These past few days have been a whirlwind!
Work has been good, my sleeping has been bad, and the wildlife has been very ugly, but in general I am happy to be here!
On Thursday, we slept in a little bit before heading to the bus station and catching our bus to Po, just North of the Border. The bus ride was quite comfortable. There was a stretch that had us a little nervous, where we had to stop and pick up two uniformed military personnel, complete with huge-and-scary guns with extra magazines sketchily attached with what looked like clear packing tape. The trip passed without a hitch, however. Once we got to Po, it was a bit of a struggle to get a Taxi to the border, about 15km away. We just wanted a drop taxi to take us to the border for a reasonable fee. Unfortunately, we encountered a horde of some 12 or 13 men hovering around unmarked taxis (in Burkina they're all green, but these were black) who tried to convince us to pay about 10 times the usual price for such a trip, as well as packing in four or five other passengers. Needless to say, we were not pleased. Eventually, after a lot of frustration, and very ineffective communication, we managed to haggle the price down to about three times the usual price, and we agreed that we would have the car to ourselves. At the last second before we left, and after we'd given the taxi driver the money, however, two girls that looked about our age or younger squashed themselves into the front seat.
I found this really frustrating, just because of the principle of the matter. They girls in the front weren't affecting our comfort in any way, so it wasn't a big deal. Still, we had agreed on a price for us to have a taxi to ourselves, and I felt angrier than I should have at being cheated. I think this was just a symptom of culture shock, but I had to take a few minutes to stare out the window not talking to calm down. My anger was solely directed at the driver, however, because the girls also paid him. Overall that part of the journey was not very enjoyable.
Crossing the border again was pretty smooth, although it only occurred to me afterward that someone who hadn't just spent four months in Ghana might not have said so, were they in my place. The customs officer who was helping us on the Burkina side looked to be maybe in his mid to late forties, and was making pleasant conversation about our trip. When he appeared to have finished reading and stamping and writing and doing all his official duties, he continued talking, and asked which of us was going to marry him. Though I wasn't really concerned at the time (as I am used to frequent and casual marriage proposals, and have become pretty comfortable with laughing them off) a part of me couldn't help but think, "If I handle this poorly... he is still holding my passport." We said we were too young (since we'd indicated on our forms that we weren't married, so we couldn't use that excuse) and that we didn't want to get married. Luckily he laughed with us. Then he asked if we would take him to Canada, another typical question for us, and again, we laughed it off and made excuses as we usually do, got our passports back, and continued on our way. Similarly, on the Ghana side, we both were told how beautiful we were by the customs officials, and Marika was even serenaded by the man stamping her passport. The whole interaction was so normal to us, but we realized after that it could have been quite stressful if we'd experienced it three and a half months ago.
From the border it was just a quick share-taxi to Bolga before we met up with Doris at her house. She fed us dinner, which was delicious, and showed us to the room that I will be staying in. At that point, Marika had been planning to stay in one of the villages in the Talensi area, but her space had not been arranged yet, so she was to stay with me until that was sorted out. After our dinner, we retired to the room which was fairly nice. We had one room in the compound, so it was freestanding, but all the rest of the family lived around the courtyard. There was a shower and two toilets right next door to our little building. From the outside there was a small antechamber where there was a deep freezer and some storage space with washbasins and things, as well as a mat to put our shoes on. The room itself had two chairs (although one was broken) and a table on one side of a rope with a sheet hung across it, as a divider, as well as another table that was covered in a pink sheet, so we didn't know what was on it or under it, but it looked like a computer or something. On the other side of the divider there was a little vanity and a bed with a couple of pillows and clean sheets.
Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
The bed was only a single bed, so Marika and I were in for a cozy night. Also, there was a fixture for a fan, but Doris said they would be getting a fan in the next couple of days, along with a little fridge. I squashed a little bug that looked frighteningly like a baby cockroach, and set up my mosquito net so that I would feel safe to sleep, even if there were bugs around.
That was when we saw the first mouse.
It ran from under the bed to under the questionable pink sheet. A few minutes later there was another one that came under the door and also settled under the questionable pink sheet. When the third one made the same course, we took all our bags that had any food in them and put them in the antechamber, in the hopes that we wouldn't attract any more into our bedroom. All our other luggage we covered in the mosquito net that we weren't using in hopes of keeping the mice from chewing into our bags. While we didn't really have any reason to believe they would, it was still a fear we both had. After that we tucked the hanging mosquito net tightly into the bed and tried to ignore the creepiness around us and just tough it out until morning. I was pretty tired from travel, so I was out like a light (thank god), but Marika was up the whole night listening to the critters.
In the morning, Doris came by and asked us why all our stuff was outside, so we explained the mouse problem. She resolved that we would get a cat, but as of today, we still haven't acquired one. That night, when we saw our first mouse at around 4:30, we decided to bail. We stuffed a pair of pajamas and our toothbrushes into our purses and told Doris we'd spend the night with Katie and Sarah. We both got a good night's sleep, and we spent the next day resting and recuperating. Doris said she'd bought some poison to go put into food to leave out for the mice, and she put some in the antechamber outside our room. Last night, too, we spent with our ginger friends, and today Marika found a guesthouse that was willing to cut her a deal for her two month stay, and we moved all her stuff out of the room at Doris's. In the process of retrieving her stuff, we found three dead mice lying around the room, so I am starting to relax a little bit. With the poison working so well and effectively, I think as soon as a cat is acquired, which we've been told should happen tomorrow, I will be ready to move back in.
For tonight though, I'm getting a good night's sleep at Mama's Place, though I'm sure for the rest of the two months I'll be calling it Marika's place. I could have stayed another night with Katie and Sarah, but I didn't want to impose, and I also wanted to see where Marika would be living. It's really very nice, and truth be told, I'm a little bit jealous. Still, where I'm staying is much less expensive, and I'm looking forward to getting to know Doris' family, as well having my own space and trying out a little bit of independence here.
Hopefully I'll get really settled in over the next couple of days. Being in transit can be really stressful, but things seem to be calming down now, and I with them. As always, I'll keep you posted!
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