Day 2 - 12 April 2010

My love for waking up before 7AM, being on a bus for long periods of time, and sweating from every pore I can find [including my knees] were all satisfied - Thank you Ghana. I got up at 617AM, went to breakfast [pancakes, not French toast], grabbed my counterpart [Carson], and headed to where the bus would be if it was there on time. We got in about 713AM and headed out for our drive that we were told would take 4 or 5 or 6 hours. It really only took us about four hours, but it was still a very long, bumpy, 4 hours. We stopped for a quick bathroom break, and then took our drive to the Wli Waterfall.

We made it there around 11, ate lunch on the bus real fast [literally real fast because it was a small wrap and half a muffin], and then made our way towards the bathroom before our hike to the falls. Here is the problem with bathrooms in Ghana - they are outdoors, fine - they are dug into the ground and full off bees, not fine. Busting a squat over a pile of bees was not an attractive option to me so instead Carson stood guard while quickly I took care of business while being watched awkwardly by a chicken. I was thankful for the bathroom break we had earlier where there were no lights but there was a toilet complete with real toilet paper and a sink!

Our hike took 45 minutes and we crossed 9 small bridges then we got to the falls, which are the largest waterfalls in West Africa. There were bees, butterflies, bats, and fish eggs all over the place - it was very cool. The waterfall was beautiful and I played photographer while Carson swam and jumped off of some rocks because I didn't have on my swimsuit. I was fine behind my camera because it was so nice to just sit on a rock and watch the water do its thing and pound on the people below. Eventually we had to leave, so we took the hike back to the bus, got on and took another hour or so to get to the Mona Monkey area.

Again, once we got to monkey land, we unloaded from the bus and split into two groups. Our group went first and we were each given a banana and told to hold onto it tight because the monkeys did not have manners or patience. I took my little banana, held it out and it was quickly peeled and torn in half by one of the little monkeys. Another one came and grabbed the rest of it, but lingered a little longer so that I got to watch him eat. That didn't last long as monkeys and bananas tend to go quickly when in the same place - so we walked back towards the bus through the goats and kids. I am still amazed at the amount of goats in this country, and how all of them can be so cute. What's with all the goats?! They eat the goats, and I am aware of that, but there is still an uncanny amount of goats just doing whatever they want all day anywhere they please.

From there it was another 4 hours back to the ship, but this time we had some plantain chips to snack on. I continued hoping to fall asleep while Carson typed her blog but I knew that resistance was futile. The bus ride was extremely bumpy and there was no way Simone was going to be falling asleep on it so I just began pondering the rest of my life and what I want to do for my birthday, etc. I have not made much progress on either subject, but I have made it back to the ship and taken a much needed shower since my back was about as wet as the falls by the time we were done with the monkeys.