Day Trip to Tamale

Yesterday we took a day trip to the nearest “city” so we could go to the ATM and the grocery store. I was looking forward to being out of Nalerigu for the second time in the 10 weeks I've been here. Well, this day trip took 9 hours with over 6 hours in the car. Tamale is only 100 miles away but it takes 3 hours to get there because of the dirt roads filled with pot holes, sheep, goats and people. Traveling is an adventure even when we don't have to use public transportation!

Our first stop was a restaurant for lunch... I was looking forward to eating at a restaurant for the first time since arriving in Ghana! It was good, although we were overwhelmed at having so many choices and our food was really spicy. So I'm still looking forward to Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden & the Mexican Restaurant when I get back to Atlanta! :)

We went to the bank and I was able to use to ATM to withdraw money but then the machine took Annie & Angela's cards when they tried after me. Which is bad because the bank is closed on Saturday... so they have to do the trip all over again on Monday so they can get their debit cards back! It's crazy being 3 hours away from the nearest ATM!

I was excited about going “shopping”, although I didn't expect it to be like the States or even Brasil. The other missionaries always go to Tamale to go to the grocery store and talk about how much it has. So I had this picture of a decent size store with a variety of things... You can imagine my surprise when we get there and it's only one little room with 2 aisles! The padaria (bakery in Brasil) right by my house in Rio had more food than this store! Very disappointing after the 3 hour trip. I bought Coca Light, a can of Pringles and an ice cream bar. And I got some apples from the “Fruit & Vegetable Market” - it was just stands on the side of the road. After that we drove the 3 hours again and got to Nalerigu right after dark. You know, I never liked going to the grocery store in Rio and would always get annoyed at the check-out people because they seemed to take forever. But at least they had lots of good food, air condition, cash registers that accept credit cards and it was only 5 minutes from our house!! Our Tamale adventure made me realize even more how different the way of life is here!