Frogger

Frogger!

Afrikiko resort was very relaxing but also uneventful really. The high point… and I mean high point of our trip was HOT SHOWER!!!! The resort had hot water and I felt like I had won the lottery. When we got to the hotel the weather was perfect and the hotel was gorgeous; flowers and tropical trees were all over the place and the hotel was located right on the edge of Lake Volta. We changed into our bathing suits and went to tan under the sun… no one here tans and if you’re white they do as much as they can without being forceful to make sure you stay OUT of the sun. “No you are white, you will get sick”, they say. We actually had to move two large and heavy reclining chair out from under a shade covered bungalow and into the direct sun… we got some crazy/ concerned looks. After not really getting any tan but spending too much time in the sun we went for a dip in the pool and were joined by a very energetic frog that came right out of the skimmer and swam with us (first frog appearance).

Next on our agenda was the bead factory, it was a thirty minute drive to a little outdoor factory located 10 minutes off the main road off a small, I guess you could call it a road but it was more like a rocky mud filled hill. I have no idea how the small Ford Focus got over the hills and out of the ditches. We were greeted by a man who shamelessly said “You will have to tip me something after I show you around”, and began showing us the process. It was very cool to see all the different beads they made out of just recycled glass bottles and clay they found along the river. After he demonstrated the process we moved to the fire where we saw some men firing a bunch of beads. After that we got to see him work with his daughter (5 years old) and shine the beads with sand and water by hand. The last stop after seeing the women stringing the beads was to the store where we were able to purchase necklaces and bracelets of all different colors and designs.

I love driving in taxis because we get to go through all sorts of towns and just watch the people and it is all so interesting to me. So simple: the stores have roofs and doors and they just simple put all the items they sell around the walls and hang them from the front of the stores and have a bucket where they take money and give change from, they know they are there to sell items and make money so they don’t need any fancy showcase to do it. Have I mentioned how the women carry their babies? If I have, I’m doing it again, because I am just so fascinated by it. They take like two yards of fabric and put it on their waist, then throw the baby on their back and they instinctively grip on tight like a seal with their feet and their arms under their mom’s under arms, then the women covers the baby in the fabric, wraps it at their under arm like you would a towel out of a shower and take the two ends at her waist and twists them and tucks it under. She could do jumping jacks and the baby wouldn’t fall out believe me. The children amaze me at how they just grip on to the back or their mother; they even will grip on to the back of me or the older students without the fabric. My goal this week it so do it with one of the little ones at the orphanage.

I took a fabulous and HOT shower back at the hotel before dinner and it was amazing! I had just finished washing my face and just as I opened my eyes a small frog about 3 inches big hopped out of the plumbing in the wall and stared at me from the hot water nozzle…(second frog appearance) He just hung out their until he saw me and then he quickly crawled back in to the plumbing… I think my eyebrows scared him you should see these things without any grooming… Bert… Ernie? Enough aid!

By the time we had showered and changed and gotten ready for dinner (Hotel about 70 yards away from our room) it had started to pour… POUR, so we decided to wait it out a bit usually it let up for an hour or so around 7. We couldn’t wait any longer and it was still pouring so we just made a break for it, I nearly slipped every time I took a step and the ground was nearly flooded. When we got to the restaurant we chose to sit inside, and were satisfied with the decision, until we were violently attacked by huge freaking mosquitoes for about what felt like 2 hours but was really 20 min. Until the water dripping form the sealing combined with my skill to kill them had demolished their population. The food was ok but they were missing like ¾ of the items on their menu…. I guess if you can’t find what you need at market that day you have no other outlet… Sysco and Food Service don’t deliver to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Back in the Geduld in HoHoe I did some laundry and prepared for the week at school. Next weekend we are thinking about going to Cape Coast (6 hour drive). So hopefully we don’t lose power and we have internet to do some research.

<3 Jessie