Back to the village

Yovo is going back to the village! In a week from now, we will be on our most exciting, most anticipated family trip yet, back to Yikpa – the village where Laura and I met all these years ago.

Next weekend, we’ll fly directly from New York to Accra. In Accra we’ll be staying at a very nice rental place, which we share with a friend. Accra is a pretty cool city of 1.6 Million, and I never spent a lot of time there. So this time we’ll check it out more thoroughly. After a few days in Accra, we plan to head North to the small village of Wli in the Volta Region, where we’ll be staying at a little place called the Waterfall Lodge. Wli is right on the border with Togo, and in walking distance  right across the border is Yikpa.

In Yikpa we also expect to meet up with our friend Agbessi, who just headed back home a few days ago. We plan to spend the Easter holiday in the village, catching up with our friends and family over some palmwine and fufu. We also plan to go hiking in the mountains a bit to visit the various waterfalls in the area.

After easter, we’ll travel a bit in Togo, to Kpalimé for some more fufu at the taxigare and  to Atakpamé to visit a family there. Finally we’ll head back to Ghana, for some more sightseeing. I really would like to visit Ghana’s National Park.

That’s it – the plan is simple enough. But it’s been in making for years, and the implementation began in December. We bought plane tickets, got our passports renewed, got Yellowfever shots, Malaria meds, visa for Ghana and Togo, reservations for the places where we’re staying, transportation (that’s still not settled) … and of course lots of presents for our firends and family!

We’re excited, and the kids are psyched! They had to get time off from school, but the teachers are fine with it – in fact the teachers understand what a great experience this will be for Jacob and Julia.

2 Responses to “Back to the village”

  1. Peggy Schaeffer Says:

    Have a great time and know that all my best wishes for an exciting visit are going with you! I can’t wait to hear all about it…. I assume you will be updating the blog & Twittering throughout the time, right? ha ha!

  2. yovo Says:

    Yeah – probably I won’t do much travel blogging. In Accra we’ll have Internet access, but up-country it’ll be difficult and expensive. I think that the closest Internet cafe would be in Hohoe – about 10 KM (6 miles) from the village.