I Found Paradise

It has been a while, but I wanted to gush about Green Turtle Lodge, where I spent this weekend.
On Thursday after Drumming, we (the usual Annie, Ezra, Lissy, Erin plus Kype and Levi. Others from CIEE were meeting us there, so we were going to have quite a group) took an STC bus for 5 hours to Takoradi, then a trotro to Agona, then a taxi to Green Turtle. We arrived after dark, so we couldn't see much, but immediately started our tabs. They served us dinner (the best omelette and toast I have had in Ghana, and I have had A LOT of omelettes and toast), coktails, showed us our tents (on the sand but inside of a big wooden structure. we had small mattress pads inside the tents, we brought our own sheets. we were literallly on the beach, next to the waves, listenening to the sounds of the ocean but protected from the winds), then we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the night. there are straw mats to bring onto the sand, lanterns to give light. the stars were absolutely incredible. the waves were huge and perfect pipes. i easily could have passed out on the beach, but eventually i went back to my tent.
friday morning, i greeted the day with the first real coffee i have had in ghana (poured myself from a french press) and the house special breakfast: french toast made with bread they bake themselves and served with caramelized bananas and local honey. of course everything is added to the tab, so i literally don't walk around with anything but my bathing suit and sunglasses. no keys, no phone, no money, so refreshing. then to the beach to boogie board, body surf, and relax in the sun. i skipped lunch because i was still full from breakfast, but started cocktails around that time. we played a game of volleyball, then red rover, then back to the beach. dinner was stir fried vegetables with chicken and steamed rice (some others had marsala), more drinking, more relaxing. at the main bar/restaurant area there is a pool table, a fooseball table, ping pong, scrabble, uno, and trivial pursuit. of course more wave watching and star gazing, card playing, then bed.
saturday, i woke up early to go an a canoe tour with Lissy. We walked on the beach for a while, eventually reaching the small fishing village of Akwidaa. We walked through to a river, got on a canoe, then toured the mangrove forests growing out of the mud on either side. We saw a salamander probably 2 feet long, lots of crabs, but not much wildlife. I think you can see monkeys if you go even earlier or right at dusk. When we finished the canoe tour, our guide asked if we wanted to see the village and of course we did. He is from the village and took us around, then took us through a plantain, banana, and pineapple farm, up to an old abandoned fort. It was really cool, and the branches growing in the stone walls made it easy to climb all the way up to the top. When we got back to Green Turtle, we joined others for breakfast (home-made granola with banana), then back to the beach all day. reading, listening to music, etc. eventually dinner time and it was the best food i have had in a really long time. sometimes i tell myself that certain meals are really good. usually they are good on Ghana standards, meaning they are kind of similar and good and spicy but not extraordinary. my coconut chicken curry with rice was incredible on any standards. then i split banana fritters with annie and again, amazing. after dinner, back to the sand and the stars and the waves.
Sunday we decided not to leave early as planned. I had my first scrambled eggs of Ghana for breakfast, then an amazing tomato cheese panini for lunch (again on bread they bake themselves). We left around 2 with a South African who drove us to Takoradi, then caught a Metro Mass bus back to Accra.

About green turtle: www.greenturtlelodge.com

If I ever get married, I want it to be here. No joke.


On a completely different note, the school I am working at has a website also: http://www.ananimemorialschool.org/
That was rough for a while, but has been looking up recently. I stay in the nursery classroom with the teacher instead of being alone with the kindergarten class the whole day. More materials have been popping up (construction paper!!! pencils!!! notebooks!!!) and the younger kids are easier to manage. Mom decided that we should fundraise for the school and has recruited Dad and Grandma to the cause. Some possible uses for money: install a running water pipe (GH1200), toilets, desks (GH50), sponsor a child's tuition for a year (GH90), fix the roof which has holes in it, pay the teachers (who haven't been paid in 4 months), a polytank to collect rain water (GH600). Mr. Anani (the principle) has already blessed my whole family for their consideration of the children. Almost direct quote.

Aya centre is closing up, so I have to run to Terrific Tuesday with Ezra (buy one pizza get one free!). Peri Peri here I come.

Love to everyone!