Adventure: Part 1

HELLO!! So, I've been traveling for the past week with two other American students on my program, Amy and Eric. We started off last week with a day at Lake Bosumtwi. My Auntie Valerie and her cousins came as well! It was a good relaxation day before we started traveling through out the rest of Ghana! After the lake, we spent a few nights in the city of Kumasi. We went to the zoo! It was a very depressing site; there was at least one dead animal in each cage..but it was still fun, in a way. Then we went to the largest market in West Africa! There are over 10,000 vendors, so we didn't see it all, but it was more than exciting! I did not purchase much, it was mainly more of the task of pushing your way threw the crowds and resisting the vendors yelling and pulling at you! Amy and I also got our whole head of hair braided! We took it out the next day though because it was paining us too much. Then we went to Tamale, up north, to have a rest before our next destination. I'm in love with Tamale! I think it is the best city in Ghana that I have visited so far. The city's roads are paved, people are active and friendly, and everyone rides bicycles because they have ACTUAL SIDEWALK! The atmosphere is just so light and free! Such a lovely place. Then we went to Mole National Park. We went to the bus station at 4:30am to buy our tickets for the 8:30 bus. But when we got on the bus, we found out that the lady sold us the wrong ticket. So, the bus went threw hundreds of little villages picking up people along the way. To tell you the truth, for the almost five months that I've been here, I've put in my mind that the fact that people still live in huts was a myth. Up north, that is not the case. People/villages are completely comprised of mud circular huts! Probably one of the coolest things I've seen! In one of the villages that we stopped at, a mother and baby son boarded the bus. The baby was so scared of us white people! It was actually really funny, but sad. He squished up his face and sealed his eyes closed as his mother carried him by haha! But then we got off at some random town called Daramongo. We ended up having to take a taxi to the park. But it's not like any of the roads are paved so of course our cab got a flat tire, ADVENTURE! Eventually we made it to the park and hotel and were welcomed by the friendly staff, clean rooms, a pool, and a look out over two water holes for the animals to come to! We went on a safari through the brush and wilderness and saw different breeds of antelope, monkey, and elephant! We watched the elephants bathe in the water hole, 25 feet from us! Then when it was over we decided to get biscuits from the shop. On the way back the baboons were waiting for us and bombarded us and stole our snacks from us! Scariest thing ever!! When we were at the look out the baboons attacked us and went right under my chair! They are vicious and evil!!! I'm so over monkeys at this point in my life, they are mean and greedy! I wasted so much money on food that the monkeys stole straight from us!!! So I was hungry and broke!!! But the overall experience was amazing, but I'm happy to be out of the park! But now we are off again!