So to continue on from where we were last time we met. I was in a rickety tro tro erev shabbos and I couldn't find the girls I was meant to be travelling with.
Imminent doom....
So we were travelling along this dirt road full of giant holes and pools of mud in this minivan that was clearly on it's last legs. Frequently the driver had to stop to pump the tires with a bicycle pump since they were all a bit flat. Also the motor would cut out and all the men would have to get out and push the van until it started going again. Also there was a goat on the seat next to me. He was all tied up and generally silent. But still, an odd travel companion. I became seriously religious on this trip. We were on a dirt road in the middle of the jungle and it was erev shabbos. I felt very much like the baal shem tov. Slash, I should have learnt from his stories and not travelled on a Friday.
Just as I thought it was all going to be ok since the van hadn't stopped for at least 15 minutes when it made a loud bang and came to a halt. The passengers filed out and started walking. So I joined them. We walked and walked and walked. At this point there was still no phone reception and I was convinced that I was going to be spending shabz in the jungle fighting off baboons for my muesli bars. I even started thinking about how to build an eruv out of my spare clothes and some trees. Eventually however we reached another village. From there I found a taxi to share with some fisherman's wives who were taking fish to the 'city' to sell. The taxi trudged along the road and eventually reached Agona to the bus terminal. Just as I was running into it I saw a minivan pulling out with Yuzhong on it! We waved and she yelled that she was going to Princess Town. Good, I could meet her there. So I found the tro tro going to princess town but as is usual I had to wait ages for it to fill up before. I was sitting there on shpilkes trying to work out the likelihood of me arriving in princess town before shabz or whether I should just bail and try to find somewhere to stay in ugly Agona for the sabbath.
But blessed be the lord the tro tro filled and we started on our travels to princess town, about an hour away. As is to be expected the road was terrible, unsealed dust, giant holes and large patches of mud. I spend much of my time singing niggunim to myself as an effort to keep the minivan going. I even got the other passengers to join in since Africans love singing. Well, with the help of my hassidim's pious singing we arrived safely in princess town at 4.30pm. Shabz started at 5.45. So there was time to buy some bread and beer for kiddush to explain to Joseph (remember him from the last blog post?) that I needed to buy the fort from him for 25 hours so that I could carry things around it and even some time to shower (well fill a bucket from the well and wash myself) and to wash some undies.
Also, Yuzhong had arrived safely. She explained that Nessiya (the hostile Nigerian) found taxi went to the village to collect me but that I wasn't there so she returned in the taxi to collect Yuzhong and off they went to Agona. There Nessiyah got a tro tro back to Takoradi while Yuzhong got one to princess town. I don't know how they didn't see me in the village. But I guess it all worked out ok, though I was a bit resentful that I passed on that first tro tro for their benefit when they ended up bailing on me and I almost ended up stranded for shabz. Deep breaths.
As shabbat was coming in I had probably one of the most meaningful kabbalat shabbat services I've ever done. I was super happy to have arrived in time for shabbat. I was also very happy because I love princes town. I davened on the fort on the top of the hill overlooking the village, the beach and the jungle. The sun was setting and all I could hear was birds and the ocean.
Joseph made us shabbat dinner of rice and vegetables. I made kiddush and hamotzi. Yuzhong and I chatted on the balcony about lots of things. It was difficult talking to her since her English wasn't great but I tried nevertheless.
The next day Yuzhong got up super early to go on a canoe trip along the local river to see monkeys at dawn. She came back and said it was pretty awesome. I in the meantime woke up late. Davened, learned the parsha (my time in Ghana has probably been the first time in my life that I've actually been following the parshiot) did kiddush and then went down to the beach. My plan was to go for a bit of a walk and then to down on the sand and nap.
But on my way some of the villagers came up to me and told me that Joseph had told them hat it was my sabbath. They explained to me that it was also their sabbath and would I like to come to church with them? I didn't really have anything better to do so I joined them. It turned out that they were 7th day Adventists (again!) - and since I like them because of their vegetarian ways I joined them for a bible class and I even went to the children's service and taught them the kindergarten classic 'hashem is here hashem is there hashem is truly everywhere' - but I swapped hashem for god.
After say 2 hours (which was waaay too long and I was pretty bored by this stage) I bailed and went down to the beach to nap on the sand.
But as I was walking along the beach I came across a group of 4 young boys in various stages of dress from t-shirt and shorts to totally butt naked. They were swimming and eating coconuts from all the palm trees along the beach. They had a giant pile of coconut shells around them. As I walked past they offered me one. And I was super happy they did. It was delicious. First they chop off the top (with a machete... Scary) and you drink the juice. Then they chop it in half and you scoop out the delicious insides to eat. Yummy.
The boys then asked me if I wanted to go to Miamo the next village. I asked if it was close and they said yes so I said sure. So the boys went to go and found their clothes that they'd left in the jungle and on we went. It was a nice walk to the end of the beach. The boys were doing cartwheels and racing the whole way along. We got to the end of the beach where i meets some rocks and the jungle. The boys gathered around a palm tree and picked los of mini dates, i suppose they are the African version of dates. But i passed on eating these. We hen started walking through the jungle for quite a while. We eventually arrived in Miamo and looked down at my watch. We'd been walking for well over an hour. I realised that i may have gone past techum shabbat but since i had never been something that i'd learn previously I had no idea. I was prey tired and wanted my nap by this stage anyways so I told the boys that I was going back. Two of the boys accompanied me. We walked along the beach and returned to their coconut mound. There they took off their clothes again - I forget how much little kids like to be naked- and produced a box full of nuts that they'd collected from the jungle. They proceeded to open them and they gave me a few. They tasted like almonds. Ie: delicious. By this stage the sun was almost setting and I hadn't had my nap. But i didn't mind since I'd had such a great time with the kids (even if I walked past techum shabbat in the process). I sat on a log and watched the sun set and thought about how lucky these kids were. They spent their days naked running and jumping and swimming and feasting on whatever grows nearby. I feel like a village childhood if infinitely superior to a city childhood.
I went back to the fort and found yuzhong. Since i was new years we went into the village and chilled with the locals. But by 10pm we were tired and most of the locals were going to church o bring in the new year so we bailed and went back to the fort o sleep in the new year.
And now I too am tired - this is probably enough writing for me now. I'll return to writing this evening maybe.
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