when i emailed to reserve my hut at ecowas ecovillage, i had no idea that i was getting into rastaman territory.  arriving at the village via taxi, i noticed everything was painted red, yellow, and green (the colors for ecowas, or one Africa), and all the staff had dreadlocks and beards, with the exception of one man who looked like Eddie Murphy except he didn't speak English.

this was a very relaxing retreat from an already very relaxing vacation.  nothing to do but lie in a hammock and sleep like a dog and eat homecooked Ghanaian food.  Eddie Murphy walked by my hammock repeatedly, alternately from one direction and then the other.  I waved to him each time, expecting him to say something funny, but he just raised his arm and went "Huh!" 

i asked Atta about drum lessons.  Atta was the guy with the dreadlocks, who i got confused with the other guys with dreadlocks.  Anyway, he said yes, he would teach me, but that I should jump in the lake first to cool off.  so i jumped in the lake, but it was more of a hot tub- no cooling off involved.  then i met with Atta, who explained that he couldn't teach much because he had cut his finger while cooking.  but i did learn a couple of rhythms on his blood-stained drum, and they go like this:

pi-di-pi-di-pi  PAH!
and
keh-keh keh-keh-keh

Got it?  unfortunately, i didn't see much of Atta, because he had to go to the main village every day to recharge his cell phone.  the second day, he was seven hours late for our drum lesson, so it got canceled.  i did get to hang out with Alex, learn (in principle, not practice) the basis of Rastafarianism, turn down repeated offers for weed, wait expectantly for Eddie Murphy to say something funny, and help plant a mango tree which i named "volta."  in all ways, a worthwhile stay.