Anybody have change for a dollar?

The reason I ask is that everywhere we go, especially in Ghana no one has change - which is really important if you want to take a taxi anywhere because the drivers simply won't make change, meaning there have been many instances where we've paid way too much. At the same time, taxi's are not metered, everytime you must negotiate a price - which because of the color of our skin means we always get quoted an initial price at least three times the amount if not more.

Just of one of the many things that you learn quickly, sometimes the hard way - but we are learning quickly.

In any event, things are really good although the travel on public transportation is long and tight. Endless bargaining over the price can be cumbersome again considering the color of our skin.

For the past 10 days we've been traveling in Togo, A french speaking country to east of ghana. We had a little trouble at the border where we thought the official was trying to rip us off for our visa and proceeded to yell at us (in french) and tell us he would not let us through. Luckily our boss was with us and after 45 minutes or so we got through.

Our boss left us with some family that he had in togo and they helped us reach our first hotel - a small bungalow a few steps from the beach where we paid 9 dollars a night. It's interesting several places we've stayed in togo have monkeys tied up, obviously as some tourist attraction - so literally outside our door there were two monkeys who from time to time would play with the small puppies that were on the premises - i'll have pictures soon.

Despite the language barrier, the people in togo were very friendly and very helpful and we always seemed to find someone who spoke english. Although I must admit that anyday spent outside the hotel feels long - you really have to get used to the constant staring and hasseling - especially in the markets.

On that note, we went to one particular market in Vogan, a small village oustide Aneho - a small town where we stayed for a few days, that was truly captivating. Of course on the way there we were stopped at one of the many "police security stops" (although in our opinion its just an opportunity for the police to hassle the locals) and they decided to give Amanda and I a hard time asking what we were doing here and why we didn't speak french if we were in togo - all this while his buddies were laughing in the background. In any event they let us go after a few minutes of interrogation.

I wish I could list all the different quirks about life in Africa, that again has taken time to get used to, but it would take too long, but here's one instance of how things operate. Amanda and I traveled north through togo and ultimately back into ghana through a different border then the first time - this one being considerably less traveled. Getting through proved to much easier than expected but once we got into ghana, we found ourselves in a small sleepy town where we hoped to find transport to our next destination. Here's the problem, the way public transportation works in africa is that the bus will only leave once it's full. Sometimes that can take an hour maybe two - sometimes it can take a day or sometimes it can take several days. In this particular instance the bus, and mind you the only bus that will actually be leaving, was a third of the way full. It was about 3pm and we still had a good ways to go that day. Our options:

A) wait for the bus to fill and pay the fee of $1.50 - mind you this was going to take at least another 24 hours

B) buy the remaining seats on the bus for $20 so that we can actually get going

C) or rent a taxi for $35.

We chose option b.

I could go into more detail, because that bus only took us half the distance we needed to go, as soon as we got to our next destination we were rushed onto the next bus that was leaving right then.

In any event, it takes getting used to. I am running out of time, but I want to say that despite some of the hiccups (as I like to call them) things are good. Again it's amazing what some people here will do for you for nothing. They don't expect anything in return and it's even more humbling when you see where they lay their head at night and you wonder how they couldn't ask anything of you.

Amanda and I will be traveling to Mole National Park tomorrow, where by 3pm I hope to be sitting pool side with a beer and elephants in the distance.

Go sox!!!