Name: Becky
Occupation: Student/Occassional Auxiliary Nurse/ABA Therapist/Serial traveller/owner of itchy feet
Home Towm: Bangor, North Wales
Current Location: Bangor
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| Tuesday, May 06, 2008 |
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Travel Tales
Not really a huge amount of any interest to tell I'm afraid, most of the week involved being proposed to or getting annoyed with Ghanaian transport. Spent my first night (Saturday) at Busua beach, was accosted by some tourists when I got to the taxi staion who wanted to go to a resort that was abit out of the way and wanted to know if I wanted to share a taxi there. I had planned to go but changed my mind when i realised how expensive the taxi would be for just one, so agreed to go, only to find when we arrived that both the places in that area were full! So had to drive all the way back and find somewhere else, which I did without to many problems. Spent the following morning swimming in the rain, then went back to Takradi to get the train to Kumasi... only to be told it hasn't run for about 3 years! Tried to get a tro-tro (battered minibus type thing), but sat there for over an hour without it leaving and realised I would be getting to Kumasi very late and despite calling some places, hadn't managed to get a hotel room, so decided it wold be safer to go back to Mama Joyce for the night. Which I did, without too much hassle, and then got a nice comfy air-conned bus the next day to Kumasi where I was looked after by one of Paschal's students, Steven. It's not the most exciting place in th world, but it's the regional capital and home to the king of one of the biggest tribes, so visited the palace and a couple of museums about the Ashanti people, and went to the biggest market in West Africa- it was huuuuge. My lasting memory however, will be walking around endless banks trying to find one that would take my Mastercard, eventually found that Barclays would, which was the first bank we had gone to, but rather than letting me go in to ask, Steven just spoke to the guards who sent us to a different bank! Wednesday I went on to Accra, and arrived late evening due to horrific traffic around the outskirts. There I had more fun with transport, I asked a taxi to take me to the national museum, told him the road it was on (one of the biggest in Accra) and showed him on the map... he took me to the Memorial Museum for Kwame Nkrumah, which I only realised after I had payed, gone in and not found anything the guidebook mentioned! Went to some of the sites around that part of town, including the cultural centre (market aimed at tourists so hassle is endless), and Independence Square. From there tried to get another taxi to the museum, who told me he knew where it was, then pulled over to ask for directions! I ended up getting out to try to find it on foot (it was about one thirty by then so really hot!), but had no idea where I was! Eventually found a nice man who walked me there, wanted my number in return, but I'd temporarily forgotten I had a number in Ghana, very conveniently! Friday was spent trekkin around town again, this time in search of visas! I phoned the Togo embassy in the morning to check they were open (had tried to go the day before only to be told it wa sa holiday so could get a visa!), and that they could give me a VTE (visa for several of the french speaking west African countries) which they said they could, I asked how much it was and they gave me a price in CFA, asked what it was in dollars, but was told I could only pay in CFA! I didn't have enough so went to the Barclays near my hotel, but was told I could only use a Mastercard at the head office... ON THE OTHERSIDE OF TOWN! The embassy was on my side on the city. Traffic was bad, had to wait, then trek about for a forex with CFA, and then get back to the embassy, where I was told that the visas were 'finished', they had run out of visas! Had lots of issues there which resulted in me hanging about for ages and then not being able to get a visa, I have to go back in two weeks when they will get some more from Lome. Not Happy! The rest of day was frustrating, except the hour I spent in an air-conned net cafe with a fast connection and managed to get some pics online (via Carl), see facebook. Again transport and people who won't leave me alone were annoying, ut eventully managed to get to Kokrobitey beach, where I found a room, had a great BBQ dinner and watched the sun set over the sea. The next day was typically grey (the last two days we beautifully sunny, as was the following day), but still warm so went in the sea, ate the hugest pizza in the world, and chatted to the locals. The next day I dragged myself away from the beach (at 8:30 I was already hot enough to want to spend all day in the sea) and got a taxi (driver asked to marry me) to the junction where I got a tro-tro to another junction and an old man showed me where to get a taxi to Winneba, then asked for my number! Got a taxi, was waiting for more passengers and got proposed to again! Got there but when I enquired about where I should go and when was told that the festivities for that day would be in the evening, and as I thought I had work the next day decided to leave, especially as it was far to hot to do anything except sit in the sea or in a air conditioned room. So made my way back home, with remarkably few offers of marriage! As it turns out I didn't have work the next day, or today, but I have met with Paschal and will be spending the next two days in an orphanage, then will meet with a doc fro ma locl clinic and will hopefully being working with her from then on, will be getting details of my job later but it sounds lke it will be vaccinating and going out to local villages and doing clinic sessions there. Will give more details as I get them! 4:13 PM Comment (0) ... PermaLink |