Robbed Again....

Me: "What just happened?"
April: "ummm....We just got robbed AGAIN...AMANDA!!!"

Hahaha...i have to laugh because this dialog between April and me happened several times this weekend...and it pretty much sums up our adventure in Togo! That sounds really awful, but besides losing a bunch of money and having to cut our trip short, we had so much fun! I love it there.....

The second we stepped off the Tro-Tro at the Ghana/Togo Border we were greeted by two extremely (overly) nice men- a Togolese who spoke French and English (very helpful) and a Ghanaian. They warned about all the corruption that at the border...."people exchanging your money will try to steal from you...you will get charged more for a visa as an American....if you don't take a car out of the border they will take your passport and make you pay money to get it back"....blah blah blah.... all of these warnings and more. They offered to stay with us while we went through the process to make sure no one took advantage of us or stole from us....stupidly we agreed..and were actually grateful!

Sure enough, the guy on the street that exchanged our money tried to steal from us several times...he was so SNEAKY!!!!! He would count out the money if front of us, but when he handed it to us he would somehow take a bunch without us noticing. Once we counted the money and realized that it was the wrong amount, he would put some bills on top of the pile...and once again, very inconspicuously, he would take even more money out of the pile! It took a long time, and a lot of concentration and careful watching to finally get all of our money exchanged.

When we got our visas....sure enough, they charged us almost twice as much! Our "helpful friends" tried to help us get the price down, but it didn't work. The visa should cost about $20, and despite the fact that we said we were "poor college students that were working with a church group in Togo" we ended up paying about $40. Once that was over, all we had to do was get out of the border without or visas getting "confiscated"....our "friends" convinced us that the only way to do that was to get a car out...so they found us a taxi...how nice of them!

We found a hotel in our guide book that "was within walking distance" from the border, but because we were afraid of our passports being taken we decided to take a taxi there. The taxi wanted the equivalent of 12 dollars to drive us "half a mile"-we might be a little naive, but we aren't stupid (or I guess you can decide that later..) so we talked him down to about 3 bucks. Him and our "friends" took a around about way to the hotel...and in the car our Ghanaian friend told us that we needed to be careful with our money in Togo..he told us to put single cedis (Ghanaian currency) around our cifa (Togolese currency) to protect it- and he even exchanged our 5 for some single cedis! Then he showed us "the best way" to do that...while the money was IN MY HANDS!!!! I kept telling him I could to it but he insisted...I watched him so carefully and never actually saw him take any money...but i knew something was fishy, and I actually whispered to April that he was robbing me! Before I could count my money, we were at the hotel, forced out of the car, and our "friend" and the taxi were gone. I counted my money...and sure enough...people do in fact rob you in Togo...he stole $100 from me and $30 from April.... Did i mention that you can't get money in Togo?...no ATM'S! All the money we needed to stay for the weekend we had to exchange before entering Togo! We realized that we were literally 1 block from the border (and we paid a taxi 3 bucks to take us there!!), so we ran back there to try and find our little thief of a friend...and we were unsuccessful..."oh well" we decided...you live and you learn...at least Jesse and April still had their money to get us through the weekend.

So...we ate dinner and had a beer..and at the bar we met a guy named Francis. He was a student and a very kind person. Feeling sorry about our situation, he asked if we wanted to stay at his mothers house...feeling a little worried about money, we decided to take him up on the offer. Before we went to his house though, we decided to get April a birthday cake (it was her 21st birthday)....and by birthday cake, I mean a cookie and some FanIce (fake ice cream) from the Shell station...classy 21st for April!!!

Staying with Francis's family was so fun...and such a wonderful experience. They were so happy to have us stay in there house! We sang happy birthday to April about a hundred times....and just sat in each others presence- the language barrier made our conversations funny and confusing. By the end of the night, they thought that we were going to take them all back to America! After a night of tough sleeping, Francis made us a delicious Tololese breakfast....bread caked with mayonnaise! yummm....

After leaving Francis' house we took motor taxi's (yeah...motorcycles!!!!) through Lome to the tro tro station. Motor taxi's are soooooo fun! and dangerous....but i am alive! There are so many of them weaving in and out of traffic! Once we got there we were robbed...again. The taxi drivers left without giving us change- no biggy. We bought our tro-tro tickets...and once again they tried keep our change..."no change!!!" Did i mention that somewhere throught our journey to Francis' house April's $100 disappeared?? So yeah...at this point we had lost over $200, and we were being a bit demanding about getting our change...We finally got our money, and we headed to Poleme (i don't know how to spell it!)..

We walked through the market in Poleme then took motor taxi to a village called Kluto on top of a big mountain. It was so beautiful! We met a German man who was married to a Togolese women, and we went to a party they had...played drums and sang! The next morning we took a walk through the rain forest and up a mountain. It was amazing and very educational. Our guide, Apo, knew so much about all the plants....it was really great!

Since we lost so much money in the first 30 minutes, we had to leave the Togo early..what a shame. It was so wonderful- very clean...and it simply had a good feel to it. Hopefully i can go again before I leave. I am back in Legon now trying to finish school, so i can continue my journey through west africa! Only 3 more weeks then finals!!!!!!!!!! So happy....

Peace

Physics.......

Well...I only have two more months here on this continent of Africa! My journey thus far has been a wonderful experience. I hope that I will be able to explore other parts of West Africa before I leave. I am going to Togo this weekend, so that is a good place to start!

My physics midterm is finally over- don't think I did as well as i would have liked, but we will see. It was multiple choice, so I am hoping that my guessing skills were on that day!

Well...still don't have a whole lot going on- just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well! I will blog again when a little spice enters my life!

Not much happenin in my life...

Not much has happened this week....I finally found out that my physics exam is going to be on Sunday at noon! I still don't know where it is going to be, but i am getting closer. I have been spending a lot of time studying (more like a lot of time complaining about needing to study while i find little needless things to do!!) so not much is new in the life of Amanda Holt.

I did go to a place close to Accra this weekend called Kokrobite. It was pretty fun...some parts were kind of touristy and busy, but it was still pretty cool. We only stayed for one night at a place called Milly's backyard- you can rent a ten for the night for 6 cedi, a loft with a bunch of beds for 4cedi, or a hut for 10 cedi....we took the loft. It is right on the beach so that was wonderful! At night they have live drumming and dancing so that was fun to see. The only unfortunate happening was the fact that my mosquito net had a huge gaping hole in it...I could not figure out why I was itching SO BAD all night! When I woke up I saw that I had slept with like 200 mosquitoes that feasted on my body all night long! Yummm!!!!!!! Hopefully Malaria is not in my future!

I think I mentioned Jesse's allergic reaction to the mango in Xofa....well she went to a hospital here that, for some reason, gave her an antibiotic....which she happened to be allergic to. When she marched her swollen, rashhed up body back there, they gave her an antiviral!!!!! Knowing that she was having a severe allergic reaction to a few things, we spent a day trying to find a better private hospital- and we did. It was expensive, but they finally gave her a hydrocorisone shot and an antihistamine shot- After a week and a half of hell, she is finally starting to feel better! i have not been sick here at all...and I am praying that i stay healthy! I have been feeling a little lethargic lately, but I think that it is mostly my diet. I hardly get any micronutrients...and I have a very low iron intake! i am working on finding a way to eat better...and I started taking vitamins and iron!

Anyway, that is about all that is going on. I will be in Accra this weekend studying for my first exam...Yay for Physics!!!!! I will let you all know how it goes!

May you find peace and happiness in your heart!

"This is Afrika man...nothing will harm you!"...I finally blog again!

After sitting outside the little café at our dorm for over 3 hours contemplating what to do for the weekend, Jesse and I decided to join our friend Andrea in an adventure to the Volta region. Andrea had met two very nice Rastafarian musicians that wanted to take her to see an eco-village that an uncle had developed a few years back. Traveling with Ghanaians (especially Rastafarian musicians who I later found out were famous in Ghana!)?? …Sign me up!

Our travel there was wonderful. We took a tro-tro to a village called Asikuma (just outside of the eco-village Xofa) where we hung out for a few hours…you know- walked around the village (which was surrounded by mountains) and had a few beers while we played the drums. As dusk approached, we took a taxi up a random dirt road to a path that wondered right into the rainforest. To my surprise, that is where we were dumped and left to walk about 1 mile into the eco-village. The walk was okay minus the fact that we were deep in the jungle at night, and the moths and bug were flocking to my headlamp. Once we got there, we settled down under a homely shelter right in the shore of lake Volta….there we ate the best dinner I have had in Ghana (rice with VEGITABLE stew- that is right…veggies-spinach and tomatoes!!!). Then for the remainder of the evening, we sat in a circle played drums and shared songs…

So…..after a long music session, we decided to turn in. We went into our little hut that had grass mats for a roof and realized that there was only one bed for the 3 of us. Instead of getting cozy, Jesse said she wanted to sleep on the floor (yes…on the floor of a hut in the middle of the Jungle). There were no lights, so we flashed out headlamps around the room to check for any weird, poisonous bugs….it seemed to be all clear! A few minutes later I laid down on the bed and, unfortunately, I still had my headlamp on….and it was shining brightly on the grass rooftop….which happened to also serve as a happy home for the BIGGEST, scariest, egg carrying spiders I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!!! I mean…they looked like sea crabs crawling all over the ceiling- they were the size of a baby’s fist, and they carried egg sacks the size of a quarter. AND THERE WERE A LOT OF THEM…..I really don’t even know if I will ever be able to replicate the noise of horror that came out of my mouth as I watched these spiders crawl above me, trying to detach their egg sacks on my head! Needless to say, Jesse decided to take refuge on the bed for the night with Andrea and me. Despite being extremely tired (and I was actually so excited to get a good night sleep…) we were all wide awake with our lights shining on the little critters-we mentally marked where EACH one was and shined our lights on them all night (with the logic that spiders don’t like light…who knows if that is true, but it made us feel a whole lot better). A few times we watched them crawl down the wall, or try to drop their huge eggs sack…we were all scrunched up in our own little 1’ by1’ space- knees tightly held to chest-scared out of our minds…..

You might think that it couldn’t get worse…. at least that is what we thought until we saw a scorpion crawling on the wall (can I remind you that I am in the Jungle in Afrika!). We were literally prisoners to this room…we simply sat on the bed all night long (contemplating ways that it could be worse- maybe if a snake dropped through the roof-we did hear scuttling!) and anxiously waited for daylight. The next morning, we told the boys all that we had been through and they laughed and said, “this is Afrika man,,,nothing will harm you!” Then they pulled snakeskins from the grass roof!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next day was kind of shot for us…but relaxing. We spend the day lazily lying around by the lake, reading books, and sleeping in hammocks. That night we got to enjoy the yummy veggies again and another music jam….then the boys showed us to our new room that did not have a grass roof with spiders living in it…phew!

Well….you might think that was a relief......BUT the second that I walked in the door something flew right in front of me into the other room. As much as I didn’t want to shine my light around, I couldn’t resist. I entered the room that the, what I thought was a bird, flew into…I shined my light around for a few second before I saw a bat hanging upside down from the top bunk of the bed!!!!! As I scurried out of the room in somewhat of a panic, I ran into a bee hive on the wall…..again here we were…us 3 American girls standing outside in the Jungle contemplating what to do- sleep with spiders and scorpions or bats and bees? Which one could be more dangerous- rabbis or bee stings….or poisonous spider bites or scorpion stings???? Where was the closest hospital? 3 hours away? Okay….it is less likely that the bats have rabbis than it is that the scorpion and spiders are not poisonous….plus scorpions can get in the sheets!!!!

When we asked Kofi and Kodu for advise once again they laughed and said, “this is Afrika man…nothing will harm you!” So all three of us slept on one bed (broken bed at that) with the bats and the bees. Fortunately for you all we survived…I did wake up with a mysterious cut on my arm- I have yet to experience signs of rabbis, so I think I am in the clear!

The next day we took a canoe to an amazing village on an island of lake Volta (did I mention it is the biggest man made lake in the world??). It was great….we watched precious little kids sing and dance, then we took a walk through their farm land.

After walking out of Xofa back to Asikuma, we took a taxi to our friend Rainbow’s shrine. Again we played drums, and before I knew it we were witnessing some sort of religious ceremony. At the end, rainbow gave us all books of prayers- it was a pretty cool experience.

We finally ate lunch, got on a tro-tro and headed back to Accra. We were all tired, but alive and well…kind of. Jesse had an allergic reaction to the mangos we picked (which we also ate)- her hand and throat started to swell- when she went to the hospital, she found out that she also had malaria…so I guess a better way to say it is that we were all alive…and Andrea and I were well. I am still waiting to see if that mysterious cut on my arm is a bat bite- I will let you know if and when I experience signs of rabbis!

I know I have been slacking on the blogs,…I will blog more (or at least I will try!)

God's love and peace!

HYPNOTIQ!!

I found my sanctuary in Ghana....it is a small bar called hypnotiq (what???)- yeah that is right...a bar! This charming little hole in the wall place has an open mic night for poetry and spoken word every Wednesday- generally speaking, I have never immersed myself into poetry....never saw the beauty in it...never appreciated it....and I definitely never considered myself to be a "poet"- in fact, i vividly remember the feeling of dread that overwhelmed me in high school when I was "forced" to write poetry.

Anyway, the feeling i get when i am in this place is one of complete comfort, enjoyment, awe, and understanding. So much talent, wisdom, and insight is shared among all of these souls....and surprisingly, i find myself participating in the flow of spoken word and poetry with ease, comfort, and confidence. I have never felt closer to God (away from worldly madness and into a deeper me) than I have at Hynotiq...where wonder and understanding surround me simultaneously. Sadly, this feeling seems to leave me the second i step out the door...back into the madness of the world.

While I can't recreate the experiences..the poetry...i will try to post some insights that i am left with to ponder....

This is the concept of freedom (and yes i wrote it just now-it was an idea that came up and of course i can't eloquently replicate the beautiful words and conversation around it....but here is a brief summary). And this does not just apply to human souls...i feel like it applies to everything...

All souls are free
Let them go
And you will gain...
For free souls will return to freedom

All souls are free
Do not cling to them
Or you will lose....
For free souls will escape your grasp
and leave to find freedom

"Oh...on our way down there was a big cobra in our path"

The first thing i have to mention.....my dreaded image of people seeing a video of me dancing came much sooner than I ever expected- I was hoping I would no longer be in this country when it surfaced! It was on the 7 o'clock news the other night!!!! I walked into my hostel, and the lady at the front desk yelled, "Amanda, I saw you dancing on TV!!!!" Shortly after, a bunch of Ghanaian guys came up to me and said, "you like like a movie star in Ghana!"...needless to say, I was mortified.

Other than that, everything is going well here in Ghana. We traveled again this weekend- yet another amazing experience! Each trip somehow always seems better than the last. Jesse and I took a long journey through the Eastern region to meet up with our friend April in a quaint village called Amedzofe (which is atop a beautiful Mountain surrounded by lush rain forest!).

On our way, we had the opportunity to cross lake Volta into a village that hardly ever sees Obrunis. It had such a wonderfully different feel to it...it was almost like the people had not experienced enough tourism to develop the idea that all tourist are rich- people were so kind, genuine, and honest. We passed through this wonderful place on the lake to our first destination....Donkrokrom.

A few notes on our journey to Donkrokrom (i don't have time to paint you all picture of how interesting and funny our travels were, so a glimpse will have to do!)......

First, we left Legon at 6am to go to Accra to catch a tro-tro...we waited for 3 hours before our tro-to left. After our departure, as i was drifting into a light sleep and I heard Jesse laughing and telling me not to open my eyes..of course I did, and I realized that we were back in Legon! We could have saved ourselves 3 hours by leaving straight from Legon...

Next, after changing tro tros in Koforidua (where we were swarmed, and a taxi driver got in a fight with our tro-tro driver trying to make a few extra bucks on us), our tro tro started smoking as we slowly chugged up a mountain pass. All 40 of us got out and walked up this mountain! It was hot, but extremely beautiful.

Once we finally got to the top and on our way again, I watched our tro-tro fly 70 mph towards a truck going at least that fast towards us...I was sure we were going to die, but luckily the truck ONLY hit the side mirror! Although glass came flying into the windows, people were relatively unphased and we just kept driving. Before Jesse and could stop laughing, we were pulled over by the police. Apparently there have been a lot of armed robberies in that area lately, so they were just "checking us out."

We finally came to Adwaso...a one hut "village" on Lake Volta- from here we took a ferry across...when we got there, they wouldn't let our tro-tro through, so the driver simply took us on an off-roading detour!

When we finally arrived in Donkrokrom, it was dark and the whole village was outside watching an outdoor Ghanaian movie! Now let me say that this village is far from "developed." It was very strange...we met some strange people, but we made it safely to a guest house there.

The next morning we crossed another river by boat, and went to a village with lots of monkeys....we didn't stay there long- we then hiked up a huge mountain (through the rain forest) to Amedzofe with our friend April...and right before the three of us entered at the trail head April says, "oh yeah...on our way down there was a big Cobra in our path!" Jesse and I just looked at each other and started laughing. We made it up, and it was an amazing hike! Amedzofe is a beautiful place.

On Easter we hiked down the other side of the rain forest to a waterfall....i cannot even explain this experience!

Oh, one more thing- the scariest bugs i have seen yet in Africa happened to reside in our hotel room!

Well I am out of time, but I will blog again shortly...i am sure there is much more i want to say- just no time at the moment!

PHONE NUMBERS

I realized last night that my American cell phone was stolen (poor sucker who stole it....won't work here!), so i don't have anyones number. I have been wanting to call people, so email me your number! Amandanholt@gmail.com

Thank you all!