Kumasi & Lake Bosumtwi

I have now been in Ghana for over 2 ½ months. I feel like time has flown by but also that 2.5 months sounds really short for the amount of things I have seen and done. I have become very comfortable here and all of the parts of Ghana that seemed so different have become second nature to me now which makes it more difficult to write because it is not new to me anymore. Since I last wrote I traveled to Kumasi (again) and Lake Bosumtwi which is 45 minutes south of Kumasi. It was nice to go back to Kumasi, we went into the market (which is the largest one in West Africa) on Saturday morning. It was so crowded I though for sure I was going to get trampled. On each side of the small streets were vendors selling anything from bars or soap, packaged foods, or dead dried up fly covered fish or raw meat chunks. The whole market was filled with the stench of fish, raw meat, and sewage. I have never worked so hard to now throw up or suffocate. On top of all that there were women everywhere pushing through with huge bowls on their head yelling out for people to move out of their way. And about every two minutes men would pass through with a huge cart yelling “Agoh!” (move or attention). It was intense. Unfortunately during our walk through the market my phone was pick-pocketed. Even though the market left me with a nasty scent in my nose and without my cell I am glad we went. It was one of those moments of “oh yea, I am in Africa.” It is good to see those parts of African life. I feel like the poor in large cities have it the worst. If you are rich in the city you can avoid the smelly markets, and have peace in your home. If you a poor in a rural area you have the community of the village, and the peace of being far out. But those who are poor in large cities must have no escape and no community because the large cities are very aggressive at times. Although there is more of the possibility of moving up in the city I guess. Anyways after the market we took the drive to the Lake. We stayed in a glorified hut, it was pretty nice and made of all environment friendly materials. The lake itself was really cool. It is said to have been created by a meteor, although Kendall’s roommate Irene (a Ghanaian) says that it is not true. But it looks like it could have been. It has mountainous hills surrounding the lake, which are really fun to hike on. The lake was the warmest lake I have ever been in. The local villages believe that their souls go into the lake and that carved out boats (like a canoe) disturb the souls to they use boats called padus to fish. Basically they are flat planks of wood that they paddle with their hands. It was really neat to see this. When we went back to our hut to sleep we found the two largest and grossest spiders I have ever seen. We spent 30 plus minutes trying to kill them (actually Max and Becca killed them while Kendall and I watched). Unfortunately one got away (gulp) but the other one did get smashed and sent down the toilet. I did not sleep well at all because of it but I did get some humorous video of the process of killing the spider.
Anyways life here has been amazing and although I miss home a lot at times I am feeling a bit sad and very pressed for time in Ghana. I have learned so much about Africa, Ghana, my faith, and myself. But I know there is still so much to learn. This weekend I will be going to the Ivory Coast so I will try to update soon after I get back! I hope all is well back home and that weather is treating you well!

Togo and Mole pictures!

This Last weekend Iwent to Togo to cross the border and renew my Visa. Togo has amazing food... and it makes us all wonder why right when you cross the boarder it cannot be the same in Ghana. English drops off at the border as well... so we had some fun trying to get around! Here are a few pictures!

MOLE PICTURES (northern Ghana)

dirty from all the dust!

Kids in Larabanga

ELEPHANTS :)

more elephants on our safari

tro-tro ride with europeans