April 23rd, 2019 by Galit Rudelson

Double post day. The last one was very long, and this is a different topic, so I figured I would make a new post. Today is a very relaxing day so far, so I have had time to write both posts and catch up on my blogging. It is Sunday, most everyone has gone to church. As the church is in Twi, and I have already attended in other weekends, I decided to spend some time relaxing and on my own for a couple of hours. I took a very nice long walk this morning, exercised, and when the power came back on, treated myself (for the first time while I’ve been here) to a second cup of coffee. Now to write about my trip to the lake yesterday.
The hospital I am working at has a satellite clinic at this lake. Most of the time foreign students go to the clinic for half a day during their stay, and then enjoy the lake the other half of a day. As it is just me here, and not a large group, it was difficult to organize time at the clinic. But everyone was very nice and organized a trip to the lake for me none-the-less.
All of my closer friends went, which was very exciting and relaxing. Rachel, and 3 three children and one of their friends, Dorcas (my roommate), Fred and Mr. Franklin (who live in the mens section of our hostel), and Mr. Franklins friend Monica (whom I had not met before). Oh and the driver. The ride to the lake was a bumpy 3-4 hours in a van. The roads here are occasionally paved, but with many many potholes. Driving is a professional sport, swerving to different sides of the road to avoid potholes, passing cars, slowing down for unavoidable road wide holes, and not hitting pedestrians walking on the road. Truly impressive to watch the drivers. Also truly grateful to not have to drive myself! We passed through towns busy with market and bargaining, women walking down the streets carrying supplies on their heads. We also drove through many country sides, passing people working out in farms. We also passed lots of natural forest, which was beautiful. I sat in the back of the van with the window open the whole way, watching the countryside go by. It was almost as fun getting to the lake as being there.
Once we arrived to the lake we had to pay a fee to get to the water front. Despite the fact that the car was full of 10 Ghanians and myself, the gate guard charged us significantly more because I was in the car. He was not shy to explain that this was exactly why he had increased the prices. I am not sure how much we eventually ended up paying, as everyone in the car was bargaining loudly in Twi, so I heard many numbers being thrown around. But eventually money passed hands, and the door was opened, while Rachel sat grumpily in the car. I got the feeling we were still robbed of a bit of money to get in.
The lake itself was beautiful. Apparently it was all man made. It sits in a valley surrounded by many mountains. Rachel said 28 villages line its shores all the way around. As we arrived a child about the age of 10 ran up and asked if we needed any help. He explained that he is trying to collect money to buy a notebook to write stories in. Rachel gave him odd jobs throughout the day for a couple of dollars. He swepts the ground where we were sitting, helped carry supplies, brought us more water. A couple of his friends milled around us as well.
The first thing we did when we arrived was eat. We had brought food with us. As per usual, I was not able to finish my food. When I had first arrived to Ghana I felt rude not finishing, and would eat until I felt ready to explode, and still did not finish. Eventually it was learned that I simply cannot eat that much, and I was served less. Despite this, I could not finish my food. Rachel passed it off to the boy helping us out, and he and his friend happily split the left overs.
We then rented a boat for 15 minutes to take a ride. As there are not many places to swim, most Ghanians do not know how to swim. So everyone desperately clung to life jackets as we were in the boat, yet excitedly hooted as it started to go fast. It was beautiful on the lake, but almost as exciting to watch how happy everyone was to be there.
We spent the rest of the day swimming in the lake. I did not come prepared, not realizing that we were swimming there (silly mistake). But I was convinced to buy a swimsuit (for one US dollar) from a swimsuit shop there, and join in the fun. The water was incredibly warm. Everyone was very impressed with my swimming ability (again, since most people do not know how to swim). I showed them how to do a couple of handstands in the water, and everyone tried. We had some water fights, and sat by the beach as well. It was a lot of fun, but nobody had more fun than the children. They absolutely love swimming. Poor Rachel is not able to swim, so she kept yelling at her children to get closer to the shore. I understood her anxiety. Being children, they were eager to explore the deep part of the lake. But not being very good swimmers, this was dangerous. And as I was one of the few people there that could swim, it was nerve wrecking to watch them inch deeper, knowing there was nothing she could do for them. But luckily they listened when they were told to go more shallow, and everyone was safe.
It was a great day. I had a lot of fun. And of course the trip back was enjoyable for me as well. I love the scenery here. But this has been a long enough post. I will leave it at that!