Home again
Last few days in Ghana were bittersweet. Our first stop was Wli Falls, the highest waterfalls in Ghana. It was spectacular and the best part about it was we could relax there for as long as we wanted, read a book, and not be harassed by tourist touts. The falls is also home to a huge colony of fruit bats! I had heard reports from other tourists that the locals were shooting the bats for food, but fortunately, I didn't hear any gunshots while I was there.
Second stop was climbing the highest mountain in West Africa, Mt. Ajadfato. The climb was super tough. Geoff wasn't temperature adjusted so he definitely had the roughest time. I had no excuse because I wasn't even carrying the heavy pack on the way up! The views from the top of the mountain were gorgeous. It was too cloudy for us to see Lake Volta but we could get a great view of the green forests of the Volta Region. Just beautiful. Can't wait to post pictures for you to see.
Our last full day in Ghana was the "bitter" part of the whole experience. In my 3 trips to Africa I have never once had anything stolen from me. But when we arrived in Accra, Scott realized that he was missing some money and that it was probably stolen by the hotel staff in either Nkwanta or Hohoe. Geoff and I checked our money belts and we were also missing money (probably half a million cedis and 100 USD) and this could only have been stolen from us in Hohoe. Sucks. Oh well, it wasn't anything to cry over. Couldn't have been better timing since it was our last day anyways.
We still wanted to buy souvenirs at the Arts Center in Accra on our last morning so I had to find a bank with an ATM. I think it was the second time I've ever had to use an ATM in my life! Kinda cool considering ATMs in Africa are super uncommon. Thanks to Barclay's, we were 500 000 cedis richer and had enough money to buy all the souvenirs that we wanted.
The Arts Center in Accra is this crazy place where you have to negotiate and haggle for several items with several vendors all at the same time. It can be overwhelming for many tourists. But I've been in Africa so long and it's not such a big deal for me. We managed to leave with everything we wanted and more - owari boards (cool game), kente cloth, kente tie for Geoff, and sarong for me. I don't know how we did with the bargaining but I can say that I've certainly improved my bartering skills from when I first came to Ghana in May.
We were souvenir shopping on our last morning. Stayed too long and had to rush back to pack up and check out of the hotel. We somehow managed to take a shower, pack up, and check out in 45 minutes! Rushed to have lunch and then hopped into a taxi for the Kotoka Intl Airport.
It was sad to be going home and I wasn't looking forward to the brutally long and painful flight on Emirates. I had 3 almost equally long flights to get back home. Scott and I flew on Emirates to Dubai together (Geoff was on Alitalia). Then I flew to Frankfurt and had less than 30 mins to change terminals and make it to my Air Canada flight. There were no information desks to give me any help! The Frankfurt airport is quite badly set up considering that it's in Germany, home of the most efficient and organized people. Anyways, I managed to find the Skyline to change terminals and then bumped into a German airport employee heading in my direction. He ran with me to my flight which fortunately had just started boarding as I arrived!
I made it through Canadian customs with all my leaf samples with no problem thank goodness. My dad, Geoff (left Accra 8 hours after me and beat me home by 1 hour), and his parents were there at the airport to meet me. Came home and took a hot bath for the first time in 3 months! It was simply amazing! You have no idea how delighted I am to have the little luxuries in life like hot running water. After my 20 mins of relaxation I started organizing my life. No time for me to be jet lagged! Between unpacking and cleaning/tidying up my room, reading 3 months worth of mail, reading e-mail, I barely have time to breathe! I have only a few days to get all my banking and shopping done before I move up to Edmonton. Yikes! Wish me luck!
Second stop was climbing the highest mountain in West Africa, Mt. Ajadfato. The climb was super tough. Geoff wasn't temperature adjusted so he definitely had the roughest time. I had no excuse because I wasn't even carrying the heavy pack on the way up! The views from the top of the mountain were gorgeous. It was too cloudy for us to see Lake Volta but we could get a great view of the green forests of the Volta Region. Just beautiful. Can't wait to post pictures for you to see.
Our last full day in Ghana was the "bitter" part of the whole experience. In my 3 trips to Africa I have never once had anything stolen from me. But when we arrived in Accra, Scott realized that he was missing some money and that it was probably stolen by the hotel staff in either Nkwanta or Hohoe. Geoff and I checked our money belts and we were also missing money (probably half a million cedis and 100 USD) and this could only have been stolen from us in Hohoe. Sucks. Oh well, it wasn't anything to cry over. Couldn't have been better timing since it was our last day anyways.
We still wanted to buy souvenirs at the Arts Center in Accra on our last morning so I had to find a bank with an ATM. I think it was the second time I've ever had to use an ATM in my life! Kinda cool considering ATMs in Africa are super uncommon. Thanks to Barclay's, we were 500 000 cedis richer and had enough money to buy all the souvenirs that we wanted.
The Arts Center in Accra is this crazy place where you have to negotiate and haggle for several items with several vendors all at the same time. It can be overwhelming for many tourists. But I've been in Africa so long and it's not such a big deal for me. We managed to leave with everything we wanted and more - owari boards (cool game), kente cloth, kente tie for Geoff, and sarong for me. I don't know how we did with the bargaining but I can say that I've certainly improved my bartering skills from when I first came to Ghana in May.
We were souvenir shopping on our last morning. Stayed too long and had to rush back to pack up and check out of the hotel. We somehow managed to take a shower, pack up, and check out in 45 minutes! Rushed to have lunch and then hopped into a taxi for the Kotoka Intl Airport.
It was sad to be going home and I wasn't looking forward to the brutally long and painful flight on Emirates. I had 3 almost equally long flights to get back home. Scott and I flew on Emirates to Dubai together (Geoff was on Alitalia). Then I flew to Frankfurt and had less than 30 mins to change terminals and make it to my Air Canada flight. There were no information desks to give me any help! The Frankfurt airport is quite badly set up considering that it's in Germany, home of the most efficient and organized people. Anyways, I managed to find the Skyline to change terminals and then bumped into a German airport employee heading in my direction. He ran with me to my flight which fortunately had just started boarding as I arrived!
I made it through Canadian customs with all my leaf samples with no problem thank goodness. My dad, Geoff (left Accra 8 hours after me and beat me home by 1 hour), and his parents were there at the airport to meet me. Came home and took a hot bath for the first time in 3 months! It was simply amazing! You have no idea how delighted I am to have the little luxuries in life like hot running water. After my 20 mins of relaxation I started organizing my life. No time for me to be jet lagged! Between unpacking and cleaning/tidying up my room, reading 3 months worth of mail, reading e-mail, I barely have time to breathe! I have only a few days to get all my banking and shopping done before I move up to Edmonton. Yikes! Wish me luck!
posted by Avatamsaka Monastery Choir at 8:03 AM
2 Comments:
Welcome home...
And yes, I'm very familiar with Frankfurt airport. The problem with it is that it's simply huge - I've run between terminals before trying to catch flights.
One interesting tidbit - I know why security walks in pairs. One half speaks only German, and the other half makes up for the English deficiency.
I also tend to lose luggage in Frankfurt too... hmmm... but via London, my luggage arrived with me, which was quite nice.
congrats, Evelyn and Geoff on your recent engagement. I think you are made for each other the first time I saw you together. So, when is the BIG DAY ???? Hope to see you guys at the dances.
I love your blog sites, very informative and well organized.
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