Western Region

 I'm still exhausted/recovering, but I had a great weekend :) 

It didn't take long for me to get back in the thick of things here.  My flight from Rome landed around 9:00 PM on Monday night, I had classes Tuesday-Thursday, volunteered on Friday morning, and was off to the Western Region Friday afternoon.

On Friday, five of us (Kelly, Katie, Avery, Lisa, and I) took a bus from Accra to Takoradi, spent the night there, and headed to the small village of Butre the next morning. 

In Butre, we paid at the tourist centre (lol) to climb up to Fort Batenstein. The views from the fort were absolutely gorgeous. 

The three villages we wanted to visit, Butre, Busua, and Dixcove, were connected by two foot paths. It took about an hour to walk between Butre and Busua. 

The beaches of Busua were beautiful. 

 

This is one of my favorite pictures, I love photographing the Ghanaian sailboats.

 

We ate lunch at a little place right on the beach in Busua. My Ghana guidebook recommended this place for it's fiesta burrito. As we were all missing/craving Mexican food, we went for it. I'm not going to say this burrito was the highlight of my weekend, but it's up there. We watched the chef make the floor tortillas, just sayin'.

 Our next stop was Dixcove, the last and largest of the three villages. It only took us about 30 minutes to get there on the second foot path.

We spent the night at a lodge on the beach just outside of the village Akwidda. We didn't get more than an hour or so of sleep because our accommodations were not the greatest.  Our "dormitory" was a single room in a wooden loft structure with six thin mattresses placed on the floor, no fan, and a door that did not lock. A combination of heat and paranoia, for those sleeping next to the door (I was furthest from the door, hehe), kept us awake for the majority of the night. 

The following morning, at 6:30 AM, EEEEK, we went on a canoe trip through the mangrove swamps of the Ezile Estuary.

With school, I spend the majority of my time in Accra. Most of my favorite moments in Ghana, however, have been spent elsewhere. While I'm in Accra, it can be easy to forget how beautiful Ghana is. It amazes me that shanty towns overlook million dollar views. For me, the villages I saw this weekend rival the beauty of any five star beach resort.

This weekend might have been my favorite trip thus far. We packed a lot in and were veryyyyy tired come Sunday evening. I woke up at 6:00 AM Monday morning to volunteer, needless to say I was in bed early again last night.

Tomorrow marks seven weeks until my flight leaves Ghana. Now that I have crossed the halfway mark, time seems to be flying!