Viva la Volta!

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Mid-Project Break!

This past week I took leave from work for my mid-project break, and traveled to the eastern central part of Ghana with my roommate Sarah. For those of you who sent me emails wondering if I had fallen off the face of the earth or had gotten lost amidst all the refugees coming through from Togo, I wanted to say thanks for your concern, and all is well over here! And here are the highlights from the past week…

Cruising Lake Volta at 10 Miles an Hour

We kicked off our journey with a ferry ride (read: cargo vessel with some tables and benches) up the Volta Lake, hailed as the largest artificial lake in West Africa. We originally decided to go for the awesome views of the Volta, but what we got was SO much more. Highlights included: sleeping on a coveted wooden bench (our other option was to sleep in crates outside on the cargo deck, thank goodness we were first on the boat!); chatting with topless women sitting next to us; having a tremendously obese woman stick her butt in my face all night long (I prayed to God she would not fart!); and locating the one toilet for 70 people that did not flush in a room with the exhaust pipes and choosing dehydration over going to the bathroom! It gets even better. Following this boat ride was an excruciatingly painful 12 hour tro-tro (minibus jampacked with people and stinking fish) ride to our final destination: Hohoe. You want to know the best bit? We did all this to get to a town that would have taken 3 hours to get to by car, all in the name of travel and adventure. Yes, crazy American tourists are we!

The Togolese Border

I am not sure what the media is saying about Togo back at home, but we are definitely feeling the repercussions of events happening over there. We met a British guy who had abandoned his post at a Togolese NGO because things had gotten too dangerous. When we reached Wli falls (the largest waterfall in West Africa), we met a hundred refugees that had crossed the border to seek asylum. We also met a German who told us how the German embassy had shut down and put all the Germans in a refugee camp, and how she had witnessed 15 people get shot and killed in her village. It is absolutely crazy how just beyond this peaceful and beautiful waterfall in Wli lies a hotbed of political turmoil and violence. It is a wonder how Ghana remains so peaceful when its two closest neighbors are war-torn and refugees pour over the borders every day. I am very fortunate to be working in Ghana. Despite the danger across the borders, I feel very safe here, so no need to worry!

Being A Stupid American Tourist, Part II

Oh, how many times can Sue play the role of stupid American tourist in Ghana? Let us count the ways: freaking out when our guide to Wli showed us a colony of bats and took a dead one to feed his dogs; going on a 3 hour hike with no water, no food in my tummy, no bug repellent, no sunblock, wearing white pants and platform shoes; feeling like an utter idiot for flaking out on abseiling down to caves and avoiding the harder part of the hike after seeing women doing it barefoot and carrying loads of cassava on their heads; screaming like a little girl when a grasscutter jumped across the trail path and nearly falling off the edge of the cliff as a result; and going on yet another hike, this time with 2 blisters, thinking that perhaps flip flops would be better than my platform shoes! And yet somehow I felt great!!! I wonder after all this if Sarah still believes I actually went to Harvard, but hey, Harvard grads are known for their utter lack of common sense, so I guess I fit the bill! All the pain and stupidity was worth it; we hiked through lush forests and met very kind villagers which made our stay very pleasant despite the lack of running water and electricity in the village. One of my favorite memories was when I was leaving the village, turning back to the top of the hill to see all the children from the village jumping up and down laughing and waving goodbye to us. What a great way to end a day!

Monkeys, Mangos, and Militia in the Misty Mountains

We ended our trip through the Volta Region with a visit to the Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary where we saw cute little mona monkeys, hiked through Biakpa and the Avatime Range to lodge at the Paradise Mountain Inn, a beautiful secluded lodge set on a mountain top where mist billowed through our surroundings. We picked and ate mangos from the tree, and met some cadets in the Ghanaian army stationed there to navigate the surrounding areas. That was when we realized exactly how remote of a region we were in! Ordering dinner was a 9 hour affair where the host had to bike a few hours to a nearby town to find food supplies. We ended the evening eating in candlelight to the sounds of monkeys and mountain winds. It was so cold we even wanted to start a fire! Imagine, being cold in Africa!!!

Coming Attractions

With the adventure travels out of the way, it is time to relax and soak in some sun to really see how dark I can become! I am currently dog sitting for the deputy ambassador to the United States in the capital, and spent the entire day marveling at the wonders of air-conditioning, hot running water, and a clothes washer! I am in heaven, no more washing clothes by hand and drying them with a hair dryer! We are headed back to Axim for some beach, and then it is back to Cape Coast for the last few weeks of work. The next entries in Ghana will probably be concentrating more on daily life, the friends I’ve made, and general thoughts on development and microfinance programs based on what I’ve seen here. Then it’s off to other parts of the world! À bientôt!

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