Around the world in 13 days.... Part 2

Now that it's been oh... you know... like 6 months, I guess I will finish my post...

Getting my hair braided by some cute girls... it took about 4 hours, and I weighed approximately 89 more pounds after they finished...

One of my favorite parts of the trip... The monkey sanctuary, gotta love our furry cousins

I don't mind if I do...

Thank you sir... I will hold your hand and gaze up at you till I finish this delicious banana 

Jump monkey, jump!

Crazy root trees... and our awesome driver Richard

My real life avatar moment....

This picture shows how crazy tall these trees were... That's Matt- he's about 6 feet tall, just to give you a reference point

Lady carrying yams I think.... and her brand new bundle of joy- he blends in quite nicely

Knuckles dude!

Our view of the savannah and "watering hole" at Mole National Park

We travelled for a million  8 hours by van to get to this remote little village... But it was so worth it after we finally got out and were able to play with the kids

They didn't know a lot of English but they knew the important words, "friend, bible, toffee (candy)"

This is the village priest leading in their traditional fire dance, it was interesting that they don't keep beat with the drums, but rather, the bells... kinda backwards from what we are used to

Another one of my favorite moments.... look at his cute little butt bracelet, gah!

Can you even handle that cute baby chub?! It was really funny- his mom told me to wrap him back up in the blanket after holding him for a minute because he might get cold.... I tend to get cold too when it's only 115 degrees out ;) 

His and Her wiz stations

Pumba and mini-me pumba

Starting our foot safari- I didn't get a good picture but there were lots of baboons, and they are spawn of he-who-must-not-be-named.... They wait till girls (really... they don't care for men) are all alone, then they attack, eat your french toast, and pull your hair, and maybe bite you if they are in the mood... evil, I tell you... evil

My foot... and elephant remains, he died an "unnatural" death we were told... Because elephants don't die unless all their teeth fall out, so you learned something new didn't you? 

A big A termite hill... and a guy with a rifle in case the termites attack

Never smile at a croc-o-dile....

Getting close and personal to the elephants...

Getting closer...

Okay- maybe getting a lil' up in his business, better leave him alone now...

The human "watering hole" (a.k.a- the bucket shower)

Joel and Jerry (the pool guy at Mole, "pronounced Mole-A")... he was really nice, and we gave him our headlamp when we left because he thought it was so awesome

Hiking to some waterfalls... 

Me rocking the braid-bun...

and one more....

That's the bathroom in case you were wondering...

And last but not least... Why dye easter eggs when you can dye the chickens? Isn't she cute?

(just kidding... they do this to keep track of who's chickens are who's) 

We had a great time, and enjoyed the opportunity to travel the world a bit, hopefully we will be able to go back someday... next time I think we'll take a direct flight- who thought 5 hundred lay-overs would be such a bad thing..? Silly us. 

Around the world in 13 days... Part 1

We're back! Our travels went like this:

Farmington, Utah ---> Chicago, Illinois ---> London, England ---> Istanbul, Turkey ---> Accra, Ghana ---> Kumasi, Ghana ---> Mole National Park, Ghana ---> Kumasi, Ghana ---> Accra, Ghana ---> Istanbul, Turkey ---> London, England ---> Washington D.C. ---> Home sweet home!

We are so glad we had the opportunity to travel to far away places with each other, it was a great experience, and already seems like it was just a dream. We went to Africa with a group of students from Weber State to implement computer systems that Joel and his classmates created to help various establishments (his project was at the Korle Bu teaching hospital in Accra), and I was lucky enough to go along for the (super duper incredibly long) ride. Here are a few of the pictures we took, enjoy!

England

Big Ben, you've probably heard of him...

In front of the Queen's Castle (Windsor)

Accra

Traditional Ghanian dishes (including Goat soup)

St. Martins hotel

One of the Ambassador's daughters (they hosted a dinner for us at their home)

Korle Bu Hospital

These women made patient gowns

This is one storage area for the hospital (there was one central storage where all supplies were kept, many supplies were outside exposed to the elements)

This is looking down a hallway near the emergency department (they call it the accident centre)

This building was the cardio-thoracic centre

As a nurse it was very interesting to see how the hospital ran, there were some similarities, and it seemed like they were doing very well with the

resources they had available to them. All the staff we came in contact with were very professional. The biggest differences I noticed were all related to equipment and supplies. Everything is used multiple times with multiple patients (with the exception of needles). Babies aren't bathed after they are born unless the mom can pay for the soap, I wish I could have taken a 50 gallon drum of baby shampoo with me! All patients are admitted in one place, so you have to wait in the sweltering heat until you are admitted (imagine feeling sick and having to wait 3 hours in 110 degree weather!)

Kumasi & Cape Coast

Canopy Rope Bridges

(picture does NOT do it justice, we were over 100 feet above the ground walking on swaying, creaking, supposedly sturdy ladders wrapped with rope netting)

Yes that is a real crocodile, and yes I agreed to take a picture even though I would not likely be able to claim life-insurance with proof a crocodile ate him...

Getting some fresh coconuts

The slave castle- This castle was the home to the governor (one man lived in the entire castle)

This was dungeon (1 room separated into 3 smaller areas)

of the castle, it housed nearly 500 male slaves

The blue door is the entrance to the church at the castle, the other was a hatch door that church members could look down and spy on slaves before attending their meeting

(can we say hypocrisy?)

to be continued....

Photo dump...

Here is the last 4 months in quick review:

Happy Birthday McKell!

*ALERT: Squeamish look away! *

We thought we were clean people:

(McKell got a new vacuum for her birthday)

Gross.

Thanksgiving: no pictures, imagine very large amounts of food

and then imagine a bunch of empty plates, and people complaining they ate too much :)

Merry Christmas!

This is the ONLY picture we have from Christmas, I don't know where my brain was... or my camera for that matter

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year together building this:

A new headboard :)

(see McKell's craft blog for tutorial)

And- one final message:

Believe what you see on TV.

Headlight before using "Fast Brite"

After using "Fast Brite"

'nuff said.