7 March 2017

Hiking in near a hundred degree weather is an experience… especially when you’re walking uphill through a jungle with seven suspension bridges as your destination. Alas, I soldiered on and climbed that mountain and conquered those bridges. It was probably the coolest thing that I’ve ever done. The whole experience was made even better as the entirety of Kakum National Park was full of students on field trips. Today was a school holiday apparently, and we the lone tourists, didn’t seem to grasp what a holiday meant. It was crowded!

Other than the breathtaking views, and the terrified shrieks of my friend Mercedes (who is massively afraid of heights and has been renamed Scared Woman by the girl we’re staying with, Vic), my favorite part of the day was when a tiny class of elementary schoolers came up to us and asked for pictures. We hung out with them for probably ten minutes and took pictures individually with each of the girls. We even took a full group selfie with the girls and their teacher. Ugh, they were so sweet and so so adorable.

We also went shopping today which was magical. My wallet full of newly exchanged Ghanaian money was burning a hole in my pocket. I got sooooo much stuff and negotiated some killer deals (shout out to Katie for being a total animal and negotiating a guy down from 120 cede to 60 cede). My favorite buys of the day had to be these tiny stuffed elephants made of bright boutique fabric (I believe it’s called boutique at least, I vaguely remember Kwesi calling the handmade fabric that) that could be cuddled with or propped on a shelf. They were so cute that I had to buy two. Oh and we’re going to the market  again tomorrow!! But this time, for fabric, not trinkets. We’re getting dresses custom made by Sister Sarah.

Much love,

Rachel