In Africa the 4 biggest killers are Malaria, AIDS, the roads and hippos.Malaria and AIDS I can understand, and although you don't hear that many stories about people being killed by hippos, apparently more people get killed by them than by any other wild animal in Africa.But the roads, in Mali and Burkina Faso while traveling on public transport I constantly though how could the roads be the 3rd biggest killer in Africa, nothing (except the flash aid agency vehicles) goes faster than 60kph, and the roads are better there than they are in Ghana, I used to sit there thinking I wish they would put their foot down!I had been on way scarier buses in Peru where they would overtake trucks on blind corners next to a cliff!Well that all changed since I arrived in Ghana, I got the bus from Ouaga to Tamale in northern Ghana which was fine, we couldn't have gone too fast cause we had to stop about every 10 minutes for another checkpoint.But the bus from Tamale to Kumasi which I took yesterday was another experience.I got up at 5am to get the 6am bus (there weren't any other times to leave), it is supposed to take about 6 hours to get to Kumasi.We drove pretty fast for the first 3 hours but I didn't notice because I slept, and it was the flashest bus I had been on so far, it even had air-conditioning!But then the driver sped over a pothole which made the whole bus lurch and then we slowly pulled to the side of the road and that bus wasn't going anywhere after that!So after sitting and waiting for 3 hours another bus arrived, this bus was pretty shabby and had no air-con - more like what I was used to.The driver sped so fast along these narrow potholed roads, then would slam on the brakes when an oncoming vehicle approached and move to the side of the road to give them room.He was overtaking anything on the road, cars, vans, trucks.I wasn't really that worried about it until we started passing overturned trucks and buses on the side of the road.Some of them were so recent that the trucks still had all their cargo spilled into the bush on the side of the road.There were smashed up bush taxis as well, and pretty much all of them looked like they had been in a head on collision, except for the ones that had just run off the side of the road and plowed into a tree or something and had just been left there.The funny thing is that every couple of kilometers there are these big signs on the side of the road that say "Drive home safely to a big hug", obviously no one takes any notice of them!!I arrived safely in Kumasi, and that should be the end of my long distance bus journeys for awhile, it is only 5 hours to the coast from here, and the travel I plan on doing between here and Togo and Benin is all only a few hours at a time.

Well I had a really nice few days in Ouaga staying with Silvia and Kim, it was really good to have a break from hotels!On my last night there, Silvia and I went out to see a show, it was an open air small theatre where they performed a play with lots of singing and dancing, the dancing was absolutely amazing!!It was such a good show, I felt like I wanted to stay in Ouaga and see a few more!Burkina really is a country of amazing culture, they love their art and music, dance and cinema and because it sits in the crossroads of West Africa there are so many different ethnic groups there, as I saw in Gorom Gorom.I was really looking forward to getting to Ghana but at the same time I was a bit reluctant to leave Burkina, I think it was just because it was one of those countries I had always wanted to go to and I really enjoyed being there.

On Wednesday night I got sick in the night and was thinking for awhile I might not be able to travel to Ghana on Thursday, I was up from about 3am on Thursday morning sitting on the bathroom floor dripping with sweat and my head spinning!By 5am I was feeling better and decided I could handle the bus trip, although I was still feeling pretty ill.Once we got going it was fine, the border crossing was pretty straight forward, but once we got into Ghana there were so many roadblocks, it felt like we were stopping every 10 minutes, and when you're in the heat of the day and you're sitting inside a bus it gets really hot, so you just hope the bus gets moving soon so you can get some breeze again.Then I almost missed my stop in Tamale and I had to get the driver to pull over again, I felt pretty awful by the time I arrived there, then the minute I got off the bus a guy came up and started talking to me and the first thing I thought was 'I wish I could just say "non François" and walk off' but when someone is just introducing themselves to you and being friendly it is hard to not at least try to be pleasant back even though I didn't want company cause I felt so rotten!So I went to get a taxi and he followed me then jumped in the taxi with me, got to the hotel which was a Catholic guesthouse and he followed me in trying to help me, one thing that really frustrates me in any situation no matter where I am in the world is when people try to help me when I haven't asked for any help, that probably sounds like a horrible thing to say, but I generally like to figure things out by myself and if I need help I will ask for it, so this guy was really getting on my nerves, he wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't sick.So at the hotel a security man took me to a room, and the guy still followed, I walked into the room and put my bag down, then the guy says from just inside the doorway "check the taps and shower works", I felt like throwing something at him!!Instead I walked towards him to try and usher him out of the room and told him that I already know to check that, I didn't like it that he was coming into the room.So he sat on the balcony outside the room and waited for me to come out and when I did and he tried to follow me again I just told him I wanted to be alone because I was tired and sick, and he said "yes I thought so, so I was going to say that"Ahhh!!!!!Luckily he left then.I got some dinner from down the road and went to bed at about 8pm. The guesthouse didn't have any rooms available for Friday night so I decided to get the bus the next morning to Kumasi, the only time it left was 6am so that meant another early start.When I got to the station the bus was full but I was approached by a man who had a ticket that someone else had brought but that person was no longer traveling, so I brought that off him, that was really lucky, otherwise I would have got up at 5am for no reason!A young guy was sitting next to me, he introduced himself and told me he was going to play football in Kumasi, so I said hi and told him my name, then he said "will you marry me so I can play football in your country", obviously I said no, but what did he think I was going to say?!I avoided conversation with him for the rest of the journey, I was so tired anyway.Then after we broke down and got on the new bus I was sitting next to a different person anyway.

I was a little worried that the place I wanted to stay in Kumasi would be fully booked since it's the weekend but luckily they had a room, so I had dinner and another early night and this morning a much needed sleep in!I'm feeling better today, still a bit fragile but after I've finished on the internet I'm just going to rest for the afternoon.

Ghana is really different to Mali and Burkina Faso, it reminds me of East Africa.Most people dress in western clothes, most people here are Christians with only a few Muslims in the north, and at bus stops all you can buy are packets of biscuits!!You can't get nice French bread, the only bread they sell are these massive loaves that would feed 5 families.Also there are a lot more foreigners here,in Mali and Burkina when you see a white person you can't help but stare and think 'ohh I wonder what they're doing' because there are so few of them (especially at this time of year), but here there are heaps!Although I am yet to meet anyone who is traveling by themselves like me, everyone is either a couple or 2 or more girls traveling together.Also it actually rained yesterday, there were huge black clouds in the sky and it poured down for ages as we entered Kumasi on the bus stuck in peak hour traffic.Well the traffic wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for all the broken down trucks that literally sat in the middle of the road so everyone else had to weave around them, I think that definitely created most of the congestion.Last night it rained most of the night which really cooled the air down, it is definitely not as hot here as it was in the other countries, it is still very hot (by my standards) but the heat is not oppressive like it was in Mali and Burkina.

Tomorrow I am going to take a bus to a town called Takoradi on the coast and go to a beach resort for a few days, I feel like I need a few days to relax, it is really exhausting traveling here and I'm feeling like I need a bit of a break to re-energise.Talking to Kim in Ouaga about it and she completely summed it up by saying the reason it is so exhausting being here sometimes is because there is constant stimulation, throughout the day there are always people talking to you and staring at you and yelling out to you, and taxis beeping at you and walking down the street you are dodging cars and donkeys and people all the time and there is just so much going on and so much to take in that by the end of the day you just collapse in a chair or your bed and need to just rest for a bit.Also the heat really takes it out of you, and not speaking French in Mali and Burkina Faso made it that extra bit challenging.So I'm definitely ready for a few days relaxing at the beach!!In Ghana the currency they use is the Cedi instead of the CFA, and they have just changed all the notes of the Cedi from tens of thousands to 1, 5, 10, and 20 notes, just getting used to a new currency is confusing enough for me, but when they tell me the prices in tens of thousands and I don't have those notes I get sooo confused!!It is really hard to get used to, I don't even know if I'm getting ripped off, I'm just handing over money and thinking 'I hope I get some change from that'!!Last night I got out my calculator and tried to figure it out and I understand it now, but when I'm in a situation when I am told a price and I have to hand over the money I still can't work it out in my head fast enough so i just give them some money….!It's times like this that I need Greg here with me!!It is cheaper here than the other countries which is good and there are ATM's everywhere so no more hour long waits in banks!I recently changed some travelers cheques in Ouaga, and when you stand at the counter, the other people who are behind you don't form a queue, they lean on the counter next to you and watch your passport and money handed back and forth, I noticed everyone did that so it wasn't just me, so when I was waiting for my money I did it too.Well I am leaving this internet café right now because this kid is running around screaming and I think I will kill him if I stay here any longer!!!I still haven't found any fast computers to download the rest of my photos so will do that soon hopefully!Next time I write will be from the beach…yay!!!