Well Worth the Wait

I apologize for not posting anything this past week. The internet at the hotel has been on the fritz again. I will try an post a couple more times before my time is up here. There is still so much more to my story that I wish to share. Stay tuned and thank you, everyone for taking the time to read my poorly written and edited blog. 

Saturday May 30, 2015

Marissa was really excited for her burger.

Another amazing day full of adventure! I can’t put into words how much fun today was! We swan under a 300 foot waterfall and fed monkeys! We drove a ton but it was well worth it. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We left at 6am and headed to Wli falls in the Volta region. All of us went except for Annie and Jerry. Even Kofi came! Annie said she was going to the temple with one of the recent converts at church that she met our first week here. And Jerry actually went home today. Yesterday was his last full day in Ghana. He was only here for 2 weeks. It was his birthday yesterday so we went out for dinner. He has been craving western food for 2 weeks! A senior couple that we met at the temple, the Sanders, told us of an amazing burger place called “Burger & Relish.” And boy did it live up to its reparation! Maybe its because we have only been eating chicken and rice for the past month but it was delicious! Probably one of the best, if not the best meal (as far as western food goes) I have had here in Ghana. Jerry was a very happy man. He is very picky with what he eats which I found very interesting that he would choose to come to a country with so much foreign food. He doesn’t eat anything that looks remotely strange, or even any fruit except for apples. Ya I know! What does he eat?! My answer: I don’t know, but he survived his two week trek in Africa. His parents I’m sure are very proud. 

Our classic group selfie. #ghanabegreat

Anyways, we didn’t get to the waterfalls until 12:30-1pm. The drive was long, especially when we had to wait in line for the fairy to cross the river. After we payed the 15 cedi admission fee our guide, Matthew, took us up the 30 minute hike to the waterfall. You don’t need a guide but its just another way for them to make money because they always expect a tip at the end. The waterfall was amazing! the pool was only a few feet deep but standing under the waterfall was incredible! You can definitely feel the power of water when it hits you in the head after falling 300  feet. Out guide told us that we can’t stay under the waterfall for more than 20 minutes because then we run the risk of getting a wicked headache from the constant raining down (pun intended) of what felt like solid water pellets at times. It was so much fun! We got some pretty amazing pictures of all of us. Kofi doesn’t know how to swim so we spent a little time trying to teach him the basics. It’s funny because no matter what age you are you still look like a child when you are learning to swim. He was flailing about trying to keep his head about the water while struggling to execute the concept of kicking haha. He did well though for his first time. It amazes me how many people don’t know how to swim here, I mean they live on the ocean! But then again they don’t have public swimming lessons for children like we did growing up and not everyone goes to the beach here. The stigma of “black people can’t swim” is definitely evident here. 

All of us at the lower Wli falls. 

After a couple hours we had to head back. For some reason Daniel and I decided to run back. It has been a while since I have exercised so it felt good to feel my legs fill up with lactic acid again. What was great about it were the mangos we got for 1 cedi at the bottom. Mmmmm they were so good! The best that I have had here. When the others arrived we left and headed for the monkey sanctuary. 

It was only about 45 minutes away which felt like no time at all compared to the long drive we had in the morning. We payed the 25 cedi admin fee and bought a few dozen bananas (which by the way are SO good! They are the cute little ones that take 3 bites to finish. Mmm!) and headed into “the sanctuary.” It was just a large back yard with a few buildings that people lived in. While our guide was explaining how to feed them one of the monkeys reached down from the tree we were standing under and grabbed the banana right out of his hand. we weren't even in the sanctuary at this point. She was an aggressive one that wasn’t afraid to come close to the entrance. When we got inside there were monkeys popping out of trees, buildings, climbing down ladders, and crawling across telephone lines to come see us. We were instructed to hold the banana firmly out in font of us. The monkeys would climb up onto our arms or shoulders and eat the banana right out of our hands. We didn’t have to peel them or anything. Sometimes there were multiple monkeys on you and all they were focused on was the food. They could hardly care who you were as long as you had food thats all that mattered. After a while the only hungry ones left were the timid monkeys. It was hard to get them to crawl on top of us because they were scared of us. What was hilarious was the reactions of people from the monkey jumping on them. Marissa was the firs to be attacked. She screamed and almost threw the monkey off of her. After that first one she was fine but the pictures are priceless! I loved the monkeys! I wish that some of them weren't so shy and afraid of us, I would have played with them for hours. By this time the sun was beginning to set and we had a long drive home. Luckily I had my laptop and so we ended up watching Enders Game until my laptop died with 15 minutes left in the movie. I guess I should have charged it more before we left, my bad. We got home around 11 and went straight to bed. The end of another successful adventure in Ghana.