Some gross stuff about Ghana, but also pretty nature adventures!

I haven't updated in way too long, which means it's time for another multiple update day! First, our thrilling trip to the Volta Region! About a month ago, we took a trotro for about 5 hours to get to Hohoe, a main city in the Volta Region (northeast of Greater Accra Region, where we live).

There we experienced the grossest bathrooms we have come across in Ghana thus far. So, the really scariest part of traveling isn't not knowing how to get to a place, nor is it not knowing exactly where you'll be sleeping. It is not knowing where you'll use the bathroom. Hohoe (and most market areas, really) is a perfect example of why this is so frightening. Of course, there are no shops or restaurants with bathrooms; you need to find the one for the whole market. We saw a sign that said 10p for toilets and urinals and went for it. After paying my 10 pesewas, I was asked by the guy if I needed a urinal or a toilet. Thinking, 'Well, I'm a girl, so...' I said toilet. The guy ripped off a piece of newspaper for me and sent me on my way. Lianne had gone before me and when I caught up with her, we enjoyed having another person to share our horror with. "Toilet" meant a long room, divided into several doorless stalls. There was a path to walk down the room and choose your stall. Once you made your selection, you could put your feet on the wooden foot-shaped steps and poo into the hole. The hole was not deep. There was no water or anything to dilute the hole, other than my small piece of newspaper. There were many, many flies in the hole. The people who had pooed in the hole before us had not had exceptional aim. It was a hot day, so the combination of about 12 such holes on my nose was overwhelming.

Stepping fearlessly into this structure, I put my newspaper to my nose and stared at the hole on the end of the row. I tentatively put a foot on the footstep. I tried to figure out how to pull down my pants without removing my newspaper from my nose. Then I decided I didn't have to pee that bad and ran away. There was good news though! When we met up with Matt, Bobby, and Marianne, we discovered that toilets were exclusively for pooing and, since we wanted to pee, we could use the luxurious (by comparison) urinals.

Here's a great picture of Matt in the men's urinal.

Here's our lady urinal. It didn't smell (much) and there was even a nice little wooden door that covered most of the doorway. It was lovely.

After that experience, we were able to move on to the really thrilling nature weekend we had planned! First, we went to Wli waterfalls, which are the falls in Ghana with the biggest drop (you can still stand underneath them, though, unlike the raging water at Boti Falls).

Matt and I pose with our Louise shirts (Louise is this really aggressive saleswoman who makes dinners and pastries and sells them outside our hostel. She has shirts with her face that say "Tantilizing... Tell Your Friends!")

When we got to the visitor's center, they hooked us up with a guide to take us on the 45 minute walk. Mostly, that consisted of him pointing out interesting trees and telling us when to make sure we jump over the fire ants.

We also crossed lotsa little bridges.

Then, there we were!!

After we saw the falls, we hung out a bit with the numerous baby goats that frolic all over the Volta Region, then went to stay at the Monkey Sanctuary.

So the Tafe Atome Monkey Sanctuary is possibly the best attraction type thing I've done in Ghana. We showed up kinda late (6:30 or so, but since the sun had set and the power was out, it might as well have been midnight), but they were really hospitable and got us a room, showed us the bathroom, and let us know that dinner would be served at 7:30. Our room included the beds (with mosquito nets, but, sadly, no fans), dinner, breakfast the next morning, a tour of the sanctuary, and feeding the monkeys. It was 20 cedi, which was most excellent. After our delicious rice and shito (spicy-ish-, fishy-ish, tomato-y sauce that is usually not very good, but here was yummy), we went to bed super early. Unfortunately, we did not sleep very well because it was crazy hot. We were glad when it was 6 AM and time for us to go feed the monkeys!

After that, our guide took us around the forest and told us about the history of the sanctuary. All the money we had paid goes back into the community, which was great, and he was really informative, friendly, and didn't ask for a tip, which is pretty rare in Ghana.

Here's the community our 20 cedis helped :) They were really, really friendly, since they make such a reliable living with the monkey tourists.

Here's us eating breakfast at the nice monkey place!

So THEN we got to ride motortaxis to get back to Hohoe, where we got a really nice cab driver to take us to Mount Afajado.

You don't wear seatbelts in Ghana, why would you wear helmets? (I'm not angry, I'm trying to look hardcore.)

Finally, time to climb the (allegedly) tallest mountain in Ghana.

Off we go!

Here it is!

Okay, so it was WAY steeper than any of us expected and it was super exhausting. Plus it was Africa, so we sweat more than ever before. But we did make it to the top!

Tada! Our reward.

We are so proud of ourselves!

So, for a final picture, I want to show you this really gross thing that happens here. So, the roads are all dirt and you get it all over your body and clothes everyday, all the time. So when you sweat a lot, the dirt migrates on your sweat to body joints, like knees and elbows. It's icky, but happens to me like 3 or 4 times a week (usually after dance class). Yuck :)

The end!