But first, I just got back from an AMAZING trip to the Volta Region, easily the most beautiful region I've been to yet (which I knew could have guessed because my host family is from there, so it must be amazing, but now I know from experience). We started out Saturday morning from Madina station outside of Accra heading to Hohoe in the Volta Region. This seems to be a reoccurring pattern; it was originally supposed to be just three of us, but as we went along people started tagging onto our plans and we ended up being a group of 7, which is always really fun. Once we got to Hohoe we took a cab to our hotel, quickly checked in and headed to the Wli Water Falls. There are two falls, the Lower and Upper Falls. The lower falls is barely a hike and the upper falls is very challenging, so since were badass we went to the Upper Falls. The hike was definitely challenging, and I grossly underestimated the time it would take, so I kept thinking I was almost there and when I realized I wasn't it was very frustrating. But once we got there it was so worth it. The falls was straight out of Planet Earth or something: a beautiful waterfall, a rainbow, beautiful towering wall of rock and lush greenery.
The tour guide made some raquette and they flew everywhere it was kind of terrifying. After the hike we rewarded ourselves with some cookies and a nice dinner at our hotel. Of course the food took forever and I was starving and if you know me you know that I do not handle being hungry with pose in any way, so I was cranky and pathetically picking the bones off my friend's tilapia until my dinner came. But it was delicious after over an hour wait. I passed out almost immediately after dinner, in preparation for our next big adventure on Sunday.
Sunday morning we hiked Mountain Afadjato, which is supposably the highest point in Ghana, even though there was a much taller mountain right next to it, but I'm choosing to believe that one's in Togo.
After our hike we packed up our stuff and headed to the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. We had a perplexing issue when paying for the tour. We each paid separately and at the end of all the change exchange the receptionist was short 10 cedi. Of course if this was the states the tour company would chalk it up to their mistake and we would be on our way shortly, but of course it was an hour long conversation which ended with each of us paying an extra cedi and the company paying 3 cedi to make up the difference. I still don't understand what happened or why it needed to be such a big deal, but that's Ghana for you. But the monkey sanctuary itself was AWESOME. The tour guide gave us bananas and all these monkeys jumped on us and were eating the bananas right out of your hands.
It was so fun I wanted to stay all day and play with the monkeys. It's also really cool that there is such great eco-tourism and animal protection efforts in Ghana, when in Accra everything feels so industrial and detached from nature. After the monkeys and a tour of the surrounding forest and village (a percentage of the profits go to the nearby village) we headed to Ho.
Three of us were going to visit Carrie, an American photographer that Jesse's mom connected me to that has a photography non-profit in Ho. But on meeting her we learned she does much much more than just teaching photography! We spent Monday day with her, visiting her home and her daughter, an orphaned girl she met in Keta (village in Volta Region) and has been living with her and attending school. They had an interesting relationship that resembled the typical Ghanaian mother-daughter relationship in which the daughter is expect to help with household chores and serve the mother, which was strange in juxtaposition with her relationship with her dog, Puppy, who she definitely raised like your typical, pampered American dog. However, I feel like their unorthodox mother-daughter relationship works for them, and probably fits their cultural understandings as a Ghanian daughter and Ex-pat living in Ghanian society. After some coffee and bombarded her with questions, Carrie took us to meet the children she is funding to go to school in the cured leprosy village. That is just one of her projects. She also assists in chief events, works with the New Horizon School of the Bling in Ho, teaches in local schools, and does other side projects like creating a tourist book for Ho, that she would lightly mention. It is really amazing what she is doing for that community, and she is constantly facing obstacles, like the children's cameras being stolen or waiting for funding for children's school fees because the donors are traveling to India. As we tagged along on her daily life I couldn't help wonder if I would be happy living the way she is in Ho. I'm still not sure but it was good to see an alternative lifestyle and career choice that I would have never before been exposed to.
It's so crazy, but I only have one more trip (Tamale and Mole), 3 exams, 2 papers and 3 weeks left in Ghana!! I'm looking forward to everything, but also really freaked out that it's almost over. Hopefully I will be able to do all the last minute things I want to do before my vacation with Mommy in Belgium and the Netherlands, which I am so so so so excited for!! Half of me wants May 20th to never come, the other half of me wants the time to hurry up already so I can see mommy! Regardless, its going to happen whenever it does and I just have to enjoy the time I have.
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