Waterfalls

So one of the last big places that I had yet to visit in Ghana was Wly Waterfalls and so last weekend with eight other volunteers i finally got around to travelling there. It was quite the experience and for someone as resoundigly unfit as me, quite the challenge. Like many places in Ghana the journey there and back was as amusing and troublesome as the actual place. After a six hour tro-tro ride, a punctured tire, a brief road stop where we witnessed a baby goats death by speeding vehicle we arrived in Ho Hoi in the dark (if thats the correct spelling it'll be amazing). From there we had an hour long journey in a taxi. One of the most excruciating processes in Ghana is arguing the price down with a taxi driver and as there were seven of us we needed two taxis, or so we thought. The first few taxis claimed no less than 20 cedi for a ride there, a ludicrous price in Ghana. We wandered around for a while in search of the tro tro station, unwilling to pay that much for a taxi, when a particulalry persistent taxi driver approached us with the offer of 2 cedi per person. Although, this was a much better price we were confronted with the predicament of seven people one taxi. The taxi driver was keen for us and determined that we would all fit, which we did but not comfortably. Two guys were smooshed in the front with five of us in the back, crammed in tightly and semi hanging out the windows. The road was potholed and barely driveable and as the driver overcame each pothole their were woops from us passengers and relief. At some points it was questionable as to whether we would make it but finally we got there.

The rooms were perfect. The best I've had in Ghana so far. We had to wait for a few more people to arrive so we sat down to have dinner and drinks. Drinks turned into drinking games which were fun but by no means a good idea the night before climbing a steep, rocky mountain. One guy, got very ill that night- not from the drinks, and was exploding from both ends and was in such a miserable state he missed the adventure of climbing the mountain. The walk uphill was physically taxing and my lungs were heaving with the effort to draw in oxygen. I was so far behind everybody else but eventually I made it. At the top it was beautiful but the water was everywhere and the pressure was intense in your face. Going back down the mountain was dangerous and daunting as it was slippery, rocky and the path was only semi-definable as a path. I fell several times, luckily and much to my relief not off of the mountain. I emerged after the trip with a great many cuts but in one piece and was quite proud that I had made it, with my complete and utter lack of fitness.