A Weekend Away

   So after being here in Ghana and working here at CORM and the school for the past 8 months, Dawn and I had a chance to get away for a weekend and relax. It's the first time we've been away since we've been here, so it was a much needed break! I'll just give you a quick summary of our weekend. 

We went to a place called Maranatha Beach Club in Ada-Foah. Its an area on the coast where the Volta river empties into the Atlantic. Our travel to get there was as much of an adventure as anything else. So it is with Ghana public transportation. We left CORM and walked to the road, where we flagged down a Tro-Tro. Tro-Tros are like mini cargo vans with rows of seats. They are usually rickety and noisy, and sometimes you can see the road under your feet if there are cracks in the floor from all the bumps and holes they hit. We rode the first one for about 15 minutes until the transmission broke in it, and everyone had to pile out and find another one. After another 20 minutes or so, we arrived at a main station in Ashaima where we found another Tro-Tro going to the area we wanted. We got pulled over at one of the police checkpoints, and I'm pretty sure the driver paid a bribe to the police so we could keep going(another common occurrence here). When we finally arrived at Ada, we were persuaded by a couple of guys to let them take us to our next stop. We rode on the back of motorcycles through a marketplace and down dusty dirt streets to a small path that led down to the water of the Volta river. From there, we rode about 10 minutes down river to the place where we were staying. We had finally arrived at our getaway.  

Maranatha Beach Club is a resort area on a narrow finger of sand between the Volta river and the Gulf of Guinea. And don't let the name fool you. Don't get me wrong, it was a great place to relax. But it's not the kind of "resort" you might be thinking of. The beach was awesome. Nothing but sand and palm trees. But our 10 dollar a night coconut hut had sand floors, and little rodent visitors at night! Not exactly a Holiday Inn, but it was great. We got to sit on the beach and watch the sun set, and just spend a couple days doing nothing. It was  a good recharge.

Then we reversed the process to get back home this morning...minus the transmission problem! It was a good retreat for us, especially as the holiday time and our being away from family and friends has been weighing kinda heavy lately. Sometimes resting in God's creation is the best thing for us.

Cayle