Back to Frankadua

Posted on September 18, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

Is it weird that I really don’t mind how long it takes to get from place to place here? I know that some people like the weekends away but hate the traveling that it takes to make it happen. I, on the other hand, almost like the time in the tros just as much as the time at the destinations. I think it has to do with being able to feel like I have some time alone, even though I’m still surrounded by people. That’s why I’m all about the back seat, window spot. You can look out the window, put some headphones in, and block out everything else. It’s good for me to have a break sometimes.

Anyway, today was another long travel day. We planned to leave Kokrobite at 2PM, but as is the tendency with large groups, we left way later… we weren’t on the road until 4. So what did everyone do with all of that time during the day? Well, some people went to the beach and enjoyed our last few hours of vacation. What did I do? I slept. I woke up in the morning, ate breakfast, contemplated doing something, and instead sat on my bed and passed out for a few more hours. This seems to be my new habit… I don’t sleep as much as I should each night and force myself to function throughout the day anyway. Eventually it all catches up to me, I hibernate for a day, and I’m back in action. Sounds healthy, right? Okay, I’ll work on it…

Tro #2 with the back open.. It made us feel very secure.

When we finally left at 4, I was in need of some “alone” time in the tro because from 2PM – 4PM I got progressively more and more annoyed that we weren’t leaving. Luckily, there was plenty of tro time in my future, and we went back on our fun journey from Kokrobite to somewhere in Accra to Atimpoku and finally to Frankadua.

We ate dinner on the road. This is actually one of my favorite things, and it’s something I’m going to sorely miss when I leave. I don’t know if I’ve talked about this before, but when tros go through a town, a toll, traffic, etc (anything that slows you down), there are always a bunch of people selling things on their heads. A lot of it is food, but Amber and Nico even bought headphones off some guy on our way. We’re all currently obsessed with bofrot which is basically a big donut ball. VERY healthy. You can also buy Fan Ice (the ice cream in a tube we got on our first day) off of people’s heads, and we’re obsessed with that too.

Like I was saying, when the tro tros slow, people swarm the car trying to sell you the stuff on their heads. If you want something in particular, you just say it and someone will go find the person who has what you want. So we asked a woman selling laundry washing powder for bofrot, and within 20 seconds the bofrot lady was at our window, bagging warm donut balls for us. Yum. And fantastically efficient. I think my laziness level will be at an all-time high when I get home. Going into a store is way too inconvenient.

We didn’t get back until 7:30ish, and I am exhausted (you know, from all of the hard work I did today). Time for bed! The weekend is over and it’s back to the farm tomorrow morning. Hello, 5AM. I’ve missed you (NOT).

Kokrobite

Posted on September 17, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

There’s really not much to say about today because I did almost nothing, and it was awesome! The day started when I woke up at 10, a welcome break from my usual 5AM alarm. We had a leisurely breakfast, headed to the beach (right outside of our hotel), and kicked a soccer ball around. Once other people started joining in and it developed into a game, I decided it was time for me to duck out and just watch.

I worked on my tan (aka fell asleep on the beach) until everyone was overheated enough to go in the freezing cold water. That lasted probably less than 10 minutes… the water was rough and it was hard to do anything except dodge waves.

To complete our action packed day, we decided to go on a hike in the afternoon, left during the hottest part of the day, got 15 minutes into it, realized that it would probably take 10 times as long as we expected, and turned around. So yeah… very productive today. Anyway, I’ve said all there is to say, so rather than rambling on about nothing, here are some pictures!

The well and bucket for fetching shower water

The outside of the shower. Using this one was pretty weird because there’s no door, and the walls are about neck height so you can see everyone walking by.

The inside of the shower “room”. As you can see, no showerhead. Yay for bucket showers!

Off to Kokrobite!

Posted on September 16, 2016March 14, 2019 by Lark

Another weekend, another adventure! This is Amber and Sosane’s last weekend, and they decided we should go to Kokrobite, a beach town about 30 minutes west of Accra. I’m just happy to be somewhere away from Frankadua to have a chance to finish my mental reset. I feel a lot better than I did at the beginning of the week, but I think that it will be good to have a couple days of a change of scenery. The group for the weekend is Amber, Nico, James, Sosane, three soccer guys, and me.

The trip here was NOT simple, and I honestly don’t think that I could do it again on my own. We had a few guys from the soccer team with us who knew the way, and thank goodness because there was a lot of walking between tros and weaving through crowded streets. We took one tro from Frankadua to somewhere around Accra, another one from there to another somewhere around Accra, and the last one from there to Kokrobite. I know, that was so amazingly detailed that you’re thinking you could probably do it with your eyes closed.

Kokrobite is located just outside of Accra.

We didn’t leave home until probably 11AM, so we got to the hotel around 3PM, took a little time to get organized, and went to dinner around 5. James has been to Kokrobite before, and he led us to this food stand about 10 minutes away where we got some awesome fried chicken and rice. Afterwards, we played cards until it got dark. Sosane and James aren’t all about President like we are, so we played a game that they called Blackjack (as far as I can tell, it’s basically Uno with regular cards). What do people do for fun without cards? I love that that’s our go-to activity. This really does feel like summer camp sometimes.

My favorite part of the day was walking on the beach at night. I think it was something about the moon and the clouds and how they looked from the ground, but as soon as I walked out onto the sand, it took my breath away. The moon was bright and directly overhead, and the clouds were kind of splotchy and made the sky really seem like it was a dome. I felt like a tiny molecule inside a water droplet. Sometimes it’s nice to feel small because it puts life into perspective. I’m just a little bitty part of a much bigger picture.

Anyway, I’m excited for some chill time tomorrow. I’m going to pass out any second, so I should just do myself a favor to go to bed.