Nzulezo

Off on our first real African adventure. Naomi, Andrea and I were off to the western region of Ghana to Nzulezo, a village built about a mile inland from the coast completely on stilts. We left Friday morning and after nine hours and three tro tro rides (one of them was as close as I’ve come to Indiana Jones in real life) we got to Beyin a small town just outside of the stilt village. We couldn’t arrange any accommodations for the night because the phone numbers in our guidebooks didn’t work. Fortunately, on the last leg of our trip we met a few other obruni girls from the University who were also headed for Nzulezo and had a place to stay. We were so tired and hungry that we went along with their plan hoping to get a room for the night and what we found was a charming beach lodge with a glorious menu and best of all, a shower room with a water heater. We stayed in a little hut 100m from the beach and woke up to the ocean and a wonderful view. As peaceful and calm as it was in Beyin we packed up and walked to catch a canoe ride to the village.
We got a very nice guide to take us down the canal and he showed us points of interest along the way (such as the rickety old wooden fish traps and where the snails like to live). The ride was amazing though, we were in a six foot wide canal with sweeping grassland to either side and jungle in the distance. After around 45 minutes we got to the lake where the village was nestled off to a corner. We parked the canoe and our guide walked us through the village, which was incredible. There’s a main “road” they call it, that is a rickety wooden walkway that goes through the houses. Four hundred and fifty people live there and make raffia wine, which apparently is their source of income, although I couldn’t help but think that tourism is another hefty contributor. We saw the school, the three churches, I peeked into a few of the houses, and then we saw where they all bathe and go to the bathroom and get their drinking water…oh wait that is the lake.
When we got back, we walked into the town to catch a tro tro back to the closest city and after village hoping and another bumpy ride, we made it to our destination for the night Busua Beach. On the last leg to the coast you have to take a cab and of course our cab driver suggested we stay at his sister’s lodge when we couldn’t tell him where we were staying. It turned out to be a cute, rickety hotel right on the beach run by a family in the middle of the bustling town. We got a small bamboo room upstairs with a view of the whole beach and surrounding area. That night we ate a huge meal, watched the surfers, and went to bed early. The three of us shared a little bed with one mosquito net so it was a bit crammed but for ocean views and $4 a person we couldn’t complain. Overall another wonderful weekend, but I’ve had my share of the Ghanaian coast. Soon we plan to head inland and see the waterfalls and jungle! In the meantime I’ll continue to study (midterms are apparently coming up, but their lack of syllabi in my classes isn’t helping my cause), dance like an awkward white girl, and soak up life in Legon. And holla, it’s almost mango season!