Wli

I used to hate hiking. If we were on a family vacation and my parents wanted to go for a hike, they would refer to it as the "h word." I'm glad to say I've grown out of that phase and I learned to love hiking. The smells, the sights, the picnics or ponds at the end. Yesterday, however, my new found affinity for hiking was challenged when we went on a day trip to Wli, a famous waterfall in the Volta Region. The group had hiked to the lower falls before, a very mild walk that leads to a beautiful and powerful waterfall, so they thought it would be nice to try the hike to the upper falls. Try something new.

As soon as we started hiking up, we ran into two girls on their way down. They warned us that it was an hour and a half steep hike up the mountain, that they hadn't even gotten the whole way before quitting and turning back. But we assumed they were exaggerating and didn't listen. We continued hiking up, and pretty much everything that could have gone wrong went  wrong. We ran out of water in the first 30 minutes. Two girls thought they were going to pass out. The group got split up into three or four parts. There was barely a path, and the entire way was either steep uphill climb or dangerous downhill slides. At times we were literally rock climbing. I was just hoping we'd all make it back alive. And the hike really was an hour and a half up.

But then we made it to the falls, and all of our exhaustion melted away. We tore off our sneakers and sprinted into the water. The spray from the waterfalls was so strong I had to get under it by walking backwards, but it cooled us down and prepared us for the climb back down, which went much faster (it didn't hurt that we started some Lion King sing a longs). Getting to the bottom was the most satisfying thing I've done so far here.

It was also Corey's birthday yesterday, so we all went out to dinner to celebrate. While we were eating, two Germans, Fabian and Tobias, approached us, surprised to see so many yevus in one place. They joined us for dinner and we chatted for a while. They're both here for a year doing social work (in Germany you either join the army or do a year of social work), and like many of us they are working or teaching in schools. Their accents were so strong I wondered how Ghanaians could understand their english. Then again, they probably have just as much difficulty understanding my Ewe.

Today was much more chill. Usually our excursions last all weekend, so I've never been here in Ho on a Sunday. It's very peaceful and quiet because most people are at church. I spent the day learning how to do my laundry, which was not as exhausting as the hike yesterday but still made me sweat. Four of the local kids, Mary, Peace, Samson, and David, took it on as their duty to teach me how to wash my clothes. And they were very strict teachers. Whenever I cleaned something and put it in the rinse bucket, they almost always snatched it up and threw it back in the scrub bucket, shouting at me, "not clean! not clean!" Needless to say it took longer than if I had been doing it myself, and I'm still not convinced I didn't leave a layer of soap on everything, but it will certainly be better than before. And luckily I got them off the clothes line before the giant thunderstorm this evening.

Overall a great weekend. Moving on to book number three (finished East of Eden, which I LOVED, and Hunger Games, which I also loved and Jacob you should read it, and just started Water for Elephants), and looking forward to celebrating Sae's birthday tonight with some pineapple, popcorn, and charades.

Love to all!