After an exhausting first week of orientation and work (10 to 14 hours of sterilizing a day!!! Someone is getting me back for all those 5 and 6 hour days I worked this Fall… I knew that would come back to haunt me), I was quite refreshed by my first weekend adventure into the Ghanaian countryside.
I went with a group of 13 crewmembers to a place called Paradise Mountain near the village of Lake Fumme, about 3 hours from Tema (where the ship is). The transportation of choice for large groups here is the “tro-tro,” which refers to any vehicle carrying multiple people. To find the tro-tro, we took taxis to the tro-tro station (a dirt lot where the tro-tros congregate), where we were accosted by 30 or 40 yelling tro-tro drivers. One thing led to another (I use this phrase because I have no idea what happened), and we were herded onto a tro-tro. Three hours later, we took a right turn and arrived at Paradise Mountain.
Paradise Mountain is a collection of three large lodges with two friendly proprietors, one monkey, no electricity, bucket showers, and the biggest anthill I’ve ever seen (see picture - that's me on the right). We spent both days hiking a gorgeous canyon trail through a forest of various fruit trees and butterflies, taking enough digital pictures to irritate the most patient of guides (ours seemed to be fingering his machete a bit too fondly at times), and swimming in the waterfall pools – which we were assured are completely parasite-free. Stay tuned for more information.
The highlight of the weekend, however, was the Italian hippie family that we befriended, from a hippie commune in Tennessee. They serenaded us with Bob Marley, we talked about Jesus, they told us about hippies, and there was like so much love. They hiked with us on Sunday, and upon seeing a massive bamboo tree, the son Biko, who is on his way to study for six months with the drum masters of Mali, exclaimed: “That bamboo plant is HUGE! Oh my GODDESS!”
All in all, a fabulous weekend, totally worth the 300,000 Ghanaian cidis (about $30... yeah, scientific notation anyone?).
I went with a group of 13 crewmembers to a place called Paradise Mountain near the village of Lake Fumme, about 3 hours from Tema (where the ship is). The transportation of choice for large groups here is the “tro-tro,” which refers to any vehicle carrying multiple people. To find the tro-tro, we took taxis to the tro-tro station (a dirt lot where the tro-tros congregate), where we were accosted by 30 or 40 yelling tro-tro drivers. One thing led to another (I use this phrase because I have no idea what happened), and we were herded onto a tro-tro. Three hours later, we took a right turn and arrived at Paradise Mountain.
Paradise Mountain is a collection of three large lodges with two friendly proprietors, one monkey, no electricity, bucket showers, and the biggest anthill I’ve ever seen (see picture - that's me on the right). We spent both days hiking a gorgeous canyon trail through a forest of various fruit trees and butterflies, taking enough digital pictures to irritate the most patient of guides (ours seemed to be fingering his machete a bit too fondly at times), and swimming in the waterfall pools – which we were assured are completely parasite-free. Stay tuned for more information.
The highlight of the weekend, however, was the Italian hippie family that we befriended, from a hippie commune in Tennessee. They serenaded us with Bob Marley, we talked about Jesus, they told us about hippies, and there was like so much love. They hiked with us on Sunday, and upon seeing a massive bamboo tree, the son Biko, who is on his way to study for six months with the drum masters of Mali, exclaimed: “That bamboo plant is HUGE! Oh my GODDESS!”
All in all, a fabulous weekend, totally worth the 300,000 Ghanaian cidis (about $30... yeah, scientific notation anyone?).
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