TravelStream™ news feed for member weasel on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/weasel en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:08:11 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1187002260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1187002260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1187002260/tpod.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:08:11 -0400 Weasel's Madventure...To Ghana and beyond.

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Timbuktu, Mali

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Mopti, Mali

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Djenne, Mali

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Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

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Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

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Paga, Ghana

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Kumasi, Ghana

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Accra, Ghana

End of week 5 here in Ghana and the project has come to an emotional end. This week in the village has had its usual building frustrations with not enough equipment and progress being slow, but the week has had an air of sadness around it as we have being doing things for the last time. For the those of us who are continuing on the trek, leaving the village brings mixed feelings as this marks the start of our adventure through Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali. But we have left behind us a village of people who we loved, it is a very strange feeling to think that we will never see them again. The compound where we lived (the girls in our group that is) we called the nursery, simply because it just seemed like a breeding ground, it was full of kids...On leaving we presented them all with gifts to show our thanks for giving up part of their home for us and for the warm welcome that they gave us. The children were amazing kids and we will miss them so much, so cheeky but so incredibly cute!

The week finished with a massive party under the mango tree. We arranged for a sound system and a DJ (who turned out to be a really big DJ in Ghana so that was a bonus) and we provided as much food as we could. For the cheifs of the two villages we were working in we made plaques with the madventurer logo and dates etc, they were well received and the chiefs offered words of thanks and best wishes for the future. The cheif from Ayeremu said that before he thought they were insignificant, just a village, but then we came and showed them God's love, that we have encouraged them and that although we will not meet again in this life we shall meet again in heaven.

So here I am back in Accra, the 10 hour Tro ride from the village to here will not be done again (although I anticipate ohter longer Tro rides on the trek!). Tonight we have a massive bar crawl planned in the oldest part of the city, James Town. We are travelling by traditional Tro Tro and we all get T-shirts...bonus! Tomorrow various member of the group are flying back to the UK, there will be some sad good byes once again but on monday morning at 6am th rest of set off on our trip up through Ghana, our first stop being Kumasi on monday night then up to Paga on tuesday near the Ghana/Burkina border to see the crocodiles!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1185723660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1185723660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1185723660/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jul 2007 08:05:56 -0400 Weasel's Madventure...To Ghana and beyond.

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Akosombo, Ghana

Last weekend turned out to be not so chilled as initially planned, our time at Kokrabite was great fun and playing in the sea was not to be missed, but some bad weather and a few very early starts meant that the majority of people left more worn out than refreshed. We left Kokrabite on the monday at the ungodly hour of 5am to meet our Tro Tro at some random service station just outside of Accra. The journey back was not much better than the one down, with us finally arriving back in the village about 9 hours later! The journey was made all the more frustrating by our stupid driver who was so impatient it was untrue, he kept beeping his horn at us every time we stopped to stretch our legs or buy some food, and to top it off he picked up this kid at one point on the journey and we discovered he was actually smuggling something, not sure what but it was exchanged for 2 goats when we arrived in the village!?

This weeks work has been pretty frustrating yet again, with equipment going missing and a lack of support from the locals. I even lost my temper with a fellow volunteer, which just never really happens anymore so if you know me you know how stressful it all was (its all fine with the other volunteer by the way, we agreed i was in a bad mood and he was being a bit of an ass!). I managed to nick a mossy net from a volunteer who left at the weekend, its amazing... its a box net so it feels like im sleeping n a fortress... slept so well this week, such a relief from my rubbish little net that just sat on my face!

This weekend really has been chilled, we are in a hotel right on lake volta in a town called Akasombo. The hotel even has a pool and hot running water! Last night we hired a boat to take us out on the lake and we purchased a few bevvies for the trip, the night continued on the boat long after we had returned to the little dock, playing the game paranoia, so funny! The Tro journey down was again about 9 hours due to torrential rain on friday, which is also when i managed to fall flat on my arse while making a dash for the loo... not very clever in flip flops really! No real accidents this week though you'll be happy to hear, but somehow i have managed to pick up a cold this weekend and the whole tummy situation is not too great... but i think thats like a right of passage!
Just one week left on project now, very strange feeling, not really looking forward to leaving the people in the village behind, but absolutely cannot wait for the trek to begin. As a group we are getting on really well and the trek i reckon is just going to be hilarious! So watch this space, hopefully more ops to update when trekking due to lots of town visits!
To all those I promised a post card please be patient, i'm still trying to get to a post office, they're not open at the weekend which isnt really very helpful!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1184952900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1184952900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/weasel/ghana_-_2007/1184952900/tpod.html Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:00:30 -0400 Weasel's Madventure...To Ghana and beyond.

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Accra, Ghana

OK its our 3rd weekend here in Ghana, 2 weeks have past since i last got to use the internet and much has happened in that time...

The building work in the village slowed recently due to the villagers not having enough concrete or bricks already made. Progress was also hampered due to half the group teaching in the school in the mornings, I have opted not to teach as I'm thinking of doing a seperate trip next year specifically for that purpose, plus its nice to not to think too much and just dig! I've had a couple opf accidents in the past couple of weeks, I seem very accident prone and one of the locals even calls me 'accident'... We held a sports day for the villagers and each of us volunteers were team leaders, my team was doing quite well until the final event, the relay, everyone started cheating and just legging it up the field apart from my team, i was last to run and infront of everyone I stumbled at full sprint (wearing walking boots...stupid!) and went sliding across the dusty gravel which covers the field. Needless to say there some blood around the knees and infact my left shin was totally skimmmed, i now have lovely scabs which are pealing away and revealing very pink skin... its totally ruined what little tan i had! I have photos to gross you all out at a later date! The second accident wasn't quite as painful, i just fell in one of our 8 foot deep holes while trying to pull someone else out, i did attempt to make it across when i realised i was falling, but no such luck, i just hit the other edge and found myself 8 foot down!

Leaving the village behind for a moment, last weekend we went to a monkey sanctuary in Tafe Atome, there wasn't a lot to see and I probably wouldn't go out of my way to visit if i came again, but the monkeys were cute and we got to feed them. We took the opportunity that weekend to take a little boat trip on lake volta as the sun was setting, that was amazing. The lake is man made, so the water fills a large valley area which in some places is obviously very shallow as our boat was passing dead trees which looked very earie in the dusky light but created a magical scene against the setting sun. We also visited a small village near a place called Kpando where they are famous for their pottery. The peices they create have traditional symbols on them and needless to say i purchased a few, the in particular i like is very simply a black tile with the symbol meaning 'except God' and it represents his omnipresence and immortality. The area is very Christian which I'm loving, the people in my village arte Christian also and it's lovely to speak to them sharing that belief.

This weekend we are heading to Kokrabete which is a place by the beach near Accra (where i am now), we plan to do very little apart from catch some rays, drink some cocktails and generally 'boogie' to the local beats on the beach. Apparently they have traditional drumming and dancing on a friday night (tonight) and a reggea night on saturday, bring on the grooves!
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