Day 18: Lake Volta and Team 1 Leaving

Wow we had to wake up super early for our van ride to Lake Volta so we could catch the cruise! So me and Marta and Mira were already up by 5am packing up all our bags *sniff*. We left some extra bug spray and hand sanitizer behind for the others. So since we were leaving, Suraj, Mike, Anjali, and Ben would be stay back. We walked to the van and barely had time to say goodbye to the kids; we weren't going to be back either, we had to bring our luggage with us because after stopping by the Lake we were going to Accra to meet Winnie and Bernard Amadei, the founder of EWB for dinner! We did see Ebenezer and Akotuanat and said bye to them, and I told Richard to tell the others that I said bye but I dunno if he will!

We also got great bread on the way, but upon arrival, we realized not only that the cruise was full, but that is was 40CDs each, around $30 per person, which did cover food and a live band but still, it was full. Besides, there were too many obronis for our liking, and you know us, we're totally not obroni enough to go on the cruise. So we decided to leave and ended up going to a really nice resort that also had a 'cruise' but it was a 15-person sized motor powered quaint-looking passenger boat. Sure why not? The resort was nice and had a pool, and some grass to play soccer and volleyball in (net included!) Mike even got a nice beef khebab that we all drooled at. So on the boat ride we realized how freaking huge the lake was, I just looked it up and it's the largest reservoir of water in the world by surface area, and the 4th largest by volume in the world. It has a dam that powers 80% of Ghana. Woah.

After a small lunch we headed to Accra to meet up with Winnie and Bernard and others, but decided to take a small trip to the beach! Full of people, horse rides, and bars. We just chilled on a strip further away from most of the people and tossed the frisbee and a hacksack, and Mike and Ben even jumped in the water. I think Mira did too. Great, now we had to meet Winnie in our soaking wet clothes. Good thing we brought nice clothes to change into!

So we met at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, and formally met Winnie, our professional mentor from Cali, Bernard Amadei, founder of EWB and professor at U of Colorado, Boulder, along with members of the Ghana Institute of Engineers and Engineers without Borders - Ghana. We took pics and sat down for a nice dinner. First time we had non Ghanaian food in a while.

This is when Team 1 left Team 2. A team photo was taken and handshakes and hugs were exchanged. And as soon as we had gotten to Ghana, we had to leave. Me, Mira, and Marta stayed at the hotel to wait for Winnie to take us to a guest house for the night so we could make it to the airport at 4am without having to go back to Obodan. We waved goodbye to Suraj, Mike, Ben, Anjali, and Sammy, and headed to the guest house. Indoor plumbing was quite a surprise. So was the king size bed we shared for the 4 hrs we slept. Tomorrow we would leave for the US...

-Eric, Marta, Mira

P.S. Team 2 can tell you if they did anything else that night, like watched a movie, I have no idea lol.