We have now been in Ghana for a week and a half- it went from SCARY to not scary... to scary to... not scary. And now we love it!

Our first few days were spent acclimatising to big city life of accra which is quite a contrast to the little old, scrappy village of Muheza. We got a 'tour' of the town by a generous member of staff, although we feel that his intentions may have been dishonourable considering that he never spoke to us again after we dissappeared off safely to our own beds!!!!

The first weekend was spent at the annual festival in Cape Coast which was absolutely wild!! There was dancing in the streets to the loud Ghanaian dancehall/reggaeton bump-n-grind music and drumming parades! The kings and queens of the local villages were carried through the streets on beds - jiggling around and singing too! We were sporting our new "diamond" $2 wedding rings hoping to put off everyone man who proprosed to us. Unfortunately, we were, yet again accosted by "Rastas" who refused to talk in anything other than a thick Jamaican accent and Bob Marley's lyrics. These were the only words he could "express himself" in.

While we relaxed eating dry cake on a step, the cutest child plomped himself on Laura's knee and snuggled in. He was soon retrieved by his mother but returned shortly with upside tiny shades, he threw his head back and cackled when he chased away by another family member! It's not helped to quell our broodiness, especially for the little African children!

Our new Rasta boyz, one called Biblical Page and the other called Rastaman, proved their worth that evening by fending off any local molesters. The only trouble being, they themselves were also local molesters. One took particular shine to Andie, especially her nose. He wants it to point the direction of his life. Emotional. After shaking what our mommas gave us, we headed back to One Africa, our hotel. We worked hard that afternoon to find somewhere to stay, as typically for us, we hadn't booked anywhere on the biggest night of the year in Cape Coast.

Sunday was spent at Kakum National Park, a tiny area of Rainforest surrounded by palm oil plantations!! The park offered a 20 year old tree top walk which reached heights of 40m supposedly... God only knows what made us try it. Fortunately the aged ropes held out under our great weight and we made it safely to the 'Nature Walk.' During this we saw such jems as the Perfume Tree which had a far more complex local name that could be directly translated as You-will-sleep-with-your-brother!! Yes, it smelt that good...

Monday brought our first day at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital at the Burns and Reconstructive Surgery department. It's the biggest hospital in West Africa, and occupies a vast town-sized area. We spent the day in clinic with a fantastic, and very broad-shouldered, consultant and his incompetent understudy who we later saw fall asleep while assisting in theatre. So far we've seen mostly the results of road traffic accidents and every day we vow not to get in another taxi. But we do anyway. Oh well! Other conditions of note are the acid burn to the face. Surprisely common, and caused by extra marital affairs. Every day we also vow not to flirt with another woman's husband for fear of acid burn. This hasn't been too difficult as we are becoming pro at avoiding and shaking off unwanted advances. It's almost a shame that this won't be a problem when we return to England. We've been observing rather harder than expected, as we spent 12 hours at the hospital a few days this week! We're looking very slim in all the XXL Ghetto Booty scrubs here, although this may soon change with our hotels menu of rice, chips or yams. Carb on carb. Hello big momma.

We have a saviour here in Accra, who has made us feel very welcome here and helped to reduce the initial terror - MANUEL! It's been lovely to meet him and we are planning a dinner with some more of the family this week and a visit early next week to another relative!

This past weekend was spent at Big Milly's Backyard on the Kokrobite beach just outside of Accra for a weekend of good food, good music and good company! According to our species, we may have also bought uncountable dresses and bags at the bargain beach stalls. There were yet more Rasta advances from all sides. We have a defence strategy in place, of secret hand signals which mean "GET OUT NOW, FALL BACK".

On a side note, our hotel guard Ben in Accra and our guard, Hattibu, at the hospital in Tanzania, both defend the building with bows and arrows. Nothing else, apart from a machete secreted away somewhere on their sexy persons. You should know that Hattibu never wore a shirt, so God knows where he kept his machete!!!!!!!!!

Whilst staying at Kokrobite, we enjoyed the sun and beach but were unable to make the most of the sea due to it's treacherous West African nature. It has claimed many victims, even in the past few months yet there remains no warning on the beach. Even during our stay, some foreigners had to be rescued by (some very capable) local men who dived in to save them. It was upsetting, but strangely pleasing to the eye.

A great opportunity presented itself to us as we ran into some people we met at Kakum National Park! Two girls, Hannah and Tilly invited us back to their castle and private stretch of beach which belonged to a family friend! We relaxed drinking coconuts on the beach before retiring to the veranda for honey and bread! It was truly beautiful! The house had an incredible courtyard with a pool in it! Top notch chaps.

We've just started our last week now at Korle-Bu hospital, and are laying schemes for the coming week before we head back to England. It's also someones birthday on Friday, and we may head out to the expats karaoke haunt to embarrass ourselves. On the other hand, we may not. Especially as Andie turns 23, so is pretty much on the way out. She'll be far too old to keep up with my young, sprightly ways. She wants me to point out that she has a minor chest infection and would like sympathy in any form - email, text, phone call, anything - as she's not been getting any from me!!!! Teehee!

We'll write again sometime....maybe!

Love to all!