THE LAST LITTLE WHILE

I am currently in my 2nd day at Ho which is the capital of the Volta
Region (North of Accra). I managed to accidentally while completely
lost, hungry (had not had a decent meal (something more than bread in
nealy a day and a half, which mum by the way you did not just read) I
found some obruni (from the USIA) at a juice place on a street. I
asked them if they knew where I want to go. They said they lived here
and it was close. on the way there, they informed me that if i wanted
i could just stay with them and their family (five children all under
11yrs) in their guest house. So thought sure why not. so here i am
sitting in their lounge typing to you (though i have been kicked off 5
times at least already). The family are missionaries and have been
based here for 6 years and have no plans on going back to the States
in the near future.

Before I got here however I was in Akasombo (71km South of Ho). This
took 4 tro tros instead of one as the tro tro which i got on the first
time took me to the wrong place even though i checked and rechecked
that it was the right tro tro several times. thankfully though the tro
tro did not take me tooo far from where I wanted to go. The place is
small though it has some amazing views. The Lake Volta is the largest
man made lake in the world. There is also a stunning bridge there

that seems so out of place in this rural fishing village.(The famous bridge which the govt is very proud of, it is actually illegal to take pictures of it.)

Today, I went in search of monkeys and antelope. However all i gained
from the trip was seeing lots of butterflies, one monkey which was
very far away and moved so fast that i was unable to take a picture,
muddy feet, dehydrated from the hear and 2 long in the middle of the
day walks back to the village. though all in all it was a good way to
fill in the day and it was nice to be surrounded by soo much green.
Apparently i came to late in the day to see the monkeys as they were
all hiding from the heat and humans. I also gained a lot of
information about how Ghana works especially in this region as a I
travelled with a local guy who lives with the family.

Am planning on going to see water fulls tomorrow....at least I know
that they will be there as it generally is never the wrong time in the
day to see them. People I have spoken to say they are stunning and
that you are able to go swimming underneath some of them. So here is
hoping that all this goes well.

Am leaving Ho on Saturday to head further north. Though from here the
roads get pretty bad. no more paved roads for me well at least till
Tuesday when I will (with luck) get to Talme which is Ghana's 3rd
biggest town. This will lead me (on a 5am tro tro) to Mole national
park where I will see lions, (maybe) tigers and elephants (oh my).
the park is very large and is dived up into three sections. A friend
that I will be meeting there are planning on spending a good few days
here before we continue to travel our own separate ways.

know for some side notes....
Sadly the person who I said nearly drowned on May day, did in fact die
on the way to the hospital. from what i can piece together he was a
Ghanaian travelling in the area with two obruni. The local people
however did not seem bothered by this and partied and swam on the
beach for the celebrations like nothing had even happened.

The GA region which is greater Accra has a ban on music this month (we
think it starts on the 5th). apparently we have to give the goads
some time to rest, it also has something to do with harvesting. Those
caught playing music that can be heard from a eletrical device will
have it removed from the police (the chiefs have power over them).
Drumming is banned, so people who want to play have to go away into a
forest like area and play their drums with sheets over them so that no
one will hear them. if they are heard then the drums will be removed
and they may get cut. Ghana without music is such a scary thought....
it is like having NZ without rugby (not that i am that greater fan as
most people know).

In the weekend I was in a Liberian Hip Hop music video (Liberians are
common in this area as their is a refugee camp in Kasoa which has
about 15,000 people). I am not too sure how that happened. I was
just sitting on the beach people asked if a girl I was sitting with if
we would mind them filming. We agreed thinking we would be in the back
ground. However we had staring roles. we were matched with Liberian
guys and we had to pretend they were our boyfriends... thankfully this
was just holding hands while walking down the beach. so yeah I have
mad e my music video debut.... they want us back again to do another
one in the future. they are meant to be sending us the tapes.

Well I think this is a long enough email. I'm off to try and find a
pav recipe that I can make for dessert on Friday. The family is
fascinated by NZ as they know only small small about our country