Quote of the day: "We don’t experience the world fully unless we are willing to give everything away"
—Pema Chodron
While the majority of our volunteer group ventured down to the coast, Sarah and I decided to go north. Our morning began at 7 o‘clock with breakfast, after which we met our very pleasant taxi driver Richard. We left shortly before 8, driving north through Akimpoku to the bridge over the Volta. The street vendors were busy this morning, more so than on our previous drive on Tuesday. Dozens of women carrying everything from loaves of bread to kabobs of oysters balanced on their heads rushed up to the taxi to try to sell their inventory. After we crossed the river, we again turned northward, through stretches of lush vegetation punctuated by colorful villages and towns. Some of the larger towns sported elaborate stores carrying garden wares and plastic molded chairs, while others specialized in coffins. Interestingly enough, the town selling the largest variety of coffins also happened to be the one with the hospital right off the main road. It being Saturday, the traditional day for funerals, we saw many more people, young and old, in beautiful traditional dress. We traveled a little more than 2 hours to our first destination, Tagbo falls. Initially, I was confident that we could do both the mountain hike and the hike to the falls, each being about 45 minutes to an hour each way, as the people at the welcome center assured us. As we started out with our guide Daniel, a very pleasant 12 year old boy, it became apparent that the mountain hike and the falls hikes were in two different directions, and likely to take much longer. So we opted for the falls. Daniel pointed out cocoa tress with fruits of varying levels of ripeness, coffee plants, banana and plantain trees (plantain trees have longer leaves), and farmers making charcoal. It was hard, though, to keep one eye on the trail to avoid gnarly roots and the other eye on the flora. As we made our way up the trail, the vegetation became more lush, the air more close, and the sound of rushing water louder. Suddenly the trail opened up, and the temperature plummeted much to our relief, as the thunderous waterfall created a strong breeze and a thick mist. Just gorgeous. After taking lots of photos, and resting for a bit, we headed back down the trail, the return trip seemingly shorter than the first half. After an almost 3 hour hike, we were happy to sit under a large tree and eat the jollof rice the cook had sent with us.
We resumed our trip, heading toward the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. When we arrived, we joined a woman from the UK on a short drive to the trail head, and a short hike to where the monkeys tend to hang out. There, our guide called the monkeys, with small bananas as offering. Soon there were a many small mona monkeys clamoring for our bananas. We were told to hold the bananas tightly, as each monkey would try to snatch the entire thing. These small monkeys, with their sharp eyes, wizened faces, and soft, almost human hands, seemed more afraid of each other stealing a piece of banana than they were of us. In fact, as we headed back to the welcome sanctuary, the monkeys followed along. On our way back, the guide pointed out the improvements to the village made possible by the collection of the entrance fee, including a clinic, primary and junior high schools, and the introduction of electricity to the village.
Richard, our driver, graciously agreed to take us to one more stop before returning to New Akrade. I had noticed in the guidebook that we were very close to Tafi Abuipe, a major kente-weaving center, so we headed there. There, our guide, whose family has been weaving center for generations, took our entrance fee and a small fee to take photographs. We entered a large pavilion, where several weavers worked on traditional looms set up with yards and yards of brightly colored cotton thread. Their fingers worked the shuttles and the thread while their feet worked the pedals with amazing speed. We chose some cloths and purses of both traditional and more modern designs for gifts for some of the people at home. At that point, we decided that it was wise to head back. Once again, we passed through bustling towns, this time as people headed home from the festivities.
Upon our arrival, we had a simple supper of macaroni and vegetables, and settled in for a relaxing evening.
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