Green Turtle Lodge

Last weekend was spectacular.

We went to an eco-lodge called Green Turtle in the Western Region near a town called Busua (pronounced boo-syou-wa). It was a really beautiful place, but getting there was quite an adventure.

Katie had to go to Cape Coast, which is on the way there, on Thursday night to meet with an NGO that she might want to do her placement with, so she met us at the resort on Friday. Sarah and I left home at 7:30 in the morning, and caught a taxi to campus, where we met our friend Nora to start the trek. From campus we caught a trotro to take us to Circle station, which took about an hour. We then transferred to a trotro going to Kaneshi station, which took another hour. From there we found a trotro going to Takoradi, which took us a few minutes to find, and then a few more to fill up. Trotros don’t leave the stations until they’re full, so it can be hard to plan travel time exactly. Anyways, we rode that trotro for a few hours before it started to rain. The rain was pretty miserable in the trotro, because we were in the back row, and the vehicle was kind of a refurbished 15-seater van (now seating 21) and the double doors on the back didn’t close properly. As a result, a few of us had water dripping down the backs of our seats, but that didn’t last for too long.

We got to Takoradi station in one piece, and we called a cab driver (Mr. George) who works with Green Turtle and gave us a better price than any other taxi driver would to get us there. The Green Turtle lodge is actually about an hour and a half away from Takoradi, about an hour past Agona and forty minutes past Busua. The roads past Busua are pretty horrendous, and I was very impressed with our driver’s ability to navigate them in his little taxicab, and have never been more thankful that I don’t get carsick. It’s about half an hour away from any kind of internet or cellphone service, though they had payphones available to those who thought to bring credit cards to activate them.

By the time we actually got to the lodge, we had been nine hours in transit. We were pretty exhausted, but thrilled to find that Sarah and I each got double beds in our room, which we were not expecting. Furthermore, our rooms were literally right on the beach, as was the bar where we ordered some travel antidotes (mine was a Green Turtle Iced Tea) and our dinner. The food was absolutely delicious. I had barracuda for the first time, and it was phenomenal. To my extreme delight, there were also dessert options, which is a big deal, because sweets are hard to come by around here.

We hung out on the beach a bunch, playing in the water a little bit. It was a really beautiful place. We met a German couple, who seemed very nice. The woman was named Anna, and the man was named something that sounded like Bold-hans, but I’m not exactly sure. They asked us a lot of questions about our lives in Accra. They were some of the first tourists we’ve met (most of the foreigners here are either volunteers or students) and they were very interested in things like how much water we drink, and what we do with our free time.

Our second day was our great beach day. Sarah and I walked all the way up the beach past a few little villages to a nice little point. We had a nice long DMC (deep meaningful conversation) and enjoyed the beauty of the ocean and the beach. We went swimming, though not very far out, because the current was almost frighteningly strong. I got a wonderful tan, and Sarah and Katie got horrific sunburns. We had amazingly delicious French toast for breakfast, served with fried bananas and local honey, and I had a tomato and brie Panini for lunch. It was so amazing. After coming out of the ocean, I had the first real shower I’ve had in weeks, and it felt amazingly luxurious. Sarah and I took some fun photographs (to come) in the gorgeous light of the sunset, and we pretty much just basked in the fact that we didn’t have any more essays due. It was a great relaxing weekend.

The trip home was a lot less traumatic than the way there. We actually caught a privately owned tour bus (a very pink one) that was comfy and air conditioned from Takoradi to Kaneshi. Then we caught the usual trotros home. We were pretty tired by the time we got home, but it was so very worth it.

Next weekend Katie and I will be going back to the Eastern Region, to our host mother’s hometown. It should be lots and lots of fun. I’ll keep you posted.