Well our second week at the hospital passed just as quickly as the first and before we knew it, we were back bumping along in yet another tro-tro to do some more exploration of the country.
On Friday afternoon, we set off from our house in Takoradi after ordering 4 cabs in order to accommodate all the students in the house. The cab that Kiri and I were riding in didn't get off to such a smooth start... Have we mentioned how crazy taxi drivers are yet? No? Well let me tell you. With the work the world house located on a rather steep hill, this setting provided an interesting challenge to the taxi drivers who had cars that hadn't had their oil changed in oh, 15 years. Anyways, the taxi that we had climbed into happened to be in less than fantastic condition and refused to start on the hill. Thus began a rather exciting backwards coast down the hill, as the taxi driver tried to start his engine. This of course didn't work, and we ended up slamming into a parked car at the bottom of the hill. This provided us with enough forward momentum, however, for the engine to turn over and our taxi driver drove away without leaving a note or exchanging insurance or anything. Africa is crazy.
After our hit and run, we made it to the tro tro station and filled up an entire tro tro (it's basically a 16 passenger van), and before long we were en route to cape coast to have some dinner with some other healthcare students we'd met the previous weekend in Kumasi. We had dinner at a spot bar; we basically all ordered the most deep fried thing we could find on the menu... We figured it was safest, considering most of the food there sits outside in the sun all day.
After dinner, we headed back for the tro tro station, only to discover that after 5pm on Fridays, tro tros don't run anymore! This caused a minor panic, as all 16 of us had booked a place to stay that evening in the jungle and they were expecting us! One of the guys in our group started bartering with taxi drivers, trying to get a fair price as we had a 40 minute journey to our final destination. This caused a bit of a riot in the taxi area; drivers absolutely love to fight for our business because of the colour of our skin. You see, they associate being rich with being white and can then quadruple the price of their services. We finally got four taxi cabs to agree to drive us all out for about $20 Canadian in the end... It was definitely a bit of a rip off in Ghana terms, but not too shabby as you wouldn't be able to get fare for that cheap in Canada!
We arrived safe and sound in Kokum, a jungle about 40 minutes later where we were met by a man dressed in an army outfit who said his name was George and that he'd be our tour guide. It could've been the fact that it was pitch black outside, but I felt a little uneasy; it seemed pretty sketchy to be following a stranger into a jungle with nothing but the flashlight on my iPhone but I figured 16 of us could take him so we all followed him up into the park.
I suppose I should explain what Kokum is; it's a park(mostly for tourists!) located in the jungle that offers hikes, sightseeing, a sunrise canopy tour and the chance to sleep in a treehouse. We had planned to sleep in a treehouse, but we're informed but George that a storm had blown through earlier that day and knocked out the ladder up the tree. Therefore, we had to take the next available option; a lodge. We were slightly devastated; we REALLY wanted to sleep in a treehouse, but we figured a lodge wouldn't be the end of the world so we took it. They failed to mention that there weren't enough beds for all of us, which led to Kiri and I sharing a single size bed in a very small room inhabited by lizards. At one point in the night, the power went out and let me be the first to tell you that that room heated up so fast; I could've fried an egg on my face.
But back to my story, after dropping our bags off in the room, we were told by George that it was time for our night hike in the jungle. I was still a little skeptical of George at this point and decided to pocket my phone in the event that he was leading us to be shot or kidnapped by crazies in the jungle. I figured in the event that something like this happened, I could at least turn the cellular settings back on my phone so my "find my iPhone" app would work in the hopes that the Canadian government would someday find my body. But anyways, we all followed George deep into the jungle to look for wildlife and really only ended up seeing a couple rats and a lot of ants but nonetheless it was pretty cool. I ended up using the flashlight on my phone to guide my way so it was worth taking in the end. George didn't lead us off to be killed and instead showed us thousand year old trees and some wildlife, before dropping us off at our lodge. He told us to set our alarms for 4:30, because that's when we'd be hiking up to the bridges to see the sunrise.
Sleeping in a tiny bed with a person like Kiri is difficult; she's a flail-er. 4:30am came way too fast for my liking and soon we were trekking in the jungle, again with George who by this time seemed like a nice person.
Let me tell you this. Waking up that early was worth every single minute of being uncomfortable. The canopy walk consisted of 7 long suspension bridges that had been constructed by Canadians in 1994. They were situated over 100metres above the trees, way up in the air! The sunrise was absolutely breathtaking. I have no words to describe it. It was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen.
After our walk, we headed back and had a quick breakfast before setting out in yet another tro tro to Hans Cottage, where most of the students in our group petted a crocodile. It was super sketchy... A woman lured a crocodile out of the water with a chunk of meat on a stick and laughed as we all went to pet it. She then made it jump for us before letting it go back into the water. It was a little crazy, but hey, this is Africa; that doesn't even rate high on the "I could die" scale.
After crocodiling, we headed for our final destination, a place called Kokrobite where we hung out on the beach; it was very relaxing. The water in Ghana was basically the temperature of bath water; so warm and so perfect.
After our night in Kokrobite, we headed back to cape coast so that the new students who'd come this week could experience the cape coast castle. The rest of us just shopped around and tried not to get hassled by too many vendors. We've gotten really good at bartering... It's a little ridiculous. We barter for everything... Taxi rides, hotel room prices,fruit, practically our lives. Even in the grocery store, you have to make sure they give you back the correct change... That's another thing about Ghana. NO ONE has small change. It's very common to walk into the grocery store, pay for a $3 item with a $5 bill and be given a couple sticks of gum as compensation because they've run out of change. At first I thought it was funny, now it's just getting annoying. But hey, that's just how they roll!