Another great victory and a day at the lake

Last night, because we had no power and my laptop battery was dead, I went
to sleep at 9:30. On a Saturday. Ugh. Going to bed that early really messes
with your body clock-I was up a lot throughout the night.

Dr. Addae and I live in a house owned by a friend of his who lives in
Germany. His son Joe, who is 18, also lives with us. He�s been after me for
a while to come with him to Lake Bosumtwi, about an hour southeast of
Kumasi, and so we went today. We took a couple of tro-tros and just before
we got to the lake, we hit a roadblock. I think it was official, but no one
was in uniform. Everyone had to pay a toll of 1000 cedis that went towards
the development and maintenance of the lake or so they said. Except for me.
I had to pay 5000. Ghana wants to promote internal tourism so it is cheaper
for locals. But to have to pay five times more is crap. It isn�t very much
money, but the principle behind it really bothers me, especially considering
they would have no real way of telling if someone was a tourist from, say,
Nigeria. It doesn�t really make you feel too welcome-you just feel
exploited. Plus the people collecting it just yelled a lot in Twi and made a
big scene. I was less than impressed, although Joe did a good job of calming
them down. I still had to pay the 5000.

Fortunately, the lake was completely worth the hassle. It was amazing. It is
a 25 square-km meteorite impact crater surrounded by rainforested mountains.
There was a beach and hundreds of people, with loud music blaring. The water
was very warm and by the late afternoon, it was actually hot. It was a bit
unsettling because swimming through a hot spot in a Canadian lake can only
mean one thing! Most people here can�t swim very well, so they stay in the
shallows. But I went out deeper and swam with some fishermen. They aren�t
allowed to have canoes on the lake due to custom, so they sit on big logs
and use small squares of wood as hand paddles to get to their nets. The lake
is full of tilapia, a kind that is unique to that lake. I�d imagine that has
to do with the meteorite.

We stayed there for the whole afternoon, swimming and enjoying a couple of
75 cent beers. It was very relaxing and I met so many different people. I
think I�ll go there a lot on the weekends. I�ve got some good pictures and
I�m going to try posting them on a different website. If that works, I�ll
put up the address. I also saw some turkeys there. If not for them, I would
have forgot about Thanksgiving, cause it certainly doesn�t feel like autumn
here.

We journeyed back, stopping briefly at Joe�s friend�s place. American Idol
was on. It was the season with Fantasia which I�m pretty sure was ages ago.
When we got back, the power was out (still). And then it started to pour.
The rainy season is in full effect right now and it is torrential when it
comes. Since we also don�t have running water back, I stood under a spout
and had my first shower without a bucket in a few days. I also had a nice
chat with my sister and parents and got the play-by-play on the Habs
glorious victory on Saturday. It sounds like the new rules really benefit
the faster teams. Tsn.ca described the tying and winning goals as Koivu and
Ribeiro �tormenting� the Leafs defence. What a great day today was!