Africa, I guess, would be a great place to start. The best way to describe it would be to say it was an experience. I saw a part of the world that lives a different lifestyle and mentality then we see in the western world. I am not saying that it is bad lifestyle but it definitely takes some getting used to. My flight into Accra, Ghana was delayed by 4.5 hours and i arrived at 1am and didn't have the opportunity to get accommodations for that evening. I ended up staying in an internet cafe for the night and figured I would work everything out in the morning. By this time I had not slept in almost 3 days and making logical decisions was becoming difficult. It was not a good start to my adventure but I eventually figured out life and got some sleep. The next afternoon I got to meet up with Brian, Craig, and Heather. It was a relief to no longer be alone in this strange world and start my real adventure.
Once my rendezvous with the rest of my friends we found a place to sleep that night and did some wandering around Accra. This was the first chance I had received to actually take in what the town had to offer and I realized at that point that this was going to take some time to adapt to. Sleeping was definitely the worst that first night. I doubt that Brian and I got 3 hours of sleep between the two of us (heat and mosquitoes). The next day we headed west to a small town called Butre. It was a gorgeous little beach hideaway where we would spend the next two days before we headed back toward Accra to Cape Coast. In Cape Coast, we did a Canopy walk. Got to cross something else off of my bucket list and received an amazing experience at the same time.
Last night in Ghana was spent at a monkey sanctuary in Tafia Tome. This may have been one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. We entered the jungle bright and early in the morning at which time the guide called the monkeys out of the forest and one by one we fed them bananas directly out of our hands. The monkeys would climb up on your shoulders and arms while they would peel the banana and eat out of your hands. I can describe this at all and I didn't know it would ever be something I would get to do.
After Ghana, it was time to travel across the forests of Togo and start one of the worst bush taxi rides I would ever experience. We were riding in a van that should have been broken down on the side of the road long ago. As we traveled the 8 hours on a dirt road the window of our van would shift as we went through car sized pot holes and Brian's chair would fall to the ground. a total of 12 hours later we arrived in Benin. Time to experience the life of a Beninese local. Throughout Benin we traveled to Parakou and experienced a chuke crawl that was beer made in a bucket, Abomey and saw the old kingdoms, Cotonou and saw the large markets, and last we headed south to Grand popo in which we had another small vacation on the beach. Overall a great time in benin.
We headed back across Togo to Ghana so that Brian and I could catch our long flights home. Problem was that my flight home broke down on the tarmac and I had to spend another day in Africa, After arguing with the Turkish Airlines manager till 4am i got a change in airlines and a direct flight back up to the snowy forest of Germany. Not completely true because the snow didn't actually happen till a week later but it was still a shock from the 100 degree weather of Africa. After 2 weeks in Stuttgart and some great trips to the Christmas market it was time to head up north to Sweden.
I am quite sad that i did not get the opportunity to be home for the holidays and get to be with my family but plans have changed and we should be heading back to the states at the end of the February. Stina no longer works as an Au Pair in Germany and I may have found in job in Sweden tending bar. A lot has changed in the past two weeks but I think for the best. The timing for Germany was not right and my trip to Africa was amazing but was also at the complete wrong time. Many things worked against me staying in Germany but maybe it can happen sometime again in the future.
Merry Christmas!
