Fungus: 1 Dave: 0

So there might be some weird fungus/infection on my leg but....

It's been almost two weeks and I'm still here. I've been to the doctor's twice now - two separate doctors neither has appeared to worried - so I'm hoping I will still have it when I return.

It's been a while and I apologize, I had written a small novella one day only to lose it all to one of the numerous power outages we incur here. I am hoping for quick fingers today.

I think on my previous posting, we were just about to leave for Mole National Park to hang out with some elephants. Well we made it, and I got my pool with beer in hand and elephants in the distance. Despite the limited access to the park and our inability to freely move around the park (you're not allowed to go anywhere unless you have an armed ranger with you and they only give tours at 6:00am or 3:30pm, so there is a lot of down time) it was a good reprieve from the hustle and bustle of daily life here.

By the end of the trip, we were able to say that we had gotten about 50-75 feet away from numerous African elephants and in one instance startling one to the point where our guide - mind you the only one with a gun and the one sent to protect us - grabbed one of the tourists and threw them in front of himself as he made a quick turn to bolt. Luckily the whole thing was over within 2 seconds and the elephant calmed down, but it was slightly disconcerting to see the one man who can protect us be the first one out. In retrospect, as all my limbs are still with me we had to laugh a little.

In addition to elephants, the hotel was constantly visited by monkeys, baboons, antelope esqu animals and warthogs. I'm not going to lie, I kind of enjoyed watching the monkey's rip into giant moth looking bugs and seeing the cotton-like innards float away. Then again they tried to steal my oranges too.

From Mole, Amanda and I began our descent south towards Accra (our final destination). On the way, we visited a monkey sanctuary where several species of monkey live among the villages. From there we explored a sacred grove, where we were lucky enough to watch thousands of fruit bats emerge from one lone palm tree. Simultaneously awesome and scary especially since we're standing practically underneath the tree and we had just finished reading a national geographic article about how fruit bats host some of the worlds most deadly diseases.

More importantly, we were blessed with the opportunity to ride with a dead squirrel a family had purchased from a man on the street. It's funny and upsetting at the same time, but this is a reality.

As Amanda's birthday was coming up, we decided to head for another quiet destination. We found a secluded hotel on a supposedly bilharzia-free lake, although this was the beginning of my battle with the fungus. The lake is considered sacred by the locals and it's easy to see why as the haze never seems to lift. We spent three relaxing days lamenting the fact that our 6 month vacation was about to be over.

As for now, we've begun working although we are hitting significant barriers as we try to educated ourselves about the organization. Trying to get factual information from our boss (Moses) can be like pulling teeth. We believe that he truly means well, but he has a hard time remembering his left foot from his right. Also, it appears that lying 0n reports and proposals is a common thing around here, something to be expected from the government all the way down.

At the same time, we are currently homeless, meaning we are living temporarily in Aflao, a town on the border of Ghana and Togo.

We are still adjusting and finding that certain things take longer to get used to than others. for example I have no problem taking bucket showers or peeing outside (which is the current situation we find ourselves in) but the constant harassment from taxi drivers honking or people tugging on you to show what they're selling still can take its toll. I'll let you know if gets any easier. Of course, I'm having issues posting pictures. Next post will be pictures only!!