Days 37-43

 

"You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.

             You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

          So be sure when you step, step with care & great tact

  And remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act.

             Just never forget  to be dexterous & deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left."

This past week has been both busy & relaxing at the same time. Wednesday was my first day of being sick here, but luckily I didn’t get it too bad, mostly a hoarse cough & a little flu, but much less than I expected to have here. I started out at the orphanage, but didn’t last too long since I wasn’t too hot. I had 2 more packages at the post office so I decided to rally & go pick them up later in the afternoon. This ended up being a 4-hour event, but I got some good treats & some things for the kids from my Grammy Di & my Auntie. That night I just laid in bed & hit the hay early.

Thursday was Independence Day here in Ghana so we had the day off of school. I had planned to go on a 4-day trip to the Volta region, but they cut it down to 2 days at the last minute. I already had all my obligations excused for Thursday & Friday so I got to relax a little bit for possibly the first time since I got here. A few of us went to the “parade” at Black Star Square that morning. I put parade inside parenthesis because it was mostly a bunch of government/military officials standing in the center of the square & a band playing a few songs. But there were a ton of people there despite the rain literally pouring on us. Again Ghanaians are very proud of their culture so the turnout didn’t surprise me. By the end we were soaked head to toe & spent the rest of the day snacking on Girl Scout cookies & watching Friends in the hostel. 

Friday I slept in & read my newest book for a large portion of the day. I don’t have classes that day & had planned to be out of town so I didn’t have too much to do. We went out for some pizza & a movie that night to add a little American entertainment to the day as if the cookies & Friends wasn’t enough the day before. The pizza was of course spicy so I opted for a not so spicy treat instead. We bought tickets to see Robo Cop, walked into the Robo Cop theater, but didn’t get to see Robo Cop. They played a different movie called Winter’s Tale. It was very different & not a great movie but I wasn’t too excited for Robo Cop anyways so I didn’t mind.

Saturday we were supposed to be up & outside for the bus at 6 am sharp to leave on our adventure to the Volta region. I forgot that time doesn’t mean very much here in Ghana as we didn’t leave the parking lot until 7:30. It was about a 5-hour drive to Mount Afadjato, which was our first destination. It is the tallest mountain in West Africa & they decided we should hike it at 12:30 pm, the hottest time of day, without feeding us lunch while most of us didn’t even eat breakfast at 6 am. It took around 2 hours & was just about the hardest hike of my life to say the least. It is 2,904 ft tall and the hike is basically vertical. We had to use our hands & knees to get to the top. A lot of people only went half way since we didn’t do our research thoroughly enough to come prepared. I made it to the top though so I felt pretty accomplished about that. Bruised, scraped, and covered in dirt I made it to the beautiful view. I took a few pictures, but it’s the kind of beauty that a camera can’t capture. The area has several mountains, which was a nice reminder of home to me. I miss the mountains A LOT & I think all my friends here know that by now :) I love them so much that I’ve convinced quite a few people to make Montana their next vacation spot. 

After the hike we went straight to a waterfall, yet again without any lunch. It was quite a walk to get to the waterfalls, but another active journey worth the view at the end. After a few people swam in the water we traveled up another mountain to get to our hotel. We finally got some dinner, a hot shower, & fell asleep. 

This is how pineapples grow.

 This was a giant centipede on the trail. Coiled up it was about 3 inches in diameter.

Bats flew all around the top of the waterfall.

Sunday we woke up for some breakfast around sunrise & noticed a beautiful view outside of our window that we hadn’t seen in the dark the night before. 

After we ate we went to the monkey sanctuary where we got to feed some Mona monkeys. There are about 400 monkeys living in that jungle. There are 4 tribes, each consisting of one male & the rest female & babies. It took awhile to find them & once we did we were getting eaten alive by ants. The bites actually hurt pretty badly so we ran down the trail until the ground wasn’t covered by them anymore. The monkeys followed & we got to feed them bananas. We started out by crouching down close to the ground and reaching out our arms. They peeled the bananas & ate them right out of our hands! After we got comfortable with it we stood up & held out our arms, they jumped right from the trees onto us! It was pretty cool to hold a monkey for a few minutes. 

 After monkeying around for bit we packed up & went back to Accra. We stopped at the Volta Lake to get a look at the freshwater there. It reminded me of times at the lake with family in the summers & how I can’t wait to be back out there this year. We got some lunch afterwards, possibly the best, somewhat American, food I’ve had yet. Unfortunately it’s about 3 or 4 hours from where I live so I won’t be getting it often if ever again. I’m sure it wouldn’t have tasted great when I first arrived 6 weeks ago, but after eating the local food for that long I can’t really tell what is good anymore. We got back around sunset so I just read until I fell asleep.

Yesterday morning I went for my usual jog, got some coffee, & went to class. After class a few of us went to the International Trade Fair in town, which ended up being really cool. There were vendors from several different countries all over the world. I got a couple gifts to bring back home & a dress from India for myself. Since then I’ve had my usual white rice for dinner & wrote this blog to the sound of another intense thunderstorm. I wasn’t able to upload it last night because my internet connection was incredibly slow. The uploading process usually takes a few hours for the pictures. Life doesn’t happen quickly here, but I can’t complain. The slow pace is pretty peaceful.

This morning I had class & then spent the afternoon at the orphanage. They went swimming again today so that's been pretty fun to watch. Little Silas was sick so he cuddled up on my lap & hung out with me until I had to walk the older kids to the pool. He's become one of my favorite little guys. On my way back to campus I had a very interesting cab ride. The driver didn't want to sit through traffic so he drove on the other side of the road honking his horn like crazy. I was terrified the entire time but made it home safe, though if I ever see him again I will not get in his cab. The power went out before I left for the orphanage & was still out when I got back. I went to my night class anyways hoping maybe it would come back on. It didn't. But we held class anyways. We all grabbed our chairs & went outside where it was a little lighter until the sun was all the way down. When I got back to the hostel we had power again so now I can finally post this blog :)

 I sleep under this net each night to save my skin from mosquito bites. It certainly helps, but my skin is pretty covered with them anyways. These bites aren’t like the ones at home either. They are much bigger & actually hurt when you are being bitten. They come to a little yellowish scab in the middle where the insect made it’s bite. That soon turns into blood after scratching them because man, do they itch! Pretty gross really, but just another fact of living here in Africa.

Back to my normal routine in the morning! Hope everyone is having a wonderful spring break, wherever your travels have taken you. Felt a little homesick when I saw all the fun everyone was having, but for some reason if I listed to a few Christmas songs, especially "I'll be home for Christmas," my homesickness lifts pretty easily. Love to you all,

Kasey