Paga, Nada

Well, today's big adventure with the Paga crocodiles didn't happen for me. I heard it was a fun adventure for the other families though. Can't wait to see their pictures/video! As for me, I started working on the computer late last night and ended up working into the morning. By the time I put my head down to sleep my brain was too busy with thoughts to relax and sleep. I headed out for a 7am breakfast with sleeping pill in hand--ready to get my "night's sleep" this morning! The others headed out for Paga without me.

Sleep or crocs? Sleep or crocs? Sleep won. =-)

I was disappointed when I heard that the group also went to Sarigu Woman's Village. I was really looking forward to that. They said it was interesting but "not all that." Glad I didn't miss the best outting of the trip!

At around 4pm we went to the Bolgatanga Crafts Village. This place was made for we touristing obrunis! It's like a mini version of the art and culture center in Accra (very mini). No pressure. It's full of the handicrafts we Americans go ga-ga over. We only got to stay a few moments before we needed to head out to the next venue, but the moms and I are wanting to go back tomorrow for sure. I really want to buy some Bolga baskets if I can figure out how to get them back to the US.

After the Crafts market we went out to visit a local foster home. It was really nice. What made it so nice was the "guinea savannah" surrounding the place. [I found out that's the official name for the landscape around here.] It was wide open and enjoyed a breeze that we just don't feel in the more inhabited areas here. It would be a nice place to live.

Final stop during daylight hours was to the Bolga Market. Every 3rd day is market day. I thought it was every 5th, but 3rd is what we were told today. It was almost 6 by the time we got there, but we were able to get a feel for a traditional market. We were able to buy very inexpensive cloth (2 cedis for eacy "yard", each "yard" being about 2 US yards). Someday I will need to hire someone to make a quilt out of all of my Ghana clothes! They are irresistable even though I don't really have anything to do with them except look at them. I was also able to stock up on pure shea butter. You cannot beat the price of N. Ghana pure shea butter! They put them in little balls. About 4 golf ball sized balls were 20 pesewas. I got 1 cedi worth of shea and figure it's about 12 ounces. Still need to find a calabash to store it in. Right now it's hardening in the fridge of my hotel room, but it was turned into mush by the time we got home tonight!

To end our evening we went to "Swap Fast Food"--Bolga's home for pizza. LOL! After a few days of rice and chicken or rice and guinea fowl I would say it was a pretty good likeness to pizza. There was cheese (crispy, chedderish cheese) and the crust was nice and cripsy. No tomato sauce to take notice off. The chicken on it was good, but next time I think I will order it minus the eggs. ;-) Still, I happily finished it all! It's the first time I've really felt "full" here. Usually I end up eating the fish/chicken/guinea fowl/goat and a small portion of the rice, because the rice is too spicy for me.

As we walked out of Swap Fast Food we noticed lightening! And before long there were little rumbles of thunder! Just now, the smell of rain wafted into my room. The Ghanaians think that rain tonight will bring cooler temps tomorrow. I tend to think that the rain will just make it steamier tomorrow. I'll let you know!

Tomorrow will be another relaxing day. The thing is, if you go out and do something for a few hours the heat drains you so much that you don't feel like doing anything the rest of the day! Tomorrow we will eat a late breakfast, and try to get back up to the craft market. Late afternoon we hope to head out to visit Kendi's home village. I don't feel at all nervous about that at this point, but ask me again right before we leave! Kendi's father has been shown photos of her since her homecoming (when my friend visited her family) and I'm told that he didn't believe she was the same child. I'll take that as a compliment. =-)

Anybody who needs to email me should do so at anita@adoptionadvocates.org. I'm not being able to send or receive from my cox.net address here. the AAI address goes through gmail so it is working fine.

Love to all,

Anita