I missed a post! Sorry!

I missed a post! Sorry! Yesterday was a very busy day. Also, I did not stay in Kpando last night so I was not near my computer to type. I will write an extra long post to make up for it! J

I met Kenneth yesterday morning. Kenneth grew up in Kpando, but now lives in Arizona. He is a US trained P.T. He started an organization called Step FaR. I will be travelling with him to various villages giving presentations on P.T. and performing P.T. services. Kenneth, his wife, and his 5 month old son travelled here this Christmas! I’m amazed that someone is willing to make a trip like this with their baby. I guess start them young, right? I briefly chatted with Kenneth’s wife, who is an American. It was nice to compare notes on the things that are so different than the US. We were supposed to leave for the trip today, but Kenneth’s partner is delayed so we will leave on Friday or Saturday. It will be nice to have 2 more days at the hospital this week.

After meeting Kenneth I walked with Grace and Isaac to one of their friend’s houses. The friend had guests, a nice young German couple around my age. They are on quite the adventure! They took a cargo ship from Brussels to the Ivory Coast and then travelled in car through Africa to Ghana. They stopped to visit Isaac’s friend since the lady stayed with him 4 years ago. They made it to his house 2 weeks ago and she came down with malaria. She has been recovering for the past 2 weeks! Once she is feeling better they then will be travelling through Ghana, into Toga and then to Northern Nigeria. She is studying the language of that region. Then the man is studying Swahili so then they will go to Kenya! I admire people who are willing to travel like that. I think this trip is as adventurous as I will get! Haha! J I have no desire to make Africa any harder than it already is.

Once we said goodbye to the friend and the Germans we went to the market. Oh before I forget, Isaac’s friend graciously offered for me to be his 2^nd wife. I nicely declined. Haha!! I told him I don’t know how to pound fufu (one of the local foods) and so I would make a poor wife here.

Anyways, at the market we went to the butcher. It was a little traumatizing!!! When I was standing in the room as they were hacking away at cow and goat, I swore to myself I’d give of meet. First of all, the room is room temperature. I don’t think the FDA would approve of that. Next, all the butchers shared the same scale to weigh the meat. Thus, goat and cow were mixing. The butchers did not wear gloves or hair nets. Blood and guts were splattering everywhere. I stood in the very middle hoping I nothing would fly on me. The smell in there wasn’t quite rancid, but it was not appealing. The meat was unrecognizable to me. I don’t think they serve filet mignon in Africa!! I think their cuts are totally different then ours. Honestly, I felt they were just hacking away haphazardly with their machete knifes. I fear they would have been quickly eliminated on “Top Chef” butchery quick fire.

Isaac quickly became impatient with Grace in the market. I guess now matter the culture men do not like shopping with women. Haha! Isaac suggested we go to his favorite bar. I had a fanta instead of a beer since it was 11 am. Isaac ordered street food that was basically beef kabobs. I thought for sure in the butcher I would not eat any beef here, but ate the kabobs and they were quite tasty. Haha!

The next part of my day was going with Isaac to his village to deliver Boxing day parcels. I met many of his relatives. I drank some palm wine that was fermented in a motor oil container. I’m not sick today so I guess the alcohol killed everything. Haha! Palm wine was sort of sweet and then had a weird salty bitter aftertaste so I will stick to grape wine. Ghanaians respect the volunteers that come to their country greatly, so Isaac wanted me to meet the head Tobi, or chief of the village. It was funny because it was about 15 men sitting around talking. They had a secret bow and handshake to honor the Tobi. I felt like it was a meeting of the Dons like in the Godfather minus the violence and illegal activity!!

My day was not over yet! Once I returned back to Kpando, I left shortly after to go to Hohoe, a neighboring town to go out for the evening with Millie, her cousin and friends. We went to 2 bars.

The first bar was called Obama Gardens. It made me laugh. I’m not sure how the president would feel about having a bar named after him. Africans are very proud that a Black man could be elected president of the country they still aspire to be like. Despite your political affiliations, I think as Americans we can be proud that people around the world still admire us.

The bar scene in Ghana is not much different than in the US. Its young people having a few drinks and dancing! They probably dance better than most Americans! Haha! It was great people watching!

My ride to the Guest House was on a motorcycle! It was only the second time I’ve been on one! It is very liberating but extra scary on Ghana’s roads!! It probably is not the smartest thing to do here, but you only live once so I’m going to make the most of it. In case you’re wondering, I did not wear a helmet. I figure wearing a helmet is just so they can harvest your organs when you get into a crash. I don’t think they do much organ donation in Africa.

The Guest House was clean, but the bed was hard as a rock. Millie and her cousin wanted to make sure I stayed somewhere with a real toilet. They are always looking out for me!

This morning before we left Hohoe, we went to the Cocoa Company. I got to see how Cocoa pods grow from the tree. They split one open for me so I could try it. I was expecting chocolate inside the pod so I was a little surprise what it was like. The pods are oval shaped about the size of a small melon. Inside the pod are large seeds covered with a fruity membrane. You can suck on the seed and it has a sweet taste similar to cantaloupe with a slight hint of chocolate. Weird, huh? To make cocoa powder, they dry the seeds and ferment them. Then they grind them. I also saw a coffee plant/tree. Coffee comes from the berries. The coffee seeds are inside them. Those are dried and then ground into coffee.

I know this was long, but I wanted to tell you about everything I did the past day and half! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!

Love, Kari