Village tour and journey back to Accra

On Sunday, Sam, our guide, took us on a tour of his village and showed us various things. Now I know how to prepare palm oil, palm wine, banku, and fufu (Ghanaian dishes made from cassava and flour) and how they taste. It's all a lot of hard work, and when the children are old enough (5 years old), they also have to help out. The elders in the village are treated with a lot of respect. We had to go to each one, shake their hand, and thank them for allowing us to be in the village. What I also found very nice was that the people (all relatively poor) were wearing our secondhand T-shirts. One had a Rock am Ring T-shirt, another had one with the inscription "Echt wahr? Carolina 50th year". It's nice to know that our clothes really end up where they are needed!

After the village tour, we walked to the monkey sanctuary next door. I don't have a rabies vaccination, so I didn't want to get too close to the monkeys. The other medical students also didn't necessarily want to have contact, so we sat outside and just watched the monkeys in front of us. You could also hold a banana in your hand to feed the monkeys, but then they would climb on you and might accidentally scratch you.

So now I'm back in the Trotro heading back to Accra and enjoying the wind while driving. On the way, there are always police officers who check us. Unfortunately, most of them are corrupt here. The driver has to give them a bribe so he can continue driving.

Something else I would like to tell you: Last night, we walked around the village and enjoyed the atmosphere. In Europe and also in Accra, there is too much light to see the stars clearly. In the village, far away from a larger city, the view was incredible! The crescent moon is not like ours on the right or left side, but on top or bottom. In addition, the constellation is upside down: The handle of the Big Dipper points down to the right here. The tranquility was incredible, and we all enjoyed the distance from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Hmm, too soon to rejoice. Halfway between Ho and Accra, we suddenly slowed down and came to a stop. Gasoline was dripping from our car, and nothing helped to start the car again. So we sat in the middle of nowhere for about 1.5 hours, waiting for a new Trotro to come by. In the meantime, we tried to find shade and passed by a woman who sold us mangoes. So it could have been worse 😅 But the rest of the journey went smoothly, thank goodness! I arrived well at 5 p.m. 🤗

For dinner, Julia and I went to Osu and I ate a burger for the first time in a long time! 😍 Perfect weekend!