Three weeks ago I traveled to the Eastern Region to
celebrate the Paragliding Festival in Nkawkaw. The Festival is sponsored by the
government of Ghana in an effort to promote a form of modern tourism in the
Eastern region. Ghana brings in a set of professional paragliders mostly from
the United States but also from elsewhere to raise money for the community of
Nkawkaw. It was by far the highlight of my stay in Ghana. Seven of us American
girls made it to Nkawkaw in record time (around 4 hours) due to the sweet
talking of our two Ghanaian guy friends (both named Michael) that tagged along.
Our entire trip unfolded perfectly. When we arrived at the launching site there
was already a nice sized crowd forming to jump. However, their paperwork had
not been filled out. After the opening ceremony, in which there was drumming,
dancing, and a visit from the chief, paperwork was distributed. While the rest
of the obrunis and Ghanaians opted to sit in the shade, our group sat in the
hot sun, strategically placed next to the organizers. By making friends with the
Ghanaian ladies that ordered the paperwork, we managed to find ourselves as the
second group set to fly. We all
got a little nervous when a Ghanaian army troop practiced scaling down the
mountain in preparation for any accidents. When the pilots arrived we all breathed a
huge sigh of relief- the group looked
professional and confident. The first couple launches were shaky- the wind was
strong and there were trees on both sides of the runway so if the wind pushed
you too much one direction you were in trouble. After around 11 people went,
our group was up. I watched as all of my friend’s paraglided until I was the
lone wolf left on the top. It had been a joke the whole time that we wanted the
strongest men to be our pilots. Well, I ended up with the lone girl who was
half my size with pigtails. She helped me into my harness and talked me through
the takeoff. Basically, you walk at a fast pace down a steep hill until the
parachute is above your head, then you take off running until it catches the
wind and you tuck your legs up. Whereas my friend before me had a failed
takeoff and had to restart, mine went perfectly fine. Once in the air, I was
surprised to find that it was completely peaceful. The world was silent except
for the wind blowing past and we swerved by lush cliff banks and circled around
Nkawkaw below. Around ten minutes into my flight the clouds started getting
really dark and I felt some raindrops on my leg. My pilot explained that we had
to get down quick before the weather turned on us. We proceeded to do the
coolest dive bomb circles so we could touch down quickly. Surprisingly, when
you land all you do is merely stand up. Once on the ground, we unbuckled and my
pilot got a radio to tell the mountain to stop launching people. I ended up
being the final tandem pilot of the day. Only one more solo pilot launched
after me and my pilot knew he was in trouble. The wind blew him off course and
she left me with a bunch of other pilots in a mad pursuit of him and his
paraglide. I did not hear anything about it until I read a newspaper in Accra
the next day that said “paraglider crash lands in forest.” The good news is he
was okay. Only twenty people got to paraglide that day and we were extremely
fortunate that all of us had the opportunity. The rest of the weekend was
gloomy so only another hundred people got to paraglide whereas hundreds more
were let down. I was so inspired by my experience that I have also come to the
decision that I will one day get my paragliding license.
The
day after paragliding I went mountain biking in Aburi with Brittany and Mariel.
Don’t ask me why but I had this image of a leisurely ride through beautiful
scenery. In actuality it felt like Le Tour de France but at least I got the
scenery. We rented our bikes from this shop that was formerly owned by a Swiss
guy but is now run by a friendly Ghanaian man. We paid a cheap price for bikes
and a tour guide who led us on our exhausting ride. The hardest part for me was
adjusting from the cruiser bike I ride in Santa Barbara to a mountain bike- two
completely different bikes. Our guide led us on a dirt road through the
countryside where he pointed out all the wild agricultural foods- plantain,
banana, lemon- and then he took us through a village where we met the chief. I
was tired all through this but we had not even started yet. After biking
through the village we hit a steep decline that was so rocky I was bouncing
around and could not control myself. But somehow I did not fall. When it got
too steep we parked our bikes in some bushes and hiked the rest of the way down
to the waterfall. The hike was definitely the most gorgeous scenery I have seen
in Ghana. We were ducking our heads through the lush green plants but every now
and again, we would break through the thick shrubbery to a viewpoint of rolling
green hills and massive trees. The best part was that nobody was around, just
us and mother nature. The waterfall was incredible- hidden in all the greenery
with multiple pools. My legs were so shaky that I had to sit down for the first
hour as everyone else played around. On our way out, we saw a huge snakeskin
that reminded me that we might not be as alone as I previously thought. If I
thought hiking down the mountain was hard, hiking up was 10X more difficult.
The most irritating part was that our Ghanaian guide was not tired at all- I
felt like an out of shape American. After unlatching our bikes, I decided to
walk up the hill to a leveled out area. The next hour was pure torture. My legs
burned so bad and I felt nauseous with exhaustion (remember it is incredibly
hot in Ghana). Somehow, I managed to bike up a huge hill but it took up the
last of my energy. I was beyond happy to make it back to the shop and when we
walked in to the store, they had a fresh pineapple cut up for us…pure heaven. I
definitely know that mountain biking is not the sport for me now.
The
next weekend I traveled to the Western Region with my friends Zoe, Mariel, and
Brittany. We left at the crack of dawn to make the 7 hour journey to the Green
Turtle Lodge. The Lodge is popular amongst international students for its
promotion of protecting the environment as well as the beautiful location. I
was surprised to discover that the Green Turtle Lodge is located on a
completely remote beach where there are no buildings of any kind. It only cost
us 5 cedi (around 3 dollars) to sleep in a tent for the night. I guess I paid
the rest by receiving 25 mosquito bites...on one leg. The next day we went to
Busua Beach to check out the famous location of the Black Star Surf Shop. Busua
is more of a “party” beach where there are many more foreigners and Rastafarians.
The beach is particularly famous as one of the only surf spots in Ghana. Whereas
the rest of crew headed home for classes on Monday, Zoe and I decided to stay
one more night at the Alaskan Beach Resort. We ate our first burritos in months
at a restaurant along the beach- even though the burrito only had jollof rice,
avocado, and some tomatoes, it was heavenly. We spent the rest of our day
lounging on the beach before cleaning up and heading to a French restaurant
where we ate a banana split. We walked on the main street of the town and
interacted with some locals before heading back to our room. Considering it was
a Sunday night, nobody was around so we stole some plastic chairs and went out
to the water’s edge where we stargazed and chatted late into the night. The
next morning we awoke at 5AM to the lovely sounds of preachers with megaphones…honestly
nothing new. I was exhausted when we caught our final tro-tro back to Accra and
as is common in Ghana, we had a preacher chanting at us for the first two
hours. We made it back to Legon just in time for my 5PM class which
ended up being cancelled since my teacher decided to go on vacation to Europe.
Saturday
was the biggest event of the year for my radio station called Legon’s Heartbeat
Reloaded. The morning started off with a sports competition. Even though I begged
my boss to tell me the “real” time for the volleyball game instead of the
Ghanaian time, I still ended up being two hours early. Our rag-tag radio
station team got annihilated by the Sports Directorate (the Athletic Department
at the University). That seemed to be the theme for everything else too…the
soccer, Azunto competition, sprint race, egg balance, and swimming race. We lost
every event. BUT the most awesome Sports Director ever, a cute 85 year old
grandpa, gave Radio Univers the trophy because we show how “sports are to have
fun, and not to win.” Later that night our station held a huge concert at the
poolside that hosted big-named stars from Ghana. I definitely got the most
attention I have almost ever experienced in Ghana since I was the only obruni
but my staff was very protective and made sure that everyone knew I was one of
them. Although the concert itself was a blast, the cleanup was even more fun.
We got fed Ghanaian food and got an extra hour of music and dance. I really
enjoyed this event because I got to see my coworker’s personalities outside of
work and see them cut loose. The next morning my coworker George announced on
the radio that I got an 8 out of 10 for my volleyball skills…not bad for the
only girl on the court! I have a feeling he was only trying to be nice though.
Today
I was informed that I was nominated for the University of Ghana’s Community
Excellence Awards as the Most Proactive International Student.
In
1 month exactly, I will be boarding a plane back to the United States. It is
truly crazy how fast 9 months can fly by. But for the next 30 days I hope to
just keep THE GOOD TIMES ROLLING.
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