Ghana is Larger Than it Appears in Most Maps and Rearview Mirrors

My group and I spent the past week traveling in Northern Ghana. The following adventures ensued:

SILLINESS:
Wa: Wa is about a 10 hour bus ride from Cape Coast which is brutal in 90degree weather on dirt roads that allow the bus to only travel at 20 miles an hour. I'm not exactly sure why we went to Wa. I think it was as kind of an overnight rest stop to go farther up north. My friends and I therefore spent our evening in hot pursuit of FanChoco (amazingly delicious frozen chocolate milk in a bag that is the only thing keeping me from going crazy). We found a taxi at the edge of the road. He wanted to overcharge us, so my friend Ariel told him that he could continue on his route without making any money, or he could make 80 pesuars by taking us. They got into a heated argument which involved her chanting "80 PESUARS 80 PESUARS!" and the driver decided that he could not morally take a small fee and would HAVE to take us for free. In the spirit of messing with him, Ariel told him she was from Australia and we each chose a different country. We bonded with him over the fact that we were a mini Model U.N. and sang our national anthems. I don't think he spoke english.

Needless to say (because it's Ghana), once we got to Wa we were told that FanChoco cannot be found in town after 8pm. It was 8:30.

Later, at the hostel, we came across a sign that said laundry was not allowed to be done in the rooms and it should be submitted to reception for washing. Now, while in America, this might imply that the laundry service was complimentary, this is Ghana, and they of course charged us. Even that would have been fine, but our clothes came back a lovely shade of pink. We spoke to 4 different personnel in hopes of merely a discount. Unfortunately, each blatantly laughed at the ridiculous idea that laundry should be returned in its original color and the further inconceivable notion that we should have a discount. oh ghana.

HISTORY AND IMPOVERISHED TOWNS
Gwollu: We traveled another 8 hours roundtrip to Gwollu, a town on the Burkina Faso border. This town is famous for a wall it built to protect the village from slave raids during the 1800s. The town was extremely depressing because we were clearly some of the only visitors all year. Futhermore, most of the children appeared starkly malnourished. I saw one boy curled up in middle of the ground looking very tired and sweating profusely. It must have been 110 degrees in the sun. However, I later learned that he was sick with epilepsy and his family believed that the best thing for him was to lay out in the open.

Sankana: Sanakana is a village famous for the caves that locals hid in to escape the slave raids. We met with the elders and drank Pitu (a maize based slightly fermented beverage) out of Calabash bowls (hallowed squash halves).

THE BEST AND THE WORST OF GHANA:
Mole National Park:
Good-
Mole (pronounced MOLAY!) is a HUGE preserved park in north eastern Ghana. Out of the 420,000 square km, there is one 'resort/tour site'. The first day I encountered numerous baboons sitting right on my front stoop! They had blue rears and all. While walking out of my room one day, i literally tripped over a warthog. He gave me an angry look, but then walked away. We went on two tours of the park in search of animals with our guide "DK." DK was awesome. He was dressed in a full safari outfit with a gun and looked very "1930's I want bushmeat"...until his cellphone rang so he could share where the elephants where located. A group member asked him what was in his gun and he replied "......ehhhhhhh....bullets." We saw a variety of birds, crocodiles, and deer-like animals whose names i dont remember. The coolest part was seeing a real live elephant! Did you know that the African Elephant is the second fastest land animal on earth?? It is, and I stood 30 feet away from it! Also, I later saw about 5 elephants bathing in the pond. Apparently, they sometimes climb up to the resort to drink from the swimming pool. It was overall a really cool experience.

Not so good:
The power went out a variety of times during our trips in the north. However, the most noted was in Mole. My friends staying in the room next door to me had a cockroach problem. And by problem I mean guerilla style invasion. We asked the front desk for assistance and we were handed a single can of Raid. That's when the power went out. And the water. The next hour was spent tip-toeing around the room in the dark and hitting everything that moved with a shoe and then spraying it 4 times over. There were at least 30 casualties, but the army certainly was not defeated and we spent the evening in fear.

KUMASI
Kumasi is the 2nd largest city in Ghana. Despite this, it has barely any American influence and is filled with the usual raw food vendors and markets. We spent two days there and it is veryyy polluted. Interestingly, they decided to put a zoo directly in the middle of the city. That is why at any time you can see thousands of bats flying above a patch of trees. Even better, you can see them up close on the sidewalk being roasted on kabobs! Delicious.

We also went to a carving village nearby which was really interesting and had beautiful sculptures. However, the sellers are like vultures and will literally grab you and push you into their shop. I enjoy explaining that concept of 'personal space' to them.

HAIR SAGA:
It's really really hot up north. So my friend cut my hair again. The first person to guess what it looks like gets a prize.