Last week, I took the week off from my usual placement at McColin's prep school to go teach in Saviefe Deme. On one of the days, there was no school so our group got to instead trek into the backwoods of Saviefe through the narrow pathways along the kasava, plantain, and cocoa fields. After crossing a stream and walking for a good half hour, we reached our first stop: an akpeteshie distillery. It consisted of a small hut beside two huge barrels of palm wine, which were emptied through a tube into the tank under the hut. Somehow, magically, this palm wine is then distilled into akpeteshie, its more alcoholic cousin. That stuff burns. Anyways, we had some fresh palm wine at this stop. After, we looked inside the two palm wine filled barrels and saw they were coated with a layer of bees that are irresistibly attracted to the sweet wine. I'm glad we drank the wine first and saw where it came from afterwards. Then we were on our way deeper into the backwoods, crossing the stream again at a different place. Eventually we got to the area where the palm trees are actually cut down to make the palm wine. The process of making palm wine involves various sharp tools, fire, what look like wooden reeds, and other things. I still don't know how they do it but essentially the tree is uprooted, laid on its side, and a square is cut into the trunk. A hole is bored through from the bottom of the square through to the bucket underneath for the wine to collect. Then the bundle of reeds is smoked in the fire, and shoved into the square in the tree. Then the wine-makers take hollow reeds and blow into the square, producing more and more smoke. Then they say the magic words and the wine drains out of the tree into the bucket. We were lucky enough to get to try the wine right out of the tree, and boy was it good. Eh vivi, as they'd say here. So. THAT was cool.
A couple weeks ago we went to Wli (pronounced Vlee) and climbed a mountain to the first waterfalls I'd ever seen in real life. Wowzers, who knew they were so amazing. After hiking for an hour and a half, we finally reached the falls. I couldn't believe how windy it was even 200 feet away from the falls. As soon as I could get my backpack off, I was into the pool of water making my way towards the falls. As we got closer to the rocks, I could barely see cause the wind and water was constantly in my eyes. Once we got to the rocks, completely drenched already, it was a challenge to not slip under the weight of the water pelting down on you. But I've never experienced anything even close to the feeling of sitting under a waterfall. The natural power of it is astounding. What a crazy time. Definitely one of the best experiences thus far in Ghana.
Walking down the busy streets of Ho everyday is something else. Street vendors pass every minute carrying food on their heads, or women along the road invite you to buy mangoes and pineapples. But there's always many unfamiliar foods you come across, and today I seized the opportunity to finally try some of them. There are these little things that look like balls of gingersnap cookie dough, and today I decided to get a couple. I was pleasantly surprised to taste groundnuts (peanuts), ginger, and some other spices. They were interesting and exciting in such a good way. I can't wait to get more adventurous over the next week and a half and try whatever else I dare to.
Until next time,
Brittany
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