Into the Upper East

I haven’t posted in about a week because things have been pretty hectic, traveling from here to there and trying to get settled into to my new home in Paga right near the border to Burkina Faso, about a 5min drive to the border.

I guess I’ll try to keep with the chronological posts, and continue from where I left off in Tamale. From the guest house there I went with Ryan (a long term volunteer) and Aline (another JF) to Bolga via the tro-tro. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with the tro it’s one of the more interesting ways to travel in Ghana. I think I sort of explained what a tro-tro is before, but it’s basically a van crammed with people. There’s really not too much space left for anything, especially what we might think of as comfort, but the trip to Bolga really wasn’t too uncomfortable with 2 people to chat with about development, the environment, charity, movies, and plenty of other things. By this time I’ve started to get used to sweating constantly, so a van full of people isn’t so bad, and it’s the cheapest way to travel.

We stopped by the MoFA regional office when we arrived in Bolga and dropped our stuff off, Aline stayed there and I grabbed enough for a couple days and headed to Bongo with Ryan where he’s been living for 6 months - my place wasn’t ready in Paga quite yet. I stayed with him and his host family who were very kind and welcoming; I think I even made a pretty good impression with his host grandfather (the owner/head of the house) by greeting him in Frafra which gave him a few laughs and smiles. I love the food here in Ghana, and in Bongo it was delicious as usual! We had millet TZ (doughy goodness) with bito (leafy green with bean soup for dipping) and also some whatche I probably didn’t spell that right but its beans and rice. A don’t forget the fried egg, Ryan’s on a six month streak of eating one everyday, impressive.

Anyways I was feeling great in Bongo, bucket bathing feels great in this heat, and it’s not too hard to figure out, here’s the method I learned: splash water on yourself, soap and lather, pour bucket of water all over yourself to rinse. Simple yet refreshing. I also got some work done at the Bolga office the next day while Ryan and Meghan (my JF coach) were in a meeting all day.

But then came the “fun” part of my travels….riding on the back of Ryan’s motorcycle (from here on referred to as moto) with my big heavy backpack strapped to my back. Of course I had no idea how far Paga was from Bolga so I thought “ahh its not too far, lets save some money and time and go for it”. Not the best idea. Wearing a 40lb+ backpack on a moto for about 45mins is not a good idea, please don’t try this at home, and the roads can be a little bumpy with occasional potholes that may or may not be large, and don’t forget the roaming cattle, goats and fowl. Don’t worry mom Ryan is a good driver, and it may sound a little odd but it was probably safer than getting in a tro-tro or taxi judging by how and what they drive around here, but that’s another blog post in itself trying to explain it and then discussing the reasons why like public funding for roads, employment rates, incomes, regulations, plenty of large trucks heading to Burkina, etc. Anyways, I made it to Paga alive, safe, healthy (a little sore), and happy.