Seven Days, Seven Ports, and Too Many Tour Guides!

I know that it's been a while and some of you have been demanding an up-date. This will be short one as its been a long week (I know! It's rough being on vacation!) and while there is a lot to share the alarm is going off at 5:00 am tomorrow. When the bell tolls tomorrow it will be for me and it will signal the coming end of my latest adventure. Of course Cam's wedding is in just over a week and as his "best gal" I'm sure I'll be dragged into yet another adventure.

When I last left you we had just finished a magical day in France (I don't know if I mentioned the submarine or not - cannot remember - but I've included a photo for those of you who like that kind of thing!) and were setting sail for Barcelona, Spain.  We only had four hours in this port and so we defaulted to our standard activity - the City Tour Bus! This turned out to be a brilliant decisions as we got to see amazing views of the city (wholly craps it is huge) and most of the architectural sights. We drove through the botanical gardens were looked really interesting and saw the gondola that covers much of city (I'll do that if I'm ever there again), drove past the main olympic stadium, so many old buildings that they started to blend, and of course some of Goudi's work. Mom is convinced that he had to be on LSD when drawing up the plans! The buildings (see pics) are interesting but seem to come from a Tim Burton movie rather than something that occurs in reality! People were mad for them and everywhere you turned around you could by posters and cartoon replicas (which often seemed more real than the actual buildings! On a side note - when you spell check Goudi the word gaudy is one of the suggestions. We only saw two of his building and didn't go by his most famous castle which looks like something that would be built at the Parksville Sandcastle Competition! I totally recommend you googling him if you are not familiar with his work (I wasn't).

Our other great adventure for the day was to walk to La Rambla which was reported to be a great pedestrian shopping area...in reality it was a crowded area of folks selling the same tacky tourism products with the highlights being the street performers (who largely consisted of folks in costumes acting like statues) and the market that was filled with breads, meats, veggies, and chocolate! I don't have pics of the chocolate (and I ate what I purchased there) but I do have some of the other aspects. Warning - the Spanish apparently eat parts of the animal that we typically don't or at least ones that don't typically sell in open markets!

These hot peppers and garlic made colourful streamers for the people walking by. I would have loved to bring some back but I was already pushing the "too much stuff" limits so thought better of it!

The fruits and veggies we've seen in all the markets have been amazing - it makes me happy to know that I'll be coming home at the start of the summer produce season. Of course it sounds like there hasn't been too much sun and warmth at home so perhaps I'll have to wait a bit longer. Now for the picture that I was warning you about - if you look to the left side of the photo you'll see the largest pigs feet I've ever seen. Of course you'll have to stop looking at the sheep heads that are on the right of the photo first! This was an interesting site and I have to tell you it made me do a triple take before I was actually able to fully process what was looking at me while I was looking at it!

Okay - remember to look at the pigs feet!

Once we left Barcelona we set sail for Tunis, Tunisia which is where I hit my limit for tour guides...we did have one more tour after this but I used my ipod to drown out the guide on that one! Tunisia is in Northern Africa and is over 90% Muslim - the cultural contrasts between it and Europe were astonishing but it was equally different from Ghana which reinforces the problems with viewing "Africa" as a country rather than the continent that it is! We found the people to be very welcoming and from all accounts this is a very progressive Islamic state. Anyway - this was another really short stop so we took a tour of the local Medina (market) where we thought that we would have an opportunity to shop. In reality we visited a carpet shop (which was cool but at $3000 Euro I wasn't in a buying frame of mind!) and an essential oil shop. This was definitely the highlight of the trip as the guy was very funny and the oils smelled amazing and were pretty inexpensive. Of course the shop owner was also able to replicate all the major perfume brands so we could have bought gallons of Channel #5 but decided to limit ourselves to other more exotic scents! They were even selling an essential oil that was apparently Tunisia's answer to viagra!

After leaving the Medina without being able to shop (a bit of a sore spot) we headed to a local "blue and white" community - all buildings are painted white with blue shutters and awnings, no idea why but they are! This is were we were to do our shopping - not a local market but a tourist zone...you guessed it, prices when up! Mom and I looked into a shop but decided that a cold drink and shade were a better option! The picture is the what was left after I devoured the most amazing chocolate crepe ever! I decided that it would have been impolite to lick the plate clean but it was a close call!

Okay - this one was longer than I expected but the next three stops were pretty amazing so I'm going to wait until I'm a bit more refreshed before writing them. After Tunis we visited Malta, Sicily, and then Rome! Of course we've also spend the last couple of days in Genoa so there's more to share about that adventure too! I imagine that jet lag will be nasty so it may take a couple of days after I get home to post the rest but I'm uploading pictures from the whole trip so you'll be able to check them out. Hope you are enjoying the blog.

Ag

Bon Voyage!

Yesterday we sailed out of Genoa on the start of the next leg of the adventure – a seven-day cruise on the Mediterranean with stops in France, Spain, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily (Italy) and Italy. The embarkation process was extremely simple and unlike other cruises I’ve been on we were able to pre-pay for drinks by purchasing booklets of tickets. Of course we also learned that this cruise line (MSC) charges for many of the things that have been ‘included’ in the past – of course this will ultimately limit my gelato and pastry consumption! (note: There are TWO gelato bars on the ship and one patisserie that makes my mouth water and my waist grow every time we pass it!

We are on the MSC Splendida – a ship that is only about 2 years old and is extremely opulent. Our little inside cabin is about the same size as our hotel room in Genoa – tiny – but the shower is a thing of beauty (hot and strong) and the bed is extremely comfortable. The interior of the ship is well equipped with many hidden nooks and quiet spots where you can escape the 1000+ people who are on here with you! Right now I am sitting in Aft Lounge waiting for us to set sail – we were out exploring today but when the skies turned black we headed back to the ship! The centre piece of the interior design are the Swartzky Crystal stairs that are located mid-ship and take passengers between the two main passenger service decks. The upper deck has a large pool area but (in my opinion) the best is that it also has a pool and two hot tubs that are located in the “Zen Area”…that means no kids!! Of course we haven’t even thought of visiting those areas yet!

We met a really fun couple from Britain yesterday when we first came on board – we then ran into them during lunch at which point we discovered that we had also been assigned the same table for dinner! Mike and Cath could easily be members of the Christie clan as their sense of humour is equally warped!  We were also joined by a Turkish couple whose (I think) names are Jale and Ankan. I think that we ended up winning the dinner companion lottery!!

Now to the food as we all know that is what you want to know about! Lunch was a relatively uninspired event – at least it would be for those who have just come on board from home. For me it was amazing – I was able to partake in a veggie filled salad bar (complete with thousand islands dressing), cheese, bread, and salami! It was only as we were leaving that I noticed (smelled really) the burgers, dogs, and fries that they were serving alongside pizza, pasta, and other hot dishes. As this was the first day and that we didn’t know where the main restaurant were, we ended up in the pool deck buffet. We will probably skip that from now on!! Dinner? Well that was a whole different ball game!

Dinner last night was “informal” which isn’t casual but the guys don’t have to wear a tie or the tux! Women dressed up though – I don’t think I kept enough dresses with me!! The menus for dinner which each feature a region of Italy and last night it was Bologna’s turn. I skipped the prosciutto and cantaloupe (I still blame Uncle Tom Christie for my dislike of melon!) in favour of the veggies in puff pastry. That was followed by cream of onion soup and asparagus risotto. My main course was chicken marsala (more chicken I know but the beef selection was veal) followed by a trifle! I have promised myself that I won’t have that main selections tonight but that’s mostly because I didn’t have enough room for gelato and there are a lot of flavours on this boat that I HAVE to try!

While dinning last night we learned that we would not be able to enter the port of Marseille as the winds and water conditions would not permit it – so today we spent the day in the seaside village of La Seyne Sur Mar which is located near Toulon (East of Marseille). Apparently this happens a lot as Mike and Cath were unable to stop in Marseille on a Med cruise last fall! Mom and I didn’t really care as we only had plans to wander around the town and didn’t really know much about Marseille anyway! It turned out to be an excellent detour!

We docked in Toulon port while we were eating breakfast (muesli and yogurt – I’m going with eggs tomorrow) and shortly after we where heading off the ship. The sun was (was being the most important word here) shinning and as the town was really close we skipped the shuttle and walked into town. Our first discoveries were the pay-public-toilet that was on the sidewalk and the local flea market. We gave the 'water closet' a curious glance but later on we both took advantage of one – they ROCK!! The flea market - well that got a closer glance! The town is located on a very sheltered but quite large harbour that is home to the second largest Navy port in France. Unfortunately the navel officers were not walking about town today!

The highlight (other than the loo which I’ll describe later) was finding the Sunday market that was mostly fruits, veggies, meats & cheeses and olives!! There were also the required clothing and odds & ends sections. The veggies were mostly recognizable (some really odd beans that look similar to my legs when I spend too much time in the sun…white with random red splotches! The primary difference is that everything looked ‘farmers’ market’ fresh and the basil was the size of lettuce! We immediately bought a basket of strawberries that were the most fragrant and best tasting ones I think I’ve ever had…now you know why I needed that loo!!

After walking though and checking everything out (while eating that bucket of strawberries) we decided to wander on but soon after we were called back by the call of nature! As you see from the pictures – these public bathrooms are really clean, smell good (I know you can’t tell that from the photo but believe me), and are really comfortable to use. The one we used did not have any toilet paper in it but that’s okay as I’m still travelling with the little towels that expand when water is added and there was a handy ‘sink’ within the washroom. The really cool thing is that once you are ‘done’ the door closes behind you and magic ferries (or perhaps something less imaginative but equally impressive) come in a clean the entire thing so that it is as if you were never there! I didn’t figure out the engineering behind this marvel but I would like to install one into my apartment! Just think – a self-cleaning bathroom!!!

Since we were back in the market and it was at least a couple hours since we had eaten we decided to start the shopping part of our trip. I bought a lovely pestle and mortar made of local olive wood and then I really broke out the French as I starting picking up the ingredients of our picnic lunch. Une baguette et une pain du chocolate from one spot (done completely in French – I know not all the impressive but my French is SOOOO much better than my Italian!) and then Italian Jambon (prosciutto) from another. The lovely (and I do mean in a physical as well as spiritual) man who sold me the prosciutto too a look at the baguette and guessed correctly that we were making a sandwich. The next thing I know he’s got the baguette cut open, buttered, and even added the prosciutto! All completed with a saucy smile and a wink! We made couple more stops – one for some cheese and another for fresh basil to add to the sandwich and the final stop to pick up a small bottle of GSM (red wine). After our extremely successful lunch shopping (total cost approx: 9 Euro including the wine!) we headed to a local park to enjoy our gastronomic delight! As you can tell we were really proud of the meal – all that basic was only 1 Euro!

As we finished up lunch we noticed the incredibly dark clouds and decided to head back to the ship. It was at that point that we also noticed how tired we were so heading back and having a short nap was the task of the afternoon…it was a great plan! Of course plans have a way of changing so after a really short nap we decided to check out the spa. That I can type now is amazing since the one hour Balinese massage and 20 minute hot shower managed to remove all the kinks left over from Ghana (and those got from watching Ghana end in a draw with Aussie). So here I sit, relaxed beyond belief, watching the world go by from the stern of the ship in a room full of Italians listening (in Italian) to Italy play New Zealand in the World Cup. I’m pretty successful at ignoring the soundtrack (and the buzzing created by the trumpet things in South Africa) but am distracted by the ooohs and aaaahs of the crowd!

This adventure continues to be a great experience and I cannot wait to see what happens next. We have about one hour left in this port before heading to Barcelona Spain. I think that I feel rejuvenated enough to finish up my BBC (Rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, bailey’s, and banana), up-load this post, and then seek out a place to ‘relax’ before dinner. I hope that all of you are having as good a day as I am!

Long live beautiful and flirty French men!  Ag

I have to confess that I didn't end up posting this last night! I ended up heading to the top deck to watch us leaving the port and then it was dinner, evening entertainment and bed! I was very glad that I did go up as we were somewhat delayed due to a French Submarine heading out of port! It was very cool to watch - I'm just wondering how bad you have to annoy the captain to be chosen to ride on the outside of the sub! Pictures later as we're off to breakfast and then Barcelona! 

Ghana & Italy - this is a long one!

Food diary for the the first day "out of Africa": A salad plate that included pasta, a slice of pizza, veggies of course, and big chunks of Parmesan cheese and foccacia bread for lunch, chocolate, coconut, and hazelnut gelato (small servings of each) for a snack, chocolate and meringue gelato for a latter snack, and finally lasagna and pesto (picture four sheets of fresh lasagna noodles with thin layers of basil pesto between and melted cheese on top) with a focacccina (focaccia bread with prosciutto and cheese) for dinner! Today...I'm not so sure I'll be able to resist the hundred of pastry shops that sell all kinds of stuffed pastries! Oh yeah - during our 25 minute layover in Amsterdam I managed to pick up a Starbucks tea (yeah) and a chocolate croissant!!

Like usual I got ahead of myself but after seven weeks of mostly rice and chicken with bread without substance food became a real focus yesterday! That and walking for miles and miles and miles! Before I get into the details of Genoa let me tell you about our departure from Ghana. We woke wednesday morning thinking to complete our packing and to spend the day sitting/walking on the beach! Well they don't call it the rainy season for nothing!! I ventured out around 5:30 am (my usual waking time now) to take some last pics - it wasn't raining by that point but the day was dark and the waters were stormy as they crashed along the shores. I knew that a day at the beach wasn't going to happen but I was on the ocean with  my camera so I didn't really mind - besides the moody weather seemed to fit my own emotions! I was definitely excited about heading onto a new adventure but sad to be leaving Ghana and ending that one. As mom pointed out - the plan is to return again with students next spring so I'm really only saying goodbye to Ghana for about 10 months!

Anyway, as I walked along the beach one of the first things I started to notice was that the new anti-erosion measures the resort is taking seem to be working. The pics show the pilings method which is definitely not working I'll try to add one shot of the cages (filled with quartz and granite - can you imagine?) that are. These measure are necessary as they are losing a lot of ground each month (I noticed a difference in just 3 weeks!!) to the relentless waves and as it is "winter" right now the waves are stronger and the tide was SO high! I'm looking forward to comparing the photos from last year to this one - sea level rise will be a HUGE issue for this resort and many of the villages and costal town (like Cape Coast) where people live barely above the high tide line! Okay - that's a rant I don't need to get on so back to our last day...warning do not walk in front of the cages during high tide with large waves - I got soaked but managed to keep the camera dry!

After my photo safari, which ended with me being wet, sand covered, and smiling, I headed back to the room for the best shower in all of Ghana and started the packing process. Once our breakfast break was over we headed back to the room to finish the packing process - trying to get as much into two bags that will hopefully be left with our hotel rather than taken on the cruise! We had previously arranged for George (024 387 1377), the safest and best taxi driver I've had in all of Ghana (he's in Accra and it cost us $60 Ghana Cedis for a ride to Anomabo from Accra about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour journey depending on traffic), to pick us up at 2:00 but we were done packing by 11:30! We ended up hanging out in the room - mom created another email (our sticks were out of credit by this point but weren't working well anyway) while I lounged on the bed watching a video. Amazingly the morning went really fast and before I you could say (no more fufu) we were on our way to the airport.

This was an interesting ride - George drives a clean and comfortable taxi but I had only been in it during the "dry" and it was monsoon wet for the first part of our journey! I had just commented that "the day was cool and that we wouldn't arrive too sweaty for our flights", when the heavens opened and three things happened all at one: a) We had to close the windows - goodbye cooling breeze, b) the windows fogged up and we had to turn on the heater - we actually had the heat on, and c) the rain penetrated the rather weak seal along the top of George's windshield so while I was hot from the heat I was also getting a mild shower every time we hit a bump (every foot or so in Ghana!). In actuality it made the journey to the airport (really only about 35 minutes of it) another Ghanaian adventure and the cool wet weather didn't prevent mom (and George and I) from having another Fan Ice on the way!

I've often commented about the road conditions and driving in Ghana and there have been a few times that I have felt somewhat scared but nothing compared to hitting Accra on Wednesday! Due to the heavy rains, road construction and a few million people trying to get home (or out of town) the roadways were clogged with people! At one point I felt rather like a pimple on the highway of life as we were slowly being squeeze by trotros and buses (not too mention big trucks, taxis, and other private vehicles). The one instance that sticks in my mind was a place where about 4 (unmarked) lanes of traffic were attempting to merge into a single lane - we were in that lane behind a bus, that was spewing black smoke like a chain smoking bingo player, and had two trotros on either side who seemed not to see us! That would have been somewhat normal but when you add in the large truck and two other trotros that were also trying to squeeze in it gets a little hairy! By this point the rains have stopped but many of the streets, circles (roundabouts), and intersections have been flooded so chaos is the name of the game. As I'm in Italy - we obviously made it but I think it was largely due to the expert driving and George's ability to take a million side roads to get us where we needed to go.

The airport checkin was a breeze and we were happy to learn that our luggage was tagged all the way to Genoa! I'll briefly (promise) stop here to rant about how ineffective our North American (and yes I'm adding Canada to the US for this rant) airports are! We arrived at the Accra airport hours early (normal time for Jean) had our bags searched (using that term lightly), wrapped, and sent off within 30 minutes (no real traffic but this isn't the experience I'm going to rant about) - had dinner with Amanda, converted our money, and then headed off to watch Uruguay beat South Africa in world cup action. Approxmiately 9 hours later we arrive in Amsterdam where we have about one hour to clear immigration and catch our flight to Rome. In North America this would likely result in a missed flight as it would take about that long to get to immigration let alone clear it and get to the other side of the airport.  In Amsterdam there have a separate immigration section for those folks who are connecting into another EU country (assuming you've managed to check your luggage), so we simply went there. Not being EU Passport holders we figured the lines could be long - but wait! They have a special priority line for those folks who need to fly within 35 minutes... having traversed the entire airport we were now in that line! The whole process took less than 5 minutes which is why we had enough time to get to Starbucks before heading to Rome! I have to say that my travel experience in the EU has been nothing short of brilliant! The airports are bright and clean, with lots of opportunities to get or exchange money (as well as chances to spend it), and pretty easy to navigate even when most of the announcements are not in English - that being said all the airports we've been in have had announcements in English so that too is easy.

The flight to Rome was good, though I slept through a big chunk of it! The sky cleared about 30 minutes before landing and the my first glimpses of Italy were of fields, hills, and lakes - beautiful indeed! There was so much green that it was almost like landing at home! We caught a glimpse of the Mediterranean as we neared the airport but it all of a sudden hit me that we are only days away from the cruise! We didn't have much time in the airport before switching from KLM (GREAT AIRLINE) to Alitalia for our flight to Genoa (another great airline).

I have just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love of which about 1/3 is set in Rome so I was prepared (somewhat) for the fact that I (coming straight out of Ghana and having been in the same clothing for almost 24 hours - 7 weeks really but who's counting!) would feel somewhat slobbish! Thank god I was prepared! Something that perhaps best captures the differences between Italian and North American culture... the regional (domestic) flight from Rome to Genoa (think Vancouver to Kelowna) not only have food/drink service (similar) it had the most leg room of any flight that I've been on and the back of the seats had little buttons on the side so that you could hang your jacket rather than shove it into the overhead bin!!! At this point I knew that I would love Italy but that I really need (no REALLY NEEDED) a shower and to break into the stuff sacks (not kidding here) of 'cruise clothing' that had been in hiding for seven weeks!

The flight to Genoa was good but I slept through most of it. I was on the ocean side of the plane (left) which was okay but the other side was the mountain side and has we approached Genoa I really wished to be on that side. Genoa is carved out of a mountain and rises sharply from the coast of the Mediterranean to about mid-point on the hill. Picture North Vancouver or Nanaimo but move the mountains MUCH closer to the sea!! The airport is right on the coast and is located a bit north of the actual city. Once we collected our luggage and found a taxi we were on our way to the BW Porto Antico which is within a block of the ocean and three blocks from just about anything! At $99 Euro a night it is not cheap but it is totally worth it! We checked in, showered and then headed out for an afternoon of exploration! The pictures below are the area near our hotel - to give you an idea of how narrow these 'roads' are - we walked past the road to our hotel twice yesterday when trying to find it!!

That's all I will write for now - the internet here is rocking so I've uploaded a huge album from Ghana and will attempt to add video (maybe) later today. I'll also post something that offers up a better view/description of Genoa.

Ciao for now - Ag

I feel the need to add this - it is now 10:20 am (Italy is 2 hours ahead of Ghana) and mom just awoke! We realized that we have missed our "included" breakfast... guess that means that the day will start with a pastry - gotta hate that!

Saying Goodbye to Ghana

Today is our last day at the Anomabo Beach Resort, in fact it is our last day (most of a day) in Ghana. I arrived in Ghana about 7 weeks ago - some days it feels like I just got here and others (generally when sitting down to a meal of chicken and rice) it seems like longer. The last few days at the resort have been quite wonderful as we've generally walked on the beach, read (more books in 4 days than in 4 weeks!), talked, and slept! I know, I know... real party people!

I can tell that I was ready to move on two days ago when I started pulling out the guidebooks for Italy - which is where we head today. However, before I get too far ahead of myself I thought that I would leave you with some lasting impressions about Ghana and her people (for some reason I think of Ghana as a woman - perhaps it is her strength, the resiliency of her people, or perhaps it is because the weather can be bitchin' hot or cool and moody).

Ghana is a world a contrasts where you have huge concrete and marble homes and hotels next to homes with mud walls and thatched or tin roofs. Villages in the north often remind me of little smurf houses or perhaps Peter Jackson's vison of hobbit homes - just not so green). You have the most derelict trotros and taxis stuck in traffic jams, that makes Vancouver traffic almost enjoyable (we Canadians really need to use our horns more often - here they are often used as signal lights as well as communication mediums), next to the latest SUVs and sedans from every line but most notably Porche and Mercedes!! You have folks selling fruit and veggies on the street next to the Kola grocery store in Accra (really should be called the Obruni Store) where you can get just about any product you want from home! FYI: anyone who likes chocolate like I do (yummy) you can buy cadbury chocolate from the UK in Kola...hello flake bars!! Back home we are always talking about the gap between the haves and the have-nots - here that gaps is wide and explicit. Those in the "have-not" category here are some of the poorest but often happiest people I've met; however, you can see that they are also one natural disaster or economic/environmental policy away from complete loss.

Another thing about Ghana that you should know before visiting - the term 'free range' here has nothing to do with the chickens! Regardless of where you are someone, generally in your line of sight, will either squat or urinate! One of my favourite signs in Ghana are the "please do not urinate here" signs! Of course the reminiscent sent of a porta-potty on a hot August long weekend suggests that some are unable to read those signs! Walking the beach next to local communities (whether they been near resorts or not) can be like walking through a minefield a feces! Don't let this deter you from visiting though as you simply get used to watching where you walk!

Going to restaurants in Ghana is always an adventure - the first thing I learned is that they tend to have extensive menus (e.g., you can order Baked Alaska in Sunyani); however, it is unlikely that many (most) of the items are actually available. In some cases they bring in the items when hosting conferences (presumably with many obrunies), and I think that in other cases they simply want to appear as it they are catering to travellers' wants! Ghanaian food is widely available and some like it a lot. I've managed to get my mom to try Red Red with Plantain (bean stew like dish) and Palava and Yam. You'll notice that Fufu and Banku are not on those lists and that I indicated that my mother tried these dishes! I am a self confessed "picky" eater and so generally stick with the chicken and rice (though I do switch between plain rice, jollof rice, and fried rice) with the occasional pizza or chicken and sauce with rice! My favourite meal here is grilled cheese (brought from home but you can buy cheese in Accra and cheese like products in Sunyani) and avocado sandwiches!! While I've tended to avoid the roadside vendors there is a smorgasborg of street-meat options; that being said many of those options are really street-carbs! Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) joked about the "no carb left behind" diet in Rome (looking forward to that I must say) but that description really fits the diet here too!

Another lesson that I learned about Ghana, although I do occasionly forget, is that everything is up for negotiation! I was once told that if I don't like the answer to simply keep asking as eventually we'll come to a mutually agreeable decision. In some cases this makes me feel like too much of a bully (or cultural imperialist!) so I'm not so good at it. That being said I have greatly improved my skills at haggling over prices and have even got to the point where I simply say - Wow... Do I look like I've just got off the plane? What is the non-obruni price? I also invoke the presence of my "sista Amanda" and even start off with the little Twi that I know...it seems to lower the price dramatically. In Cape Coast I ended up paying 50% to 40% less than the original quote...which for me is almost free!! Taxis are something that you'll definitely want to confirm the price for before getting in as they can really vary with the tone of your skin! A ride from S-Poly to FFRT is about .60 if you do the line taxi (like switching buses) and $2.00 if you do a drop (values in Cedis). I stopped one taxi and he quoted me $5 GHC!!! I explained to him that I was not new to Sunyani and that he shouldn't try to cheat me - the price was immediately $2 but I went to the cab behind at paid him my $2!!

Sitting here typing is making me miss my colleagues and the students that I've worked with and I haven't even starting packing! I hope that you have all enjoyed following along on this year's Ghanaian adventure. Don't stop reading now as the next leg of the journey is just about to start. Tonight we leave for Genoa and we should arrive there around 1400h Thursday (note: Genoa is 9 hours ahead of Van Isle and 6 ahead of ON). The hotel we are staying at has free Wifi so I should be able to upload a few more pictures. We leave on our cruise on Saturday and here is the general itinerary: Genoa, Italy; Marseille, France; Barcelona, Spain; Tunis, Tunisia; Valletta, Malta; Messina, Sicily (Italy); Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Genoa, Italy. We leave on Saturday (Ghana's next world cup match for those faithful who are watching) and return the following Saturday. We will head back to Vancovuer (via a 5 hour layover in Paris) on the 28th and will arrive back on the island on the 29...I may then sleep for a week!

I hope you are enjoying life as much as I am! Aggie

Random Thoughts...

Sitting here in a comfortable but dimly lit hotel room in Accra I am forced to deal with the fact that my time in Ghana is rapidly drawing to a close. I have four more nights and to wrap up the trip Mom and I are heading to the coast for some relaxation and to give me the space/time needed to write up reports.

The past three weeks with my mom have been great but we have covered a lot of territory, seen some amazing things, and did some really great work with KAS (a Ghanaian colleague) to set up next year's study tour. I have met wonderful people who are incredibly helpful and welcoming but have also seen things things will take days, months, or years to fully process. Over the last few days we've had more office meetings which are always an open window into the intricacies and oddities of Ghanaian hierarchical power structures. We also visit the Eastern Region where the difference between the haves and have-nots was much more pronounced.

Yesterday mom and I sat and watched the opening of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa - while sitting there in the smoke filled room, dinning on the most amazaing Lebanese food every, we realized that we were part of history! This is the first time in the history of the World Cup (80 odd years) that it is being held in Africa and the people here are buzzing!! When we walked to dinner last night we passed people who were stopped in the streets to watch the games on huge outdoor screens - Accra (heck all of Ghana) will be nuts on Sunday when the Black Stars finally hit the field! Mom and I will be on the coast but are ready with our Go Ghana Go signs! We picked up jerseys yesterday but there are for others back home!

This has been and amazing trip and I'm sure that as I sit and ponder the state of the world while sitting on the beach and drinking a Savannah Dry I will think of more random thoughts and feelings to share! For those of you following our path, we will be leaving for the coast today and returning to Accra on Wednesday but will go directly to the airport (where I'm sure Amanda will meet up with us so I can pass off a lot more stuff to her!). From here we fly to Genoa Italy (via Amsterdam and Rome) where we will be residing for 2 nights, then we're on the Med for 7 days, back to Genoa for two and then finally I will be returning to the island!

Watch for more updates as there is a lot more adventure to come!

Aggie

How many elephants can you count?

Can you count all the Elephants? We couldn't either! This was one of those days that almost defy description. I woke early to and decided the head out an check out the sites and sounds of Mole National Park - when there were fewer people around! I moved over to the viewing platform where I was quickly rewarded by some red monkeys (not sure the real name) sneaking up behind me but once they saw that I had no food they moved to the grass beside the platform. The baby monkey was very cute as it kept peeking around its mother to see what I was and if I was doing anything threatening! Mom was very calm and was much more interested in the Mango pit that someone threw over the bank. I then moved onto birds and other creatures before discovering that I really didn't need to leave the deck of our cabin (picture one level motel with a really long bowling alley like deck) to see the sites.

The tree immediately in front of us was filled with small green monkeys (species not colour) and they were taking great delight in eating the nuts/fruit in the tree. The little guy on the left was kind enough to come out of the upper branches to pose for this picture. After this day it became my morning ritual to watch the monkeys, look for birds, and of course watch the morning parade of baboons as they marched past. Of course they did not always simply march past - most mornings they would wander down the deck trying to root out bugs etc that were hiding... hiding where you ask? Well the baboons seemed to think that they were hiding behind the plastic pipes that fed water to the AC units!! I cannot believe the amount of destruction a that a small group of baboons (10 - 15) can do in such a short period of time. We were really luck however as they didn't attack our AC unit until the final night!

Actually out luck had to do with the timing of our trip - it would appear that this time of year is when the baboons and monkeys have recently given birth as many of them had very new babies - the one on the right is a bit older but it was a fun picture with it riding so high on mom's back.

Now those of you who have visited the park are probably wondering what I was going on about - what made this trip so amazing! Well the first picture of the elephants is a great bid hint! I was really back up to Mole for a meeting with the Larabanga Eco-Tourism Board to discuss setting up a study tour for next year. My colleague (KAS), and I also wanted to visit a Hippo Sanctuary but it is located a fair distance away via some really rough road. To make the travel a bit easier to handle KAS managed to arrange for us to actual drive through the park - a short cut that took a couple of hours longer but OH BOY WAS IT WORTH IT! Traveling in the bucket (back) of the truck we saw a number of new antelope species, weird looking birds, and a large maternal herd of elephants (about 20 - 24). All this was done by 11:00 am!!! The pictures below are of some of the animals that we saw.

I think that I mentioned that this was all on the way (yup the journey is often as good as the destination!) to the NCRC Hippo Sanctuary (I'll add the proper name when I can find the correct spelling - it is near Wa, Ghana). The sanctuary visit was also good - we met with some of the staff members, checked out the accommodations (including the Hippo Hide - but this was from a distance) before heading down the river in a canoe (sort of) and seeing the hippos!! We saw nine hippos and some really different birds - our guide (Agba) was excellent and was able to identify birds before I even had a chance to ask for their names! I'm meeting with Donna Shepherd in Accra on Thursday - she works for the Calgary Zoo but is currently working with NCRC at the sanctuary - we (KAS & I) are hoping to be able to be able to build a really rich experience for next year.

Okay - that's it for now. I'm back in Sunyani for two nights before heading to Accra, Volta, and Cape Coast - then next week (June 16) it is off to Italy. I'll do my best to add a couple more posts. If you have been waiting to hear from me via email... I just checked my VIU account and it looks as though no emails that I've sent since May 22 have actually gone anywhere!! I'm still receiving them but just cannot seem to send them! I'll try to keep this more up-to-date.

Ag

PS. If you click on a picture it become bigger and easier to see!

Sights Of Ghana

There are many sights and sounds that become imbedded in my memories of Ghana. The smells also become imbedded but that's not something I really want to dwell on!

The first thing that often comes to mind are the bugs - now buts do not really bother me (too much), but some of the bugs here defy description. The image is of a Praying Mantis climbing onto Vincent's hand - it had just been climbing up his pants! This particular beauty is lovely but be careful as the female rips off the head of the male once copulation is over!

Other insects are quite beautify as there are numerous types of butterflies here. This one was really quite patient with me as it calmly sat down while I took it's photo! For those of you not really enamored with Spiders there are a few here but nothing like those I saw in Central America. I have pictures of spiders from last year but haven't really seen any real nasty one's this year so you should al be safe! Of course, one person's viewing pleasure is another animal's lunch! The photo below was taken during our Coca Plantation (yup - Chocolate on the tree) tour. I managed to spot a lizard (affectionally known as the 'Push-up Lizard' due to its behaviour) chomping away on a large fly!

These little lizards (about 3-5 inches of body and the 3-5 inches of tail) scurry all over Ghana but if not running away from something (someone) they stop and do a motion that really looks like a push-up! I'm not sure that the purpose is but it is quite funny to watch. My colleague Ken has also perfected the interpretive dance version which some of us (in 2009) called the Ghanaian Lizard Dance!

I know that you all really want to see the big animals of Ghana - the Elephants, hippos, and crocs! I have photos of some of those (no hippos yet) but haven't managed to up-load them so you'll just have to wait. The two photos I leave you with are of a Coca pod (Chocolate!!) and of a group of our students (Canadian & Ghanaian) during a visit to the Tano Sacred Grove.

Keep well and stay tuned - There will be more to follow. Including a description of the taxi ride from Dixcove to Sunyani... Mom's hair turned grey(er) on that one!

Ag