Birthday Ghana style

It has been a long time since the last blog and we bet you were all getting a little bit worried. . . we are ok, it just seems that internet in this country is worse than Spain. We arrived in Ghana on the 26th March and were looking forward to speaking in English again but as it turns out, Pidgeon English is very different. We don't really understand them and they definitely don't understand us with our Spanglish accents, to be honest speaking French for the last few weeks now seems quite easy. We wanted to make it all the way to Mole/Moley National Park that day and thought it would be a normal day driving but we were SUPPOSED to take a turn off on the main road which happened to be the only one that didn't have a sign post. It was SUPPOSED to be tarmac all the way so when it then turned to red dirt tracks we stopped, looked at each other, turned the GPS on and realised that Lake Volta was between us and the National park. Luckily we had only gone about 50km but it was getting dark so we decided to bush camp.
Waking up in the middle of the jungle on my birthday was a new experience. The people there were quite surprised, don't think they see many white people because the children were all running to fetch their friends and families. We got back on the right road and after a 88km corrugated track we kissed the tarmac and made it to the park. I signed in at the gate and had to declare if we had any weapons, then we rented a chalet at the only hotel in the reserve. It was huge, with aircon and we had a balcony overlooking the water hole where the animals come to drink but it was falling apart around us and we only had a trickle of water in the bathroom. That afternoon we hired a guide and went out into the park in our car in search of animals but we were told that we wouldn't see much as the park is huge and there was still water everywhere so they would be too far away. We saw a few different types of deer, warthogs and monkeys and that was about it. I said it was my birthday and that we had to see elephants but our guide said that people had been out for the last 5 days and not seen any and besides it was very rare because they walk 60km per day through the park so it was very unlikely. I had lost all hope and we were a few hundred meters from the hotel when I saw what I thought was a statue of an elephant. Adam saw it too and stopped the car very slowly and we realised they were real and there was another just beside us. We got out of the car and sat on the bonnet to watch then eating and crossing the track just 10m away from us. What a great birthday present!!!
When we left the park we went back along the 88km corrugated track again and headed south to Lake Bosumtwe which was formed by a meteorite. It is so beautiful there and we stayed in a hotel right on the waters edge and went swimming off their private pontoon. Paradise! The next day we hit the coast and it was so good to smell the sea and see the waves after being in land for so long. We are definitely coast people and lose all sense of direction when we don't see it for such a long time.
We then had a few days relaxing, sleeping and eating on the white sandy beaches. We have been staying in a small village about 30/40km from the Ivory Coast and we got up early yesterday to go on a trip to a village on stilts in the middle of a lake. We met our guide, Ben and rented a canoe for the 45min paddle up-river through the jungle. This is the only way to the village and the villagers have to make this ride all of the time to go to school, church, hospital and the market. It was originally built there hundreds of years ago to escape from the slave traders as they thought the waters were cursed so the people were safe out there. When we arrived there was a huge house on the other side and our guide told us it was Casa Pepe! It turns out he is a really eccentric but lovely guy from Valencia and he has lived there for 7 years and is building a hotel next to his house. After the guided tour of the village we called Pepe and he came across in his boat for a beer and a chat. Turns out he came here on holiday and he got drunk on the very potent local gin and asked as a joke if they would build him a stilt house. 1 month later someone called him to say his house was ready. Of course he couldn't remember but he went back on holiday a few times and ended up staying for good. How crazy! Just shows you there are English and Spanish just about everywhere in the world.


Hola a todos, seguro que estaban un poco preocupados ya que llevamos tanto tiempo sin escribir en el blog. La conexion de internet en este pais es peor que la de España! Llegamos a Ghana el 26 de marzo con ganas de hablar Ingles, pero hablan muy malamente casi no nos enteramos con ellos. Tampoco entienden lo que hablamos nosotros, era mas facil hablando Frances. Malamente por supuesto! Queriamos llegar el mismo dia al parque natural de Mole/Moley porque el 27 era el cumple de Sophie y queriamos estar en el hotel para celebrarlo en condiciones, con las prisas no vimos el desvio al parque y nos dimos cuenta del fallo cuando se acabo el asfalto. Al final quedamos acampados en el bosque tropical rodeado de niños y ancianos que parece que habian visto pocos blancos. Asi se despertó Sophie en su dia de cumple. Al otro dia encontramos el desvio al parque y despues de 88km de camino el peor hasta el momento llegamos al parque. Tuvimos que declara si llevabamos armas o no. Conseguimos la llave de un suite con vistas al lago para ver los elefantes etc. Vaya que suite! salia un chorrito de aqua del grifo, al menos tenia aire acondicionado que funcionaba. Salimos el mismo dia en busca de animales, tuvimos que llevar un guia armado. Nos dijo que no habia mucha possibildad de ver elefantes porque suelen andar unos 60km al dia. Despues de estar toda la tarde viendo todo tipo de animales habiamos quedado sin esperanza de ver elefantes, a unos 300m del hotel de repente encontramos dos machos a lado del carril, nos asustamos un poco. Pare el coche y sentamos en el capón y pasaron a unos 10m de nosotros. Que regalo de cumpleaños para Sophie. Al otro día despues de cargarnos otros 88 km de carril fuimos al lago Bosumtwe formado por un Meteorito, alli nos quedamos la noche y por la mañana fuimos a bañarnos al lago del atraque. Era el paraiso, unas vistas increible. Cogimos camino a la costa, ya teniamos ganas de ver la playa despues de estar tanto tiempo sin verlo. La hechabamos mucho de menos. Hemos estado unos dias quedandonos en distintos campings al borde de la playa comiendo en condiciones, relajando y bañando. El ultimo unos 30/40 km de la frontera de la Costa Marfil donde fuimos a ver un pueblo que viven al borde de un lago en casas montado en palos en el agua, llevan cientos de años viviendo alli escondidos de los blancos que buscaba esclavos. Se tarda unos 45 minutos en canoa por medio de la jungla para llegar. Encontramos un Valenciano que se llamaba Pepe! Lleva siete años haciendo un hotel alli, que pasón de tio. Habia estado alli con un grupo de amigos y en una borrachera de ginebra (distilado en el pueblo, 60% de alcohol!) y de cachondeo le dijo a uno del pueblo que le hiciera una casa. Al mes el del pueblo le llamo que tenia la casa hecha, Pepe ni se acordaba!! Le cobro 350€ Asi despues de unas vacaciones en su nueva casa, se decidio quedarse alli a montar el hotel! Han estado los de la tele española para hacerle un reportaje. Hasta pronto.