THE BEST weekend

I apologize to all of you that freaked out because you didnt hear from me for a while. THe internet cafe server was down last week and i ran out of minutes and then when i bought minutes i was in the mountains with no reception. But i am fine and i will make sure that doesnt happen again. I know that I said last weekend was the best weekend ever but it doesn’t even come close to this weekend. I literally had the best day I have ever had in my entire life. We left early on Friday for a 5 hour trip to the volta region. We arrived in tafi atome where the monkey sanctuary is and were immediately surrounded by monkeys. We stayed the night in a decent hostel there and woke up with only a few new bug bites. Super early in the morning we went on a guided tour to feed the monkeys and take a little hike in the Forrest. The monkeys literally ate out of my hand. They would run up peel the banana and take little pieces. Afterward we had breakfast and headed to mountain paradise lodge. The trip to the lodge was an adventure in itself. We shoved all six of us into one taxi and tried to make it up the hill. It was like the Indiana jones ride in real life. At one point the taxi was stuck in a ditch and we had to get out and walk up the hill. We eventually made it to the top and found the nicest lodge that we have seen yet. It had a semi –flushing toilet, relatively clean beds and actual shower heads that cold water could trickle out of, you cannot understand how excited we were about these. But what really made the place awesome was the view. We had a little porch that looked out on the valley and surrounding mountains. It was spectacular like nothing I have ever seen. We decided not to travel to wli to see the waterfalls because of the experience of driving up there so we decided to go early on Sunday. They had a hike to some waterfalls offered from the hotel so we decided to that instead. We were expecting a hike similar to the morning monkey hike which is much more a walk than a hike but we quickly learned that when they said hike they ment hike. We hiked up on the side of the mountain with no path. At one point Claire asked what happens if we fall, the guide looked back and replied in all seriousness “don’t fall”. Towards the end we descended back down to the base of the waterfall.it was soo steep there were ropes tohelpus out. To get to the waterfall we had to climb down a vertical drop of rocks by hanging on to a rope, like real rock climbing without a harness. Only Claire kate and I were brave enough to attempt it and Julia and sarah stayed behind. The grueling hike was totally worth it in the end! It was a little secluded waterfall that fed into a little pond that ran into a river. No one else was there. When we saw it we knew that we had to swim in it. Visitors swim in it all the time so its relatively safe so kate Claire and I jumped in in our underwear. The most amazing thing ever swimming in the pond beneath the waterfall with the trees hanging over. We stayed there for quite some time but cut it short because Julia and sarah were waiting. By the time we arrived back at the lodge we were all exhausted and starving. We showered with running water and ate lunch! Then we sat on the porch talked/rested as it started raining. This was the most clean and rested I have felt since ive arrived in Ghana. There were not kids or street ppl hassling us just quiet and beautiful mountains covered in green all around. That we had dinner and went to bed in the best bed I have slept in in Ghana. That concludes the best day ever. The next day was not as awesome but still nice. We traveled to wli to see the crazy waterfalls which were nice but not as private and secluded as the lodges.then we began our super long trip home. It took about 6-7 hours on crowded tro tros to get home but we made it.