I can hardly believe I’ve been here for three weeks, I expected it to go by quickly, but this seems absurd. Leaving in 2.5 weeks! While I’m looking forward to such comforts as a reliable car, internet, AC, etc, I’m in no way ready to go back. Then again, I’m never really ready to go home. If it were up to me and money wasn’t a factor I’m pretty sure I’d become a professional nomad. Going home is always hard, in part because I never feel that calm in the US, and even through all of the hectic ventures I feel more comfortable here than in LA. And it’s not just Ghana, it seems to be anywhere that isn’t “here,” traveling is very much my greatest passion.But also, I know I’ll adjust back to “life as usual”-and I hate that. I hate when I get caught up in ridiculous things that don’t matter, when months slip by, but nothing has happened.
Category Archives: Ghana
A Strange Day
The sky was strange this morning. Directly above, clear skies. Yet ominous clouds threatening rain circumscribed the brilliant blue above me. The air was unusually stagnant, the soft omnipresent breeze that normally provides relief to the staggering heat-humidity was gone. Even when I woke this morning, something felt off, yet I couldn’t place what. I wandered the 50 meters from the guesthouse to main farm office. The normal murmur of activity was missing, aside from muffled sounds of sheep running through the fields; hardly anyone seemed to be around. I sat on the bench in front of the main office waiting for the trotro to arrive, watching ants meander back and forth on the pavement in front of me. The trotro, which arrives every hour, appeared in the distance, but it wasn’t slowing down. The driver stuck out his hand waving back and forth, signaling it was full, I would have to wait. I slid back into my seat, ready to wait out yet another hour when a car pulled up with someone who worked on the farm offering to take me to the next junction, where I could grab a trotro to Madina station, and then onto the University. His timing was perfect, relieved, we set off.
The Westerners
Alex and I sit awkwardly next to two Americans as they yell at our cab driver at the Wli National Park. From Hohoe we had found a share cab to the falls and picked up two others who happened to be from the US. The ride was filled with pleasant conversation, the usual “where are you from, why are you here.” When we arrived however, the mood dampened. The driver had told us 1 cedi a person, but when we got out, he said he actually ment 2. As in 2/person, not 2 for both. We all assumed he was trying to rip us off. After all, this happens an unfortunate amount. He came inside the guide office where our fellow cab-mates continued a yelling match. It became quite clear the problem had been language, we paid, thinking it was settled. But the other girls wouldn’t have it, out of principle, they claimed. And I have sympathy for them, I too am a bit jaded from the constant mark up for westerners, which is the norm in all developing countries. Then a woman in the office uses the argument we’ve heard before, in Peru when a tour guide almost tricked us out of $40: “You’re rich, it’s nothing to you.” Of course, this set one of the girls off, who throws her hands in the air and exclaims “fuck this country, I can’t wait to go home.” Though she did eventually pay. And the temper didn’t end, on the tricky route down, she slipped on some loose rocks-most people do, we were lucky not to have fallen, and as she hits the ground in a controlled fall, its clear she’s done. She screams more profanities about the country and lack of tourism infrastructure and cries. All of the emotions of the day, fueled by physical exhaustion, I feel for her. But I have to say, this is a bit dramatic. As we leave the park, we tip our guide well, certainly, he deserved it.
Wli Falls and Aburi Garden.
Wli Falls
The guide-book says, in reference to Wli falls that the trail leading to the lower falls is easy, with the upper being a bit more “arduous.” I wonder, desperately, how this description is adequate.
Colliding With The Earth 