Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire: A Photographic Summary

After an altogether fantastic two weeks in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire (and a 17 hour bus ride) I am back in Burkina. Since I have lots to share and tell and a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some pictures (and some words) to give you a taste of my travels to foreign lands...

Beth and I at the Burkina/Ghana border, donning our Peace Corps wear. Our trip to Accra took about 23 hours. We left at 8:30 am, arriving the next day around 7:00 am. Despite the length of the trip, it was more comfortable than many transport experiences I've had in Burkina thanks to air conditioning and relatively comfy seats - luxury takes on a whole new meaning in West Africa!
We arrived at Chez Lea in Accra and were spoiled during our stay with movies, many many episodes of Desperate Housewives, amazing Indian food each night, comfy beds, air conditioning and the excellent hospitality of our hostesses, Lea and Simran.

Lea, Beth and I. Out for a taste of the Accra nightlife.

We took a trip to Bojo Beach, where Beth and I revelled in the sight of the ocean, the first major body of water we'd seen after nearly seven months in dry, landlocked Burkina.
Lea, Simran, and I on the beach.
Me - in the O-C-E-A-N!
The beach.

Our transport to the mainland, a traditional boat (I'm fairly sure they're made from palm trunks).

Beth and I took a day trip to Akosombo to see Lake Volta, the world's largest man-made lake, and the Akosombo dam, which provides Ghana and neighboring countries with the majority of their hydroelectric power.

Beth and I standing on the dam. We had an interesting tour, which included our tour guide professing his love for me.

We couldn't take photos of the intake chambers of the dam, but this is the body of the dam and the spillway.

Aylo's Bay, on the Volta River, where we enjoyed a lunch of fried plaintains and a Ghanaian rice dish for lunch.

A suspension bridge on the Volta.

There aren't too many vistas like this in Burkina!

Lea, Simran, Beth, and I on our last night in Accra.

Cote d'Ivoire

We left Accra and took a "sept-place" (seven seat Peugot station wagon) to the Ghana/Cote d'Ivoire border. Customs itself was relatively problem-free, but we were hassled a bit at a few of the four barriers (military police blockades) during the 65k trip to Aboisso, Beth's sister Sarah's village. Sarah works with an NGO initiating and supervising sustainable literacy programs on cocoa and coffee plantations.

Aboisso. On the road to Sarah's house.

Sarah's house in Aboisso, Cote d'Ivoire.

Sarah, her colleague Charlotte, Beth, and I eating Futu, an Ivoirian dish made from manioc and bananas and served with a spicy sauce.

Centre-ville in Aboisso.

One day we took a hike en brousse to a village of Burkinabe who are working on a cocoa plantation where Sarah has a literacy program. It was neat to speak a little Moore and enjoy their hospitality which included some amazing fruit - coconuts, papaya, and pineapple.

One of the many palm grovers sur la route - these trees produce palm oil.

Drinking coconut water.

Beth and I with our new Burkinabe friends.

Beth and I on the walk back, displaying our gifts of fruit, including the world's largest papaya.

We also stopped in another village on our walk back where we ate at the chef (chief's) house.

Sarah and Beth with the chef (far right), Sarah's Senegalaise friend, Pap-Jean, and Paul, a Burkinabe literacy teacher.
On Christmas Eve, we travelled to Maffure, a small city about an hour away from Aboisso, where Sarah did some of her training. We enjoyed an amazing dinner of fresh fish and chicken with Kofi, Sarah's tutor. At the end of the meal Kofi told us how much he respected our work in West Africa and, despite our protests that we gain as much if not more than we give, he insisted that we sacrifice quite a lot in coming here, working in small villages, and radically altering our lifestyles. Whether or not I agree with him, it was wonderfully encouraging to hear him express these sentiments and especially poignant of Christmas Eve, when we were all missing family, friends and the festiveness of the holidays at home.

Breakfast on Christmas morning: Beth, Sarah, Pap, and Assi, Sarah's colleague. The bucket in the middle of the table is filled with an enormous amount of fruit salad.

Hanging out on the porch, drinking some Christmas Morning mimosas.

A Christmas visit from the neighbors.
Christmas Dinner.

Beth, truly in the holiday spirit.

Pap and I.

Departure.

A la gare, Aboisso. We took a sept-place to Noe, the town at the Ghana-Ivoirian border, then caugh a six-hour trou-trou (Ghanaian bush taxi) ride to Kumasi, a large city in central Ghana and the heart of Ashantiland. We spent a night at a guesthouse there before, exploring a bit before embarking on our 18-hour bus ride back to Ouaga.

Ghana

The Grand Market in Kumasi, the largest market in West Africa.

Grand Market.

Ghana has an amazing array of fabric, from traditional woven kente cloth to tie-dyed and patterned batik cloth. Beth and I spent our day in Kumasi wandering around centre-ville and the market and buying lots of cloth to have tailored back in Burkina.

Beth at a cloth stall in the market.

Batik cloth.

You don't often see traffic like this in Burkina. One of the biggest differences we noticed between Burkine and Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire was the prevalence of cars. In Burkina, even in the cities, motos and bicycles exponentially outnumber cars.

Well, that's all I've got for now - will try to post more vacation pictures as well as pictures from my village on my Shutterfly site.

Happy Holidays!