Hi all!
We're headed back to the villages tomorrow for a couple of days and then when we get back we have our finals and then we leave! So this is most likely the last blog post from Burkina Faso!
Ghana was a lot of fun, and it was interesting to see the differences between two west african countries. Especially at the border the economic differences between these two countries could be easily told. On the Ghana side, they had a building with glass doors and windows and a couple of computers and passport scanners for the officials. On the Burkina Faso side, there was one man in a small building with a ledger, writing down the names and passport numbers of everyone who entered the country (this was on the way back from Ghana). At one point while driving to Mole National Park we drove through an urban area and our driver pulled a u-turn, which is apparently illegal. All of a sudden a police officer waved us down and was jumping in front of our car. He basically told us that either we had to give him 300 CDs (about 70 cents to the dollar) or that he was going to take us down to his office and we would have to go to court for the traffic violation. As we were leaving that day and had to get back to Burkina Faso, of course there was no way that we could make the court apearance. After talking to him a fair amount, our program coordinator payed him 10 CDs and we drove off.
In Ghana, we went to Mole National Park and saw a fair amount of animals, but unfortunately no elephants. We went on little safari nature walks in the morning and driving safaris in the afternoon. We saw a lot of antelope, warthogs, baboons, and monkeys, but nooo elephants. The safari guides kept telling us that the end of december is the best time to come and see elephants - so close, and yet so far! The reason that all the elephants were staying deep in the forest is because there are still many water sources left from the rainy season and the elephants do not have to go to the bigger bodies of water (which are in more open areas). It was still a lot of fun as we were able to relax, go swimming, and eat somewhat American food (chicken and french fries for Thanksgiving dinner). As a funny side note, Ghanaians, of course, speak english but there were many times where I, and many others in my group, started to say something in French to either our safari guide, a waiter, or a woman seling bread (bread from Ghana isn't lile the French baguettes in BF - it's a normal loaf and is much sweeter. Also, the tea in Ghana was much better than in BF, must be the english influence!) Of course they do not speak french but sometimes it would take me a moment to realize why they couldn't understand me to then realize that, oh yes, I can speak in my native tongue to locals!
I can't believe that my time here is wrapping up so quickly! It really does not seem that long ago that I stepped on the plane to come here, and now I only have a week left! I hope to post one more blog when I get home to summarise and reflect and add any last details.
Thanks all for reading! And happy belated Thanksgiving!
Caroline
