Back to Niger

We are finally back to Niger! Of the last three days we have spent 37 hours on a bus! It was kind of ridiculous, but we made it in one piece. It feels so good to be back in Niger, it is nice to finally be able to comunicate with people, and to actually know where you are going and what you are doing. This morning, for example, was so nice, we got into our taxi and we all greeted eachother (which I totally missed!) and we knew exactly how much the taxi was going to cost and how long it was going to take to get there. It is good to be home! So today Liz and I our taking a well needed day of rest from traveling, and then tomorrow it is back on a bus for 14 more hours to Zinder - home sweet home! Well, until we meet again!

Cheers!
Ari

Life so far...

Hello friends! For those who don't already know, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger. I am almost 10 months into my service, and so far I am loving it! Some days are harder than others, but I guess that is life where ever you live. I'm actually on vacation right now, currently in Ghana, but headed to Burkina Faso for a few days tomorrow. Vacation has been so much fun, and it was definately needed! I'm out here with two other volunteers (Liz and Nichole), and we have been to Benin, Togo, and Ghana so far. Here are some of the more exciting points:

• Starting off from our region to Niamey (Liz and I live in the same region) was a little scary, our bus tipped over because we think our driver fell asleep at the wheel, so that part wasn't so much fun. (We were all ok, there were six of us, a little shaken up and bruised, but ok.)
• The Lion's Bar in Grand Popo, Benin, was our first chance to get in the ocean. We didn't really get to swim because the currents are really strong, but we got to splash around so that was awesome after only seeing sand for the last 9 months.
• The market in Lome, Togo was pretty cool. It is huge! Considering none of us speak French we did pretty good, and put a serious dent in our wallets.
• Hohoe, Ghana was beautiful! We went there to check out the Wli Waterfall, which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. We walked through a tropical rain forest to get to the falls, then, despite the water being freezing, we were able to jump in and get pretty close to the falls. The splash coming off the falls was pretty intense, but it was awesome!
• Accra, Ghana has pretty much been like being in America. We went to the mall, which was a little bit of a culture shock, and we have gotten to see two movies in a movie theater! We actually made a special trip back because Nichole and I had to see Harry Potter 6 - it was totally worth it!
• Cape Coast was a nice surprise, the town is so beautiful! We went to Cape Coast Castle, which was really interesting, and depressing, they have the slave dungeons and holding areas, it was sad!
• Kakum Canopy walk, was another favorite! It is these 7 bridges set up over the tropical forest canopy. It was a little scary when the bridge would start to sway, but it was so awesome!
• Green Turtle was so relaxing. We had been in 9 hotels over 10 days, so we spent 5 days at the Green Turtle and just hung out on the beach. The rip tides were still really strong here, but we were able to swim, which was nice.

Like I said before, tomorrow we are on to the last leg of our vacation, sadly! Although, seeing as we have been gone for almost 3 weeks, I'm ready to get back to my village. Well that is about it for now.

Cheers!

Ari