Holy Mole!

Friday.

It rained all night long, so despite having to wake up at 3:00 in the morning, I slept pretty well.

Bright and early at 3:30 the taxi came to pick us up from the Catholic guest house. We asked how much it was going to cost, and he said 10 cedi. we said no that was way too much money, and he tried to tell us that he lived far away and it was an odd hour of the morning, so 10 was fair. We said once again that it was too high, and he gave us the same line once again. So, I looked at him and said, "You are ripping us off, and you know it...THAT'S NOT NICE!" So he shook his head and laughed a little and then agreed on 5 cedi for the ride. Nobody messes with me at that hour of the morning!

So we get dropped off at the station, and it is super creepy. Creepy mainly because it is 4 in the morning. We ask a few people where we can buy tickets, and they tell us that you can not buy them until the bus gets there. We take a seat on a makeshift bench, and ask another person about the tickets just to be sure. An hour later the bus pulls in and tons pf people move towards it...all of them with a ticket in hand. Apparently they purchased them the night before. At this point we are just annoyed, so we find the driver and ask if we can get a ticket sill. He tells us the bus is full, but we can buy a ticket and stand. So, for about twenty minutes we actually consider doing this. Then a group of Mormon siblings approached us and asked where we were going. I explained to them that we were trying to go to Mole, but the bus tickets just screwed that over. They were also on the way to Mole and asked if we wanted to rent a trotro with them. It ended up being 4 times the price, but at least we got to sit.

The road from Tamle to Mole is basically a dirt death trap. I am sure that road eats at least one car per day. The ride was hell. We thought the back door was going to fall off, and at one point two of the seats actually did break off and fall! We were cracking up and yelping at all the bumps, but the driver was not happy. At one point we had to pull over and fix the tire. The best part of the ride was when one of the guys pulled out a bag of skittles....and shared them with us!!! I have never been so excited for skittles in my life!

Eventually we made it to our destination in Larabanga. The hotel in Mole was full, so we stayed outside the park at the Salia Brothers (sp?). When we got there we dropped off our bags, and got our new friends a room for the night as well. Then we got back into our rent-a-tro and drove to the park. As soon as we pulled in there was an elephant standing right off of the road! It was so cool. We took some photos of him, and then found a wart hog nearby. We booked an afternoon safari, and went to get lunch. We were enjoying a peaceful lunch on the porch, overlooking some elephants at the watering hole, when all of a sudden there was a monkey very close to us. We looked at him, then he got closer. Then he was on the chair..then the table..then he was running across the table and he took a sandwich right off of one of the girls plates and ran away. We all started cracking up, and the staff responded by getting slingshots out. That made us laugh even harder.

After the excitement of lunch, we went and sat at a lookout and watched some animals run around. Then it was time for our walking safari. I had been told to wear closed toe shoes, and I did. However, the park ranger told me that if I step on a black mamba I would die. I of course told him that I would be fine, which made him go into graphic detail about what exactly would happen, and then made me put rubber boots on. Now, I am a size 7 shoe, and I had to wear size 10 boots. Lucky for me, I was able to slip my shoe inside of the boot for added comfort.

The first part of the safari consisted of us hiking down into the woods. Let me remind you...I had on a dress and boots that were three sizes too big. Obviously I was the last one down. We walked for about two hours, and there were a ton of animals. At one point we were surrounded by monkeys, and it was a little creepy. While we were waiting for something I asked the guide if I could hold the gun for a little bit. I think that must have been the first time that anyone ever asked him that. He looked at me, and said why would you want to? I told him that it would really add to my safari look...after all I did have the boots on. So, he agreed but said I could hold it as long as I did not point it at him. That comment left me with a shocked look on my face and I said that I would never think of it! So, I held the gun, and took a picture. After that, there was more walking and more animals.

We called the brothers to pick us up, and they sent a sweet 4x4 to come get us. I think we should have taken that on safari with us. When we got back into Larabanga we said that we wanted to go visit the mosque. It is one of the oldest in west Africa. They walked us over and we got a brief history of it and of the town itself. It is a 100 percent Muslim community, and they have a very small school that was started by a peace corp volunteer.

After our visit we went back to the "hotel" and we ate a bunch of snacks for dinner. We decided that because we had good luck at the park, and we went to the mosque, that we didn't need to spend another day in the area. Our new travel friends were going back to Kumasi in the morning, and we decided that we would go with them. We went to bed fairly early, and all of a sudden music just started blasting! It was so so loud. Apparently it was ladies night in town, and we were stay right next to it. We thought this was both funny and annoying, and we went up onto the roof to check it out. We couldn't see anything, so we had a mini dance party and called it a night. *note* you can sleep on the roof at the Salia Brothers, we didn't just climb onto a random roof.

Somehow I eventually fell asleep, and I only had to use the squatty potty once in the morning.

I'm sleepy now so I will continue with more trip details tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Peace. Love. Muslim dance party?