Good Good Life: January 2013

"If you see a snake, step on it. (Big stomp) And run back". These were the departing words of Yaw to me and Kassie as we took off on a little jungle hike to the river on Tuesday afternoon. We didn't see any snakes, but we did see a tree that then prompted a return photography trip every evening at sunset. The river was pretty unremarkable. Great, being a body water, but not as amazing as The Tree. I took 146 pictures of the The Tree on my camera, and a handful of others on my phone. Oh Beautiful Ghana.

The trail to the river

Kassie said it best: "I feel like a dinosaur could walk out at any moment and it wouldn't seem strange at all"

The trail washed out from a rainstorm earlier in the afternoon

This is after we attempted to clean our shoes...

Ike, the Director of World Joy, lived in Ghana for several years (2...3...??), he has also been to the Atiwa District several times through World Joy and has thus developed relationships with many of the locals. He was able to contact several of them to provide food for us during our stay. This worked out great because we were providing work for locals, and it freed up time for us.

In the mornings Daniel would arrive with a breakfast that usually consisted of something similar to french toast and fresh fruit. It wasn't fruit season so Daniel had to forage through the jungles for the fruit--good man.

Dinners were provided by a woman who owns a restaurant in a town about an hour and a half from Abomosu and generally consisted of chicken, rice, and other embellishments.

One evening Stephen and Margaret prepared us a typical Ghanian meal that was delicious and so appreciated. It included fufu(masa made out of casaba and .......??), nut soup, kiliwilie (fried plantain), and red red (fried plantain over beans.

We also had stopped at a store in Accra right after our plane landed and picked up some groceries for sack lunches, and to stock up the kitchen at the guest house. We were definitely not without food during the trip.

The food is not generally spicy, but almost always was accompanied by two sauces that did liven things up.

Rice, hot sauce, chicken, salad

A typical breakfast of french toast, fresh fruit (watermelon, papaya, mango), oatmeal, and our daily dose of malarone/doxy (preventative medicine for Malaria)

More chicken, rice, hot sauce, and salad

The midwives came from the surrounding villages. Many of the villages were too far away to walk home to, and return again the next day so we provided them with meals and met in at a local meeting place together.

Alvaro. Passionfruit, pineapple, and pear flavors. Delicious.

I don't think we ate this little guy...

Malta. Not delicious.

Pineapple from Stephen's yard. The pineapple in Ghana is amazing. It doesn't have any tartness--completely sweet.

One morning Daniel brought eggs with the french toast.

One night we were on our own for dinner. The original plan was to make a chicken dish, but we were all a little sick of chicken by that time so we had leftovers. Ike made a creation of french toast, mayonnaise, pickles, onions, and egg. Kellie mentioned that Thueson once ate Roast Beef with cake and Ike was adamant that regular food should not be mixed with dessert. When asked how he felt about the combination of chocolate and chile, he stated 'that is disgusting'. I would argue that french toast and mayonnaise is slightly more so.