It is hard for me to believe that one month ago today, I was in Ghana on vacation. It feels like just yesterday that I was dreading the 30+ hour bus ride, looking forward to time at the beach, and anxious about running a half marathon and traveling with a group of people I’d really never met before. But, as always, time has slipped away from me as it has a tricky way of doing here. In that month (and the month or so leading up to the trip when I was busy not blogging), much has happened- new friends have arrived in Mali and others have left. I got malaria, I got better. I ran a lot. I watched professional soccer and basketball. I cooked some good dinners. I shopped. I spent time with friends. I took short trips outside of Bamako. I saw a couple concerts. I sang karaoke. Here’s a recap of Ghana et. al.
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| All the ladies at the Green Turtle! Ready to eat some lobster! |
Boarding the bus for Ghana, I knew a bit about what to expect. After traveling to Burkina Faso with Zak in February, I knew I was in for a long, unpredictable, somewhat uncomfortable ride. I arrived at the bus station armed with several essentials in my “carry on”- a bug net (for sleeping outside when the bus stopped at night… no way you’re keeping me on a hot stinky bus to try and sleep), a piece of fabric called a pagne (an all purpose item used as a blanket, a towel, a seat cover for dirty seats, etc), a fleece (it can get chilly at night), and a scarf (also known as a blanket, pillow, jacket, and of course an essential fashion accessory). I shouldn’t have worried so much about the ride. It went pretty smoothly, and my traveling companions were great.
I traveled with a fun group of female Peace Corps volunteers from Mali. When a new friend, Ashley, told me she was going to Ghana a couple months ago at a party, I expressed interest and she invited me along. I’m not sure if she knew how serious I was about really coming, but we made it happen! Unfortunately, she got sick right before the trip and had to delay her departure, but her 10 girl friends who rode the bus with me welcomed me warmly.
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| Morning coffee and a journal entry looking out at the beach! |
Once in Ghana, we visited Kumasi, Takoradi, The Green Turtle beach retreat, Kakum National Park, Cape Coast, and Accra. I enjoyed different places for different reasons, but I really loved The Green Turtle and Cape Coast. The days spent at the Green Turtle were blissful sun-filled beach days: reading, relaxing, basking in the sun and the ocean. I ate lobster for less than $3 on a couple occasions, ran along the water’s edge in the mornings, drank coffee and wrote in my journal while enjoying an amazing ocean view. You just can’t beat the sound of the waves when you’re lying in bed relaxing after a day of fun in the sun. It really was quite a relaxing retreat, and all very private. We had a great time being beach bums together!
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| Inside the Cape Coast Castle's old slave quarters |
Cape Coast was our next stop after the beach and it was a vibrant lively juxtaposition to the calm ocean tides. This city has character! We stayed in a great hostel on the water’s edge where we danced at the bar at night and could walk to the nearby shops and the Cape Coast Castle. I spent a sobering afternoon there with some of the other girls visiting former slave dungeons, beautiful officers quarters, and a church that were all housed under the same roof. Unbelievable how that worked! The rest of the time in Cape Coast, though, was bustling with walks through the market, a drum and dance show during dinner, and meeting local friends at the hostel bar.
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| At the Cape Coast Castle- Obama was here! |
Before leaving Cape Coast, we made a brief foray into the leafy greenery of Kakum National Park. There, we tackled fears of heights and visited on of 7 rope bridge canopies in the world! This one was built by Canadians and has 7 sections making it the longest and highest bridge of its kind (according to our guide, William). We posed for photos and tried the cocoa fruit... not as good as chocolate. It was great to be in a rainforest, and as you walked along the canopy it really felt like you were traveling on tree tops!
After Cape Coast we moved on to Accra. After a frustrating bus ride, and a not so friendly welcome to the city, I made it with 5 of my travel mates to a beautiful Peace Corps guesthouse on one edge of town. We relaxed, slept well, and ate a great home cooked breakfast a day before our upcoming race, which was just what I needed! When we left the calm of the guesthouse, we moved to a gorgeous beach front hotel close to the race course that a sponsor for our group paid for! Ashley worked magic by getting a business owning friend from home to sponsor our “team,” paying for shirts, travel snacks, and two nights at the African Royal Beach Hotel! It was gorgeous.
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| With Lena on the rope bridge at Kakum National Park |
Race day came and things went better than expected. We managed to start only 30 minutes behind schedule, though I was still talking to someone when they unexpectedly fired the gun and started us off. After I got my bearings I settled into a nice pace with a couple of running buddies, Traci and Tim. Thanks to the GPS watches and magnificent pacing and encouragement from those two, I did much better than I ever would have done on my own. I think I clocked in at 2 hours and 5 minutes. Not bad considering my recent illness and lack of serious training! We crossed the finish line under a seriously brutal morning sun, and I drank fresh coconut water and cheered on other runners as they finished.
More “vacation” followed! A day by the pool, a little birthday celebration at the hotel for Ashley, an early night sleeping in a very comfy bed (I was out by 9pm!!), and then a foray into the heart of Accra for a day of shopping and eating well! We really left Accra with a bang, partying in a bar that the owner opened on an “off” night, just for us! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the sushi I got to eat, the delicious cup of coffee I had in a cute little café, and the whirlwind spending spree I managed to create. Accra is a big city! It felt so much more like a city than Bamako does. It sprawls like Bamako, but also has real buildings that are imposing and tall, sidewalks, parks, and trash cans on street corners! It suffers from the same terrible traffic woes that you find in the heart of Bamako, but Accra really felt like a different kind of Africa!
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| So excited for sushi!! |
The whole trip was a pretty interesting an refreshing break from some parts of Malian life. I found it convenient but odd to operate in English and really felt that so many things I hear in French regularly here just sound harsher in my native tongue. For example: A taxi driver honks at me and says “Tu vas ou?” in Bamako- “Where are you going?” But when the same thing happened in Ghana, and the driver barked his inquiry at me without greeting or partaking in any pleasantries to start with, I just felt so much more offended. It’s funny how that works. Taxi drivers were about the same as in Bamako, but religious references were wholly different on the coast. Christianity could be felt through signs and boutique names (“Accept God” or “Except God” haha, “Jesus is Above All”), and really a lack of Islamic majority was what I noticed. No headscarves on women, knees exposed, open drinking, and a more “loose” feeling lifestyle.
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| Our jenky bus... Delissa gets rained on through the roof. |
But, by the end of the trip, I began to miss some of the Mali specific things- even the ones that drive me crazy on a regular basis in Bamako. I began to receive messages from friends back here and I really was ready to come home. The bus ride back to Mali was a slightly less pleasant experience with several breakdowns- one within the first hour of travel! But, we all made it in one piece. Yes, we were grumpy, we hadn’t bathed in days, and we had cankles, but it all worked out in the end. And honestly, I was so happy to be back. Zak was at the bus station to greet me, carry my bags, and drive me home for a good meal and a hot shower. I got to sleep in a comfortable bed, have my own space and privacy, see my good friends, and relax after a vacation that ended a bit stressfully.
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Zak met me at the bus from Ghana and the next week he took
me for a little break from Bamako in Selingue. |
I realized during my trip to Ghana that Bamako is home for me. It’s no shock, I guess, since I’ve been living here for 13 months now. But, nevertheless, I felt a change in perspective during that trip. Bamako isn’t just the place where I live- it’s my home. When I consider what I’ll be doing in the next few months, I realized that if I leave Mali for good, I will have to make a new home somewhere else- a realization that also put into perspective the appreciation I have for this place and my life here. Sure, I still yell in traffic (but I’m getting better!), get annoyed when I get heckled during runs, and often miss people who value punctuality, but I’ve accepted those differences as part of my reality and in some ways they’ve become frighteningly “normal.”
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| Back home and being social- with Barbara at karaoke! |
All that being said, it is time for me to leave my home here and return to the home where I grew up. Plans for my departure are well under way, and all the tickets have been purchased! Tonight I will host my friends and “family” in Bamako for a ‘house cooling party’ (what is the opposite of housewarming?) and this week I will begin the tedious tasks of laundry, cleaning, packing and organizing. I am really looking forward to a few weeks of visiting and vacationing in Europe, followed by a much anticipated return to the US (Where will you be in late November, through December? Let me know!), but I must admit that the reality hasn’t really seemed to sink in yet… I’m still dreaming of the things I miss (family, friends, running at theNature park, looking nice and not melting, eating BBQ at Chief’s, Mexican food and restaurants in general, calm driving, stupid TV, going to the library, etc.) but having trouble remembering that I will be doing those things in about a month! It will have to hit me eventually… maybe it will take the cold November air to do so…
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| Home sweet home. My room in my Bamako apartment. |
How many places can one call home? I think many- as long as you feel comfort and a sense of belonging in a place. Once I arrive in Greencastle to the fall leaves and early Christmas decorations (I’m sure they’re already starting to appear in stores), I know I will feel that sense of ease dropping back into the flow of Indiana life. I hope that returning to Bamako in the future will inspire the same feelings of familiarity and contentment. I suppose we shall see (in sh’allah), as a January return to Bamako is in the works. More on this soon!! To be continued….
**For more Ghana photos check out my September album:https://picasaweb.google.com/104987570167325122204/MaliSeptember2011!
