leave. We needed to leave for Accra on that day and we could not afford to miss a bus.... again.
Without shower or pool, we shared a taxi with a German Ghanaian woman and her German husband to Damongo where we could catch the bus to Tamale. Interesting conversation with the lady about her experience returning to Ghana. In one word she said ''difficult.''
With all the transfers and waiting time, we didn't get to Tamale until 3:30pm. We purchased our tickets for the 5:30pm bus and went for dinner in the meantime. At dinner I think we were all reflecting on the past 6 days. I had started to get sick so my head was spinning and my body was aching. Roy just looked sort of lost. Kate looked tired and ready to be home. The only thing stopping us was the 11 hour bus ride.
The ride home was uneventful. Mostly just driving through the dark all night. The road was very bumpy making it nearly impossible to sleep. On the bright side, I don't think I will ever complain about a long car ride again. Also, in Ghana I have learned to sleep through bright lights, loud noise, constant fan overhead and maybe now bumpy roads. Summer's in Cleveland will be easy...
We arrived back to Accra at 5:30am and as I entered my room, all of the lights were on and someone was sleeping in my bed on my sheets. Too tired to be angry, I showered, kicked the person out of my bed, threw a clean sheet down and then passed out.
So, ''how was your trip?'' I'm still not sure how I should respond.
The End.
Demanding something from a government that is 1) corrupt and 2) unable to help its people is not something any of us have experienced. If there was a water shortage in the States, there would be riots and angry people heading for the water company. I get the feeling that people here are completely struggle to have their voices heard. One place we sometimes eat dinner has a nice lady that I have befriended. She told me that she had to go past Kaneshie Market to get water. That's almost 2 km or over 1.5 miles!
Second piece of news, our interschools competition finally began! After studying HIV/AIDS for 4 months, we decided to test the children's knowledge. With 17-schools in the program, we designed a 4 round bracket competition. Round 1 was this past Friday so we are now down to just 8 schools. The school I teach won the first round and I am excited to see if they continue to advance to the final.
Back to the story.....
Chapter 6: Elephants and the Journey Home
We had just left Wechiau and were now arriving into Wa. Wa is a fairly big city with a decently sized bus station. The station had signs indicating where the buses were going, which is rare here in Ghana. Before we boarded a bus we decided to take out some money from the bank and eat a real meal. Full and back on track we headed to the station.
We quickly found a sign that read Wa to Tamale. On that route to Tamale is Larabanga and 1km outside of Larabanga is Mole Park. It is very common to drop at Larabanga on the way to Tamale, especially since there are a very limited number of direct buses to Mole. We entered the bus and triple checked that it was the right bus. Kate even clarified by saying ''first this bus goes to Sawla and the next stop is Tamale. We can exit at Mole, which is on the way to Tamale, correct??'' We got the affirmative from 2 people and felt relaxed. This was the first time we would arrive to our destination in the daytime and have a chance to relax at the lodging before sleep.
The bus waited until it was full and we took off. We arrived to Sawla in about one hour and a half, and that meant about another hour to Mole. The bus continued driving to the next city, stopped and the driver called out ''last stop'' meaning end of the line. Well, we looked around at the extremely small city and then I noticed a sign that read ''Bole.''
Bole. A tiny city 30 minutes south of Sawla. Not even remotely in the right direction of Mole or Tamale. Not even close. Not a side track or short cut. Complete the wrong direction. According to the driver, he thought we wanted to go to Bole first and spend the night and then leave for Tamale in the morning. This is the sort of assumptions many people made during the trip. Either they didn't listen to you or they just assumed. They never ask to clarify further and as a result we received constant false information.
Now stuck in Bole we had to figure out how to leave. Luckily we were only 30 minutes from the bigger city of Sawla and there was a TroTro heading there. It was waiting to be full and that took about an hour before we could leave. It was now about 4pm. Around 4:30 we arrived to Sawla and had to find the next available bus to Tamale.
In the north, anything past 4pm is late. Because the roads are so bad and it gets dark early, most TroTros end around 4, meaning the only available transport is maybe a truck or hitchhiking with someone. The locals all know, if you are later than 4pm, just wait til morning.
Well, we didn't know that and more importantly we were going to Mole on the last day of our trip - the same day we had to head back to Accra. Our time was running out and we needed to get to Mole asap. In Sawla we happened to run into 2 Spanish people from Barcelona. They were interns teaching kids just like us and were in Ghana for about a month. More accustomed to life in the north, they helped us procure means of getting to Mole. One option was getting in the back of a truck and heading to Larabanga. As we got out of the TroTro when we first arrived I heard a man in a truck yell Larabanga. Not knowing that was our only chance, I ignored him. Mistake number 234843542309 of this trip.
The next option was hiring a taxi to take us. The first guy wanted 150 Cedis. The second wanted 100. After a lot of negotiating, which would not have been possible without the Spanish and their connections, we agreed on 80 Cedis. That's about 60 USD. A ridiculous price, but the only option. It had since become dark and we needed to leave. We were told the ride would take about an hour -- which I guess really means 4 hours because that is what is actually took! 4 hours downs a busted, dusty road. At least we had a private TroTro to ourselves and not a truck bed.
We didn't arrive to the gates of Mole until 11pm. We paid the entrance fee of 5 cedis (Kate meanwhile had an issue getting the student price since her ID is in Chinese... even though it says Shingua University right at the top. Mole Motel was actually pretty nice. Our room had 3 beds and a decent bathroom. Exhausted from the day, we all showered and then passed out.
The safari the next day began at 7am and we hired a Safari Jeep to drive us around the park. I stood about 50 feet away from this elephant and then watched a few others play in a lake. It was really pretty cool... definitely a highlight of the trip. Our safari lasted about 2 hours and other than the elephants we saw some monkeys and birds. It's not the type of safari you are probably picturing, but this is West Africa. Northern Ghana is wide open, dry, barren. It is not a vast open land space with lions and hyenas and zebra. Nonetheless, it is still beautiful in its own right.
After the safari we planned to swim in the pool and relax for a while. Noticing it was already 9am and considering it would take 4 hours to get back to Tamale just counting the driving time and nothing else, we decided that we'd better leave. We needed to leave for Accra on that day and we could not afford to miss a bus.... again.
Without shower or pool, we shared a taxi with a German Ghanaian woman and her German husband to Damongo where we could catch the bus to Tamale. Interesting conversation with the lady about her experience returning to Ghana. In one word she said ''difficult.''
With all the transfers and waiting time, we didn't get to Tamale until 3:30pm. We purchased our tickets for the 5:30pm bus and went for dinner in the meantime. At dinner I think we were all reflecting on the past 6 days. I had started to get sick so my head was spinning and my body was aching. Roy just looked sort of lost. Kate looked tired and ready to be home. The only thing stopping us was the 11 hour bus ride.
The ride home was uneventful. Mostly just driving through the dark all night. The road was very bumpy making it nearly impossible to sleep. On the bright side, I don't think I will ever complain about a long car ride again. Also, in Ghana I have learned to sleep through bright lights, loud noise, constant fan overhead and maybe now bumpy roads. Summer's in Cleveland will be easy...
We arrived back to Accra at 5:30am and as I entered my room, all of the lights were on and someone was sleeping in my bed on my sheets. Too tired to be angry, I showered, kicked the person out of my bed, threw a clean sheet down and then passed out.
So, ''how was your trip?'' I'm still not sure how I should respond.
The End.
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