weekend in paradise

Well, this weekend I discovered the place I would like to spend the rest of my life. On Saturday morning we headed off to Busua Beach, which is in the Western Region of Ghana. Upon arrival we checked in to our room where Skyler, Ashley, Christina and I would spend the night. The hotel had three twin beds that we pushed together to make one big bed and the best part, our very own bathroom and shower. It’s really rare for a “hotel” in Ghana to have individual bathrooms in the room since they typically only have a shower and toilet that all of the guests share. In the end it only cost each of us 10 GHC (or $5) for a beach front room: reason number one why we’re moving there. After checking in we went to sign up for our surfing lessons where they told us that we’d have to wait until 4 o’clock when it was high tide. To pass the time we ordered their famous veggie burritos and enjoyed some fresh pineapple juice: reason number two why we’re moving there.

After a walk on the beach it was time for our lessons with the surf instructor named Kofi. To start off the lesson we did a lot of body boarding to get used to the timing and form. Once he thought we were capable of moving on he taught us how to knee surf which is actually easier than we thought. The third stage of the lesson was definitely the most interesting and harmful part. It was time for us to stand up… but we did a LOT more falling than standing. Lucky for us, the waves were a nice medium size so we didn’t get totally crushed but we all have some pretty big bruises to return home with. I think Kofi had more fun laughing at us than anything else and we had quiet the audience watching the whole time. In the end he told us we were a lot better than he thought we were going to be, but still not as good as him (thanks for that Kofi).

We spent the night with a bunch of new friends and a huge bonfire on the beach: reason number three why we’re moving there. It was a surreal moment realizing that I was sitting on a beach in the middle of the night in Ghana like it was just a normal part of my life. The variety of places we’ve experienced here is unreal and almost hard to comprehend. You can be on a quiet beach one second, a busy city ten minutes later and then in the middle of a remote village five minutes after that. The people I’ve met range from those who have absolutely no education to doctors that are the smartest and most resourceful people I’ve ever come across. I guess that’s the beauty of a developing country and seeing it is just way more influential than reading about it in a text book. It’s safe to say the travel bug has bitten me because in my free time all I do is look up more programs to participate in and more places to visit (sorry mom).

We were pretty depressed when it was finally time to leave but we’re hoping to make it back to Busua one more time before we leave! The ride home and the rest of the weekend were pretty uneventful but we needed the time to relax. This week is another short week at work since today was a national holiday but I’m off to surgery so I hope to learn a lot in the few days that I’m there! Talk to you soon!