"we can't eat that, it's not in the budget"

Hi all!

So our weekend getaway to Green Turtle Lodge was amazing! As always, I traveled with wonderful companions- 5 of my friends on the trip: Gillian, Mallory, Tina, Griffin, and Gaby. This is the same group that went to Winneba, plus Griffin. Our journey was definitely an eventful and hilarious one, and I hope I don't forget any of the details.

We left Friday morning, heading to the STC (private) bus station around 8:15 to get there at 8:30 to buy tickets for the 9:00 bus. Unfortunately, the 9:00 bus was sold out, and we bought tickets for the 10:30 bus. As we were waiting, around 10:30, the 9:00 bus arrived. In typical Ghanaian fashion, the bus was an hour and half late, putting our bus about 2 hours late. After waiting at the STC bus station for about 4 hours, we finally boarded and began our 5 hour journey to Takoradi (the major city closest to Green Turtle). When we arrived in Takoradi we were greeted by cab drivers offering to take us to GTL for 30 Cedi! At the time we thought we were getting ripped off, though in retrospect, this was a fair price. Instead of opting for a taxi, we made our way to the tro-tro station where we literally watched the driver assemble the tro-tro. It was storing TONS of cargo, and he had to take all the cargo out and add seats to the tro-tro. It was pretty funny, and we had one of those "We're definitely in Africa" moments. Our tro-tro ride cost us 70 pesewas, and dropped us off at another tro-tro station, where we picked up a cab for 15 Cedi. It was getting dark and we felt uncomfortable being in a tro-tro at night. After driving crammed in the taxi on a dirt road for about an hour, we arrived at Green Turtle!!

Our view from the breakfast table

The reception desk was also the bar, and we immediately found ourselves kicking off our shoes because the entire hotel is on sand, right on the beach. It's not even a hotel as much as it is a lodge, as they provide camping on the beach and private bungalows. We opted for two private bungalows, 3 of us in each. Because we got there late, we ordered the only dinner option available to us, and went to bed pretty early since we were exhausted after a long day of traveling.

Our bungalow!

The night's sleep was one of the most eventful parts of the trip because Gillian kept waking up to the sound of some sort of bug or rodent in her bag of cough drops. It was crinkling all night long and we all didn't sleep very well for this reason, and because there was no AC. The bungalow is on the beach, and the hotel is "eco-friendly" and we therefore had a self-composting toilet (aka, a toilet seat above a deep hole...use your imagination). We were pleased when the sun came up because that meant we didn't have to try to sleep anymore.

Me and my friends at Green Turtle (Gaby, Tina, and Griffin)

Despite the rough night, we were so excited to spend the entire day on the beach just reading and talking and doing nothing. Gillian and Mallory decided to go back to Accra--Gillian wasn't feeling well and Mallory's mom was coming the following morning--so the four of us stayed (Griffin, Gaby, Tina and me). During breakfast, as we were figuring out how to sneak Tina into our bungalow since we wouldn't need a second one, we realized we were REALLY low on money. All of us, unintentionally, brought a whole lot less than we thought we'd need, and realized we might have to sacrifice meals to just have enough money to make it back to Accra. We pulled all of our funds (I'm talking, every single bill, every single cent) and lived off of a communal fund. Instead of each of the 4 of us having a meal for lunch, we ordered 2 and split it. Same with dinner, and breakfast the next morning. It was actually kind of hilarious having to literally ration out and budget every SINGLE thing we bought. The hotel sold shirts that said "Obruni" on the front, and I really, really wanted one, but alas, it was clearly not in the budget. We'd see someone with a glass of orange juice and would have to remind ourselves that we were sticking to the bare essentials--no luxuries like orange juice or personal meals for us! My friends nicknamed me "Stern" because I was in charge of the budget (Stern is our business school for those unfamiliar with the NYU lingo).

THE Obruni Shirt

Anyway, we spent the entire day on the beach, swimming, walking, reading, and just hanging out. We had dinner on the beach and went to bed by 9:30 because we had nothing better to do and wanted to take advantage of that. We woke up by 6:30 the next morning, well-rested and ready to start the day. We had breakfast and our final budget meeting, where we realized we literally had 12 Cedi to make it back home. Granted, we had already bought our bus tickets back home, but 12 Cedi between 4 girls is kind of ridiculous (and hilarious). We paid our tab and took a taxi (for 30 Cedi, the accurate price (which we had already accounted for in the budget)) back to Takoradi, where we caught an on-time (!) STC bus back to Accra. We got back to Accra around 5:30, and rested a few hours before Gillian's birthday dinner!!

It rained really hard last night when we got home, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to go out for Gillian's bday because taxis are hard to come by when it rains. We remembered our night driver, Hope, has his own private taxi, and we gave him a call. He took us to and from dinner in the rain, and we got to enjoy a lovely and FUN dinner celebrating Gillian's 21st birthday! On a side note, Hope is going to take us to the airport on Friday night for Morocco! Gillian and I were weary of catching a cab late at night being obrunis with big suitcases, and luckily we won't have to now!

Gillian's birthday dinner at Mama Mia's!

Today was good. Had good conversations with friends here and at home. I went into WAAF for about an hour today, though my boss mysteriously didn't show up and I couldn't get ahold of her. While I was waiting I spent time in the Acorn Tree, talking with Esther, one of the women who makes things to sell at the shop. She is such a lovely woman and I am going to have her make you all a few gifts!

Hope all is well where you are. Hope you're still reading this (I know the blog was long!).

Miss you so much

love love love

for all the pictures from the trip, visit: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2747095&l=9b21c&id=616486619