The Aluminum Man Part 2

After looking over my last post, I am surprised I was coherent at all. I was pretty tired, even though I didn't participate in the event. Dylan has also pointed out to me that I don't have the permission of all the people pictured to post their picture on the internet and perhaps I should take it down, so I might, but not right now.

Another thing-just as a cute aside-today Toby was coloring with markers (we're trying to do art in relation to Halloween) and he colored all over his hands. So the palms of his hands are blue and yellow and some green where they overlapped. I said, "You need to wash your hands." and he said, "No, it's art." Of course with the way Toby talks it sounds more like "no, sarrrr."

Where did I leave off in the last post? Oh, with the praying mantis. After I woke up and noticed that my univited guest was not where I last saw him, I got up to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms were quite funny too as there was no door, they were just open to the room, and as Dylan later told me, the shower just drained out into the bedroom area. I don't shower away from my home here in Ghana. I don't appreciate standing under a ice cold shower and I still feel dirty anyway, so no need. When I came back to lay down, I noticed that the foam mattress had conformed to my body (sounds like something that people in the States pay a lot for) and I could only lay back down in the exact same position I had been in before. Thankfully, I had awakened at about 5 AM and it was time to get up and get moving for the day anyway. I had no clock or watch in my room, so I just waited until Dylan knocked on the door (he had fallen asleep in the room with the boys). Then we were up and off for the run portion.

They ran 2.5 miles and then jumped in the Volta river. The Volta is rife with schistosomiasis (here's the wiki article). Schisto, as it is commonly called, parasites get under the skin and cause itching. They make their way to the liver and can make you pretty sick. It's rarely fatal though, but still...not interested in having ANYTHING living under my skin. They swam across with Dylan in 3rd on arrival at the other shore. Then it was time to jump on the bikes and head out for the 16 mile bike race. It was a very hilly course. All in all, Dylan did fantastic. He finished last, but not by a heck of a lot, and his bike wasn't nearly as good as everyone else's. At the halfway point the pace biker, traded bikes with him and couldn't believe he'd made it so far on his bike. It's kind of out of repair too.

We had breakfast at the other hotel (the one with A/C and pool), which was really good food and they didn't run out! A plus always! Then we headed back to Accra, made great time and when we got ready to leave the house the next morning...the Explorer would not start! How's that for a blessing? We didn't get stranded in Akosombo, we are now stranded in our own home in Accra! I don't think it gets any better. So we now have a fuel pump on order from the States, hopefully it will be here by next week and then we can have it installed. After that, I don't know what, but most people haven't had trouble if they flush their fuel lines, so perhaps it was only one bad batch of gas.