1) Month 2 has been beautiful for so many reasons. It’s also been tough. I think I left it out of my blog last month but I got malaria in the Ivory Coast. Since I was on preventive meds the symptoms were not terrible for me. For others, it was rough. Before we got to Ghana I was feeling better no more malaria but as soon as I got to where we were going, I got sick…again (silver lining-it wasn’t malaria this time)!!! Some sort of infection that most of us got. I was frustrated because I rarely get sick but when I do it lasts what seems like forever. There were a couple 24 bugs I caught this month too. It’s been frustrating because the questions I keep asking is what is happening to my body and why am I sick? I still don’t have an answer for you but I do know I’m now better.
2) Before getting to our host we had debrief which was our time as a whole squad (all 33 of us racers plus our leadership team) to get together to process everything about month 1. It was also a time of rest. This is one long journey and you can’t pour from an empty cup! It was located on the ocean and I had pizza three times…I figured I wouldn’t get it too often elsewhere!
3) We didn’t have WIFI this month either but we did have electricity and access to get SIM cards. That was a battle because of my phone and you know me and technology…it never goes well. After three days of trying to make it all work I did get internet! Success!
4) Right now in Ghana I’m in Keta which is located on the coast of Africa. It is surrounded by the ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other. We walked to the beach often. It’s still a billion degrees outside but the ocean air helps. Fishing is a big business here and the boats stay out overnight and bring in the haul in the mornings.
5) Our adventure days typically consisted of going to the beach. We also went to a pool one day at a local hotel and ate pizza. It was definitely relaxing and the pizza was actually quite good.
6) We drink water out of a little bag. It’s really convenient. I ate ice cream (way more than I should) which were also in little bags. Ice cream is my reminder of home here.
7) Worship in Africa has been amazing. Their words are powerful. The expressions of faith are beautiful. I’ve watched people fall of their face crying out to God in desperation. By desperation I mean a desire to be closer to him. I’ve seen faith in action.
8) Clothes are made and not bought. I found two beautiful fabrics that I made into skirts! My friend Elwin did them for me and made me cute bows to go with them!
9) “Yevu” is ewe, their native language in Keta, means white person. The kids called me that all. the. Time. My name in Ewe is Afi and in Fanti, another language in Ghana, is Efua both meaning born on a Friday. A 7 year old taught me to say a few parts of the body in Ewe.
10) We eat really good food. They prepare for us a lot of rice, which is not common. Ghanaians typically only eat rice for Christmas so they have been quite hospitable to us for feeding us so much rice. I learned to make jollof rice because it’s SO good and I’m absolutely making that when I get home. We’ve eaten a lot of plantains, spaghetti, chicken, soups, and for breakfast oatmeal and bread. They have great spices- very spicy! It’s good stuff! Snack wise I ate a lot of BBQ pringles (literally never eat them at home) and rock band which are the greatest little muffins in Ghana.
11) Scenery: There are roads here to drive on, like you would see back home. But since we are on the beach, the walkways between homes to the main road are all sand. It’s pretty green here too and there are a ton of palm trees. The more rural villages are all dirt roads, very similar to last month for my team. Since this is a little town there are quite a few stores we go to in order to buy snacks and things we need. Market is every four days which is where people come together to sell stuff.
BONUS: I have less than three weeks left in Africa-which is wild!
