Hike to Togo!

The border of Ghana and Togo

Vli Falls 

Village kids in Togo

Grinding the coffee beans

Enjoying the Upper Falls!

I ventured out to the town of Hohoe to see Vli falls, the highest waterfall in Ghana..and ended up in Togo! I woke up early Saturday morning and was on a trotro by 6 am, and didn't get off till about 12:30 pm. It was indeed a very long and bumpy journey. The rough ride was definitely worth the adventure we ended up having. Saturday night Gabby, Alex and I ended up staying at a homestay in the village where the falls were. It got pretty chilly at night and for the first time I was actually cold in Africa. The next morning we woke up to roosters and goats at 6 am and met our guide, Tony who took us on an incredible 10 mile hike. About 5 minutes into the hike, a guy with a machete chopped and perfected walking sticks for each of us. We continued to hike up Osongolo Mountain, the highest peak in Ghana and in Togo. The mountain was not in Ghana, nor in Togo, but in “no mans land.” There wasn't much of a designated trail, at times we were rock climbing, and at times we were bushwacking, and at every glance was a spectacular view..ultimate hikers high, although there were some moments that were a bit scary being so close to the edge of a completely vertical cliff. Crossing a border so freely from one tiny village on a mountain to another was a pretty awesome feeling. This was the best experience so far, the village people were so friendly and welcoming. The kids in the village were adorable, they would follow us around and stare at us with confusion. And they loved getting their pictures taken and then seeing themselves on the camera.  We also met the chief of the village and had a welcoming drink, akpetecie. On the way we passed a group of people grinding up coffee beans along with burning the shells of the beans to make soap. They make an all-purpose soap out of the ashes and palm oil. As we hiked back into Ghana, we stopped at the Upper Falls and swam. The cold water and the mist from the falls was absolutely the best feeling in the world, so refreshing and rewarding.

On the educational side, classes are fully in session. The two classes I'm taking are Poverty & Rural Development, and Cities in Economic Development & Problems with Urban Management. Poverty & rural development is a large class in a huge lecture hall with about 250 students. Planning on sitting front row for this one because the professors are difficult to understand, especially in such a large and echoey room. Before this class actually started, it took about a half hour to get the powerpoint and microphone working, which made me laugh to myself because coming from a technology school, it is the compete opposite in Ghana. I'm slowly learning Twi, but the locals appreciate me trying to communicate the little that I do know.

Today I'm moving out of the hostel and into a homestay for the rest of my time here!

A few mistakes

Supplies for my bucket showers

On Thursday, I had my first day of internship at AFAWI along my first day of waking up at 5 am to see an African sunrise. The morning walk to the first tro-tro station was dark, peaceful, and cool. As much as its a struggle to roll out of bed when its still dark out, it was very enjoyable to see and feel Ghana in a more relaxed setting. Anyways, I wasn't really told exactly what I would be doing at my internship, other than to show up at 8 and then we would be going to the field. I was at the office by 7 (a big surprise for me to be that early) because there was no traffic and the tro-tro switches went more smoothly than expected. Luckily there were kids running around the village excited to see obrunis and roosters chasing each other for good morning entertainment. An hour later, another volunteer showed up and we headed to a near by town hall and met with an NGO, Human Compassion, who are a group of women infected with HIV/AIDS and introduced them to the opportunities of small loans. There were about 50 women there who were all met with individually to talk about their current businesses. It was a bit chaotic because not many of the women spoke English.

Saturday morning a couple friends and I went to Madina Market. It was basically a giant maze of people selling anything and everything, we literally couldn't find our way out. People move very fast in the markets, I was afraid I was going to knock the giant buckets off of everyone's heads. I only bought bananas..and plantains. I bought 2 cedis worth of plantains thinking they were bananas and as I struggled to peel the plantain some guy came up to me and asked what I was doing. He got a good laugh at it and showed me where to get the bananas I wanted and also helped us get on the right tro tro.

Another mistake I made recently was leaving my wallet in a taxi. I was getting out of a taxi to jump on a tro tro and left my wallet behind. About 5 minutes into the trotro drive, I hear a car going crazy with their horn and look to see the taxi driver next to us waving my wallet in the air. So lucky!!

Its week 2 of classes and I've been to one lecture at the Univ of Ghana, Cities in Economic Development & Problems with Urban Management. It was a smaller class, about 30 students ( 5 of us were from the states), so I don't think its the average class setting here. I was told that typical classes get to be about 300+ students. So far it seems like a good class and the professors a bit more humorous than I'm used to.

More fun facts -

13. Its hard to get direct answers

14. People sleep everywhere

15. Ghanians love to honk their horns