"We're the muffins in the muffin joke"

I spent the past week and a half in Accra and Cotonou, Benin. Much ridiculousness ensued:


DEPARTURE
I left early on a Monday morning with my big red hiking backpack. As I walked pass the makeshift taxi station at the end of my street, I was stopped by a man sitting with his boy. The man asked if I was leaving town and for how long. Upon my response, the man glared at me and angrily asked me why I did not introduce myself to him and ask him how he was doing before I left Cape Coast for two weeks. I quickly apologized profusely for not sharing my life story with him before departing and asked about him and his son. What an embarrassing social faux-pas!

ACCCRA:
Accra was a whirlwind. We honestly all went through culture shock being in a city where there were vehicles from after 1983 and roads that weren't made of dirt. Let me tell you now that you take pizza for granted. My friends and I went to a pizza place (called 'pizza inn' next to 'creamy inn' and 'chicken inn') and it was no joke an emotional experience. People shed their first tears.
I had incredible ('real') food after that which of course made me feel really sick because I have been living off of fish and rice for 2 months.
We went to two museums in Accra and learned about Kwame Nkrumah who was Ghana's first President. Nkrumah was famous for his pan-african ideas. Unfortunately, he was corrupt and was overthrown by militia. However, the citizens of Ghana tend to breeze over this fact as demonstrated by our tour guide who declared that Nkrumah was one of the world's greatest leaders and can be compared to the likings of Mao Ze Dong, Castro, and J.F.K.

There's a strange Asian influence here. Most of the world leaders have pictures of them on display with Mao Ze Dong next to them. Also, all of my pirated dvds have Asian subtitles.

ANOTHER TAXI STORY
Since there is no night life in Cape Coast, my friends and I decided to venture out to explore Accra on our last night. I am too angry to write about the debacle of an afternoon that led up to the taxi ride, so just assume that we were already in a bit of a bad mood. We had heard of a club and upon entering a taxi, the driver told us "yes, i've seen it, it is not far from here." We drove around and arrived at a club that was not the correct one but he assured us that he had "seen the club many times and would get us there." He asked for directions and took us across town to the shopping district. Upon realizing that we were not in the right place, he asked again for directions and said "i promise, I have seen it, I know it." During our tour of Accra, our driver told us that he had traveled to Spain last year and preceded to pop open his glove compartment and show us his photo album. Each picture showed him on a boat with an expanse of ocean behind him. Apparently, each new picture was a different country that he had visited.
We finally arrived at the apparent club at which point the driver demanded that we pay TRIPLE the fee because he didn't know how to get there and he used extra gas in the process. We paid double the price because we were feeling nice and he had showed us his life travels.
So we walked up to the club entrance where we were told that flip flops were not allowed and the cover fee was the equivalent of about $80. We all laughed. And then they suddenly let us in for free, flip flops in-tote (I don't ask questions). Inside the club, we found ourselves to be the only ones there, except for seven grown men napping in arm chairs. My friend Ariel and I got into a fight with the DJ. And then we went home.
Oh Ghana.

Three of my friends got malaria the next day. Here, malaria is treated like the common cold. It's a very "walk if off" attitude. Meanwhile, my friends had fevers and were hallucinating. Naturally, we had a 9 hour bus ride that day to Benin in at least 90 degree heat, and when I asked my director to put on air conditioning for the girls with Malaria, he said "this is not necessary."

BENIN
The fan in our room didn't work so we didn't sleep for most of the trip. However, Benin was amazing. Mostly because of the fact that they were colonized by the French and NOT the British. For some reason, this made the culture much less harsh and much more vibrant. I got to exercise my french which was fun and I also got to ride on a Moped! (Mopeds are taxis there). Also, Benin adopted french food so I ate AMAZingly there. There were some issues that occurred however I will talk more about them when I am home and my mother can't worry (I'm FINE, I wasn't anywhere near the open fire). Benin really was beautiful though. The colors there are extremely vibrant and the people (at least seem) much nicer and calmer. Then we came home on a 12 hour bus ride and spent 3 hours going through Togo borders (for a country that is falling off the map, they have a huge narcissis complex and getting in is like trying to order from the 'under 12' menu at Friendly's (near impossible in case you didn't get that).

BACK IN CAPE COAST
When I returned to my host home, my host mother happily exclaimed, "you have gotten fat! Benin must have been very good"

I have three close friends from my program here: Ariel, Alanna, and Shira. Unfortunately, Shira is going home because of complications with her malaria :(

Anyways, I'm sure I am forgetting things that I will add later, but that's all for now. This is my last week in Cape Coast and I am hoping to move with my friends Ariel and Alanna to Accra!!