Junie's Online Thoughts
Friday, July 25, 2003
Long time. Still havent had the gumption to write about my clouded brain. Maybe next week. Today Im helping Jeremy tie his lose ends so he can mail in his Fulbright forms ASAP and get paid. We're off to Makola to buy a few things, then eat, then cleaning the house. Will write more later....
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Stacy! Happy birthday to you! (Youre getting old!!) :)
Lots of things floating in my head lately, but dont feel like writing it today. Maybe tomorrow. Happy birthday, sis.
Monday, July 21, 2003
We had a good weekend. On Friday, we taxied to Tudu station for a Hohoe trotro. Hohoe is the second largest city in the Volta region (after Ho) and a fine midpoint to several of the area's tourist attractions. Its also remarkably similar to Ho...its by no means a "big" city, but big enough to host a post office, several restaurants and bars, an internet cafe and a bunch of hotels.
When we arrived, we immediately stopped at the market, which sat directly next to the trotro park. This market is much smaller than Accra, and instead of boxes piled with goods along the street, theirs is held in orderly rows within roofed pavillions. Nothing out of the ordinary---garden eggs (small greenish yellow eggplants), tomatoes, okra, yam, beads, household goods, medicinal plants, a few fabrics (mostly from Holland, which is more expensive and less available than the African made brands of ATL or GTP, along with local made tie and dye), and dried foods like rice, beans, groundnuts (peanuts), black-eyed peas and the like. From there we checked out three hotels before settling on the Matvin. The Matvin was one of Hohoe's more expensive hotels (something we caught onto when the taxidriver tried to double our fare midway through the drive), but we actually took a room cheaper than any of the other hotels we'd seen. (62,500 a night--about $7.50--for two beds, self contained bathroom and a fan. Hohoe has only one tv channel--the local GTV--and we didnt feel like paying an extra 60,000 to watch the poor black and white reception.) That night we didnt do much, and I didnt sleep well because the bed was so uncomfortable and I didnt have a sleep sheet as a cover. (Jeremy had the whole thing, until we switched at about 2 am, when he took the bathroom towel I had been using.)
The next day, we took all of our crap and left town to head toward Liati Wote, one of Ghana's ecotourism sites with a Peace Corps participant. Liati Wote also hosts Ghana's tallest mountain, Afadjato (2905 feet) and the really tall Tagbo Falls. We arrived via taxi around 8:30 and left with our guide, Kwaku, to hike the mountain. I tried to prepare Jeremy that it might be hard and dirty and sweaty, knowing how Adaklu (the mountain near Ho) had completely kicked my butt. We started on a path, soon arriving at steeper, rocky steps. All in all, it wasnt that difficult, although in some places the rocks were quite small and slippery, so we had to constantly use our calf muscles to stay balanced (I still get charleyhorses..and its two days later) and periodically stop to catch our breath. (Of course, Kwaku did the whole day's hike in flipflops, without breaking a sweat.) The air felt cool and damp, but the rain held off as we reached the top of the mountain in less than 45 minutes. The brochure claims that from the peak, one can see Togo, the waterfalls and the surrounding villages. On this particular morning, the fog and clouds were covering any such view, although we did catch glimpses of Liati Wote village, where we started from. Still beautiful, though...lush greens, with big plants, unusual little plants, bright green flies, a few butterflies and tall trees. After resting for a bit and chatting with Kwaku, a Togolese man who just came to Liati Wote in January to live with his grandmother and became a guide just two months ago, we began the descent. Like Adaklu, we climbed down faster than coming up, and some steps were more difficult in that direction. I fell once, luckily on a flat, soft wooden step (not like the pointed rock at Adaklu) and didnt hurt myself. As we came down, we met a large party of Ghanaians, trying to climb Afadjato. They were having a tough time of it, making clicking noises and exclaiming how hard it was. I like seeing Ghanaians at these tourist sites, and wonder if they think the same things as we do when they get to the top.
We branched off on another path to head toward the waterfalls. This route lay flat, and lead through a dense forest of palms, banana trees, cocoa, coffee and other vines and plants. We didnt see any animals, and few butterflies, but did hear the constant calls of unseen birds. As we passed a wooden bridge, the sky opened up and the rains fell. Kwaku broke off a large leaf for Jeremy to cover his head (guess I was on my own, as no one gave me a leaf), and we continued in the downpour until we reached the watefalls. Wow. Given the amount of precipitation, immense towers of water fell from above, and they looked like tons of mosquito nets hailing down on us. Behind this stream, smaller waterfalls tumbled over the jagged rocks along the mountainside. On either side of the waterfalls, plants and trees grew in crowded patches, with a papaya tree shooting sideways midway down the waterfalls. In the Volta region, most of the traditional spirits and gods are associated with water (instead of rocks or land) and I can see why. I'd be praising Tagbo Falls if I lived there, too.
Our taxi driver promised to be back by 1 pm, so we started back, soaked to the bone. (I meant to take a photo, but I accidentally brought a full roll of film instead of a blank one...oh well.) As we walked, we asked Kwaku about a leaf we had seen. It was heart shaped, and ranged in size from my palm to the side of my torso. The leaf itself was decorated with splotches of white and pink, looking almost like paint. Kwaku didnt know what it was for, but said the name was Jesus's blood (for the splotches of color, I guess.) The rains tapered off and by the time we reached the welcome center, they had stopped. I changed into dry clothes, we watched the Ghanaian party return and have a picnic (they invited us to eat with them out of cultural courtesy, but I think they just had fufu and some meaty stew), and waited for our taxi.
He showed up an hour late, with three other passengers, and after negotiating a cheaper rate for us (as a chartered taxi, we are supposed to be his only passengers, but he went back to Hohoe for more riders, thus coming back to us late), we all returned to Hohoe. From there, we caught a trotro to Ho. There's this hotel we really like in Ho, with cable tv, a frig in the room, bigger beds, towels and all that stuff. (still only $13 a night). And, little did we know, but the Freedom Hotel now has a swimming pool! Pity we didnt bring our suits. Instead we watched sports tv (track and field) because the movie and music video channels were out due to the rain. When there was nothing on but a bad movie, WWF and golf, we ate our room service and chilled out. The next day, we watched more sports tv (syncronized diving, biking and other tidbits) until we checked out of the hotel.
Three hours later, we arrived in Accra. After unpacking we had supper, then read and crashed into bed.
Jeremy visits the doctor at noon today for his Fulbright examination. Im running errands and buying groceries for supper tonight (groundnut stew--a spicy peanut butter based soup with veggies and rice). Much to do this week---as its the last week with Erin, Terry and NIna....I hate goodbyes!!!!
