A weekend never to forget!

This weekend is an experience I will NEVER forget!  Even though we had a blast, I'm exhausted and feel like a train hit me haha!

I have never experienced anything like this weekend in my entire life!

We woke up early Friday morning and headed on a 5 hour bus drive to Wili Waterfalls.  When we finally got there, we hiked about 45 minutes through Beautiful green, lush and trees to get to the waterfall.  It smelt wonderful and I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life!  Pictures do NO justice!

We finally made it to the waterfall.  It was ginormous and gorgeous!  We all hopped in the water and enjoyed every second of it!  After playing in the waterfall, we headed back down the hike and headed to have dinner.  After dinner, we drove another 2 hours back tracking to the monkey village, or monkey sanctuary.

Around 8:30pm we finally arrived to the monkey village.  The villagers had been waiting for us.  They were so excited to play their drums, dance, and sing for us.  For about an hour we danced with them and enjoyed watching their traditions.  This was probably one of the coolest things that I had done!  I danced with villagers and enjoyed listening to them sing, dance, and play their drums!  So cool!  This was really Africa!  By the end of the day, I was exhausted and excited to try to get some sleep!  Hilary, Cameron, and I headed our room.  We opened the door and we all laughed.  This was real Africa!  Grungy room with a grungy bed with a mosquito net around it.  Hahahaha!  We got in bed and tucked ourselves in with the mosquito net so no bugs would get us (there were tons of bugs flying and crawling!).  Hilary and I shared a bed, and twin bed to be exact…. so needless to say it was a little closterphobic under the mosquito net.  The bed was so uncomfortable.  I could feel each board under my back neck and legs.  We all slept with our clothes on so the next day we could just get up, brush our teeth, and head out the door. 

The exact time was 10:10 pm and we were so excited because this was the earliest time we had ever been in bed!  When we shut off our flashlights, it was pitch black.  After laying in bed for about 30 seconds, I knew there was no way in heck we were getting sleep tonight!  It was hot, muggy, moist, sweaty, bugs everywhere, and the boards of the bed were nowhere comfortable.  So we decided to talk about life, we laughed, and had a good time. 

Hilary and I decided we wanted some cookies, so we turned on the flashlight and about peed our pants!  There was a HUGE S spider on the wall!  I had never seen ones so big in my entire life!  It was about as big as a hand!  It was a scary spider, That’s for sure!  We had to kill it!  There was no way I could be in the same room as that spider!  We tried to kill it, but it would run to fast before we could mash it.  It gave me the chills just looking at it.  So we named it.  But before I tell you the name, I hope no one gets offended.  Anyways, we named it “BIG Shit!”  and it gave me the “Jitty Shi@$ies!”  (the symbols are two t’s by the way).  We finally killed it!  Yay!  It seriously was the scariest spider I have ever seen!   As I tried to go to sleep, it was cool to listen to the sounds of the jungle.  It sounds nothing like camping!  There are weird animal and bug sounds that are a lot louder than what we hear in the mountains.  That experience alone was unforgettable!  I can’t even describe the setting we slept in, the smells, the noises, the feeling!  I’m pretty sure I lightly slept for about 2 hours that night.  All the bugs around me gave me the geeber creepers!

That was my Friday night experience.

Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:45am and got ready to feed the monkeys!  Yes I said monkeys!  Our tour guide gave us each a banana.  The monkeys came right over to us.  They jumped right on our arms or shoulders and ate the banana.  It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done!  After we fed the monkeys, we went on a little tour to see other monkeys and different trails in the monkey village.

After walking the trail, a few of us walked around the village to talk to people and see how life was like in Africa.  Most women were busy with their chores and housekeeping and didn’t want to talk at the time.  We met three girls:  Modesa 16 years old, Gifty 16 years old, and Celesting 20 years old.  They were pumping water filling bowls with water for the day.  After they filled each bowl, they carried them on their heads and walked to a bigger bowl, where they then emptied the water to.  I believe they said they each do this about 8 times.  It astonished me!  I tried pumping the water.  If I were to do that for an hour straight in the heat, I’m pretty sure I would fall over dead!  Let alone, I could never carry and balance a bowl full of water on top of my head! 

Celesting also was carrying a baby on her back.  As she pumped water and carried the water, the baby didn’t even move.  It was dead asleep!  I cannot help but look and watch the women in Africa and watch how strong they are!  It’s a hundred degrees outside, they are pumping water, and carrying water back and forth!  And this is only one chore out of the whole day!  I don’t know how they do it!  It astonishes me!  We were told that little girls start balancing and carrying things on their head at the age of 5!

I have never really talked a lot about my feelings, and what I have felt while I have been here in Africa.  I feel like no matter what I say, it does NO justice to what I see!  The first week here was very hard for me!  I imagined Africa in poverty, but I never imagined what I truly have seen!  I feel like every day is not only physically exhausting because we are always on the go, but also mentally and emotionally exhausting!  It literally tears at and breaks my heart when I see how the people live.  The smell, the dirtiness, the garbage, the poverty…. I just wish I could explain in a way that you could understand!

 I have no clue why I am so lucky to have the blessing of living in a free and wonderful country with an AMAZING Mom, Dad, and brother!  Just to have shoes on my feet, shelter over my head, food to eat, a wonderful job, and plus all the luxuries of a car and a good American life, I am so thankful to have what I have!!!  It makes me want to cry just writing this!  I wish you all could see, smell, and feel what I have seen, felt, and smelled here in Ghana, Africa.

One thing that I have thought over and over is that we are all children of God.  Heavenly Father knows me, you, and each African child and person!  He knows them and loves them!  He knows how hard they work!  He knows their struggles physically, financially, and emotionally.  He loves them just like he loves me and you!  Christ suffered and atoned for all of us!  He died for me!  He died for the Ghanaians!  This gospel is true no matter where you are at in the world!  Heavenly father never fails anyone!  He loves us all, he knows every single one of our worries, struggles, and problems in life.  He will always watch over us and bless us!  I am just so thankful for the Amazing family the Lord as blessed me with!  I’m so thankful for the little things back at home that I miss, which are big things here!  I miss warm showers with water pressure, fruits and vegetables, comfy bed, warm blankets to cuddle with, clean water, safety and emissions on cars (I’m pretty sure I’m getting black lung from all the exhaust I breath in when in a taxi haha), a flat iron/curling iron, clean and sanitary health care and hospitals, dry clothes, ice cubes, my mom’s homemade ice cream, and hugs and kisses!

This weekend has really reaffirmed me of all my blessings!  I’m so thankful for EVERYTHING I have, and I now cannot complain about anything because back at home we really have it all plus more!!

The start of our hike to Wili Waterfall.

I'm already to Go!

View from the hike!  So pretty and green!

I love the different trees they have!

This was some kind of centipede thingimajig that was about the size of my foot.

There were a few girls along the trails on the hike and they were gathering bamboo leaves to make brooms.

Another view on the hike.

This is our hike guide man.  He picked this coco off the tree and let us try it.  This is what they make chocolate from.

Here is the coco plant growing on the tree.

Lacey, Heather, and Megan trying the coco... not so great tasting haha.

Trying the coco seed.  It's bitter/sweet.  Definitely does not taste like chocolate.

Mindy and I

We finally made it to Wili Waterfall!  Wahoo! :)

Ashlee and I.

Ashlee and I again

Heather, Lynley, Hilary, Me, Ashlee, Megan, Kathleen, Bailey, and Nikki.

WAHOO!! :)

After we were done with the waterfall, we ate a pretty good dinner!  My favorite part was the sprite! :)

Mindy, Kathleen, Me, and Bailey at dinner.

I get so excited and happy when I can find ice cream to eat!!  It makes my day! :)

A view from the drive on our way to the Monkey Village.

The villagers drumming, singing, and dancing for us.

Just chillin and dancing with the kids haha.

I noticed that most African kids won't smile when you take their picture.

This is me and Elvis.

This younger girl was carrying her baby sister around while dancing. 

This is what we slept under at the Monkey Village.

6:00 am monkey visit! :)

These are called Mona Monkeys.  They were on top of our roof, swinging from trees, and came down to meet us for breakfast... a banana!

Right beforet this picture, the mokey right above my head smacked my neck with its tail.  It scared me at first because I didn't know what it was lol.

Mona Monkey... I think they are kind of cute!  Especially watching them eat bananas.

I just held out the banana and the monkey jumped right onto my shoulder then walked down my arm.  I look silly in the picure, it kind of startled me at first lol.

Enjoying banana breakfast... Ooh Yeah!

This is an ant hill.... GINORMOUS!!  They are all over the place!

Where the villagers live.

Another hut, or where they live.

These are just a few pictures of the village kids that I was able to get.  I love African kids!  So cute!

This little girl was not happy.  If you look close at her legs she is either malnurished or has some disease or problem.  When she cried, we could see moler teeth in her mouth so we know she is an older child.  This makes me sad!

They raise Goats and chickens like dogs and then eat them when they are old enough.

This was my breakfast Saturday morning... hot rice and bread... I couldn't do it... Megan had to eat mine lol.

Starting with this picture... it starts to look pixilated... sorry I don't know why some of them didn't download as well.

This little boy was running around naked.  He was so funny!  Good thing he ran behind a log :)

These are the three girls:  Gifty, Celesting, and Modesa filling their bowls full of clean water for the day. 

Notice that Celesting (in the middle) has a baby wrapped around her.  It's hot outside, she has a baby on her, she's pumping water, and carrying water back and forth... Now that's a strong woman!

The baby was dead asleep the whole time!  She didn't even budge!

And they're off!  They repeat this about eight more times each day! It still astonishes me how they can balance a bowl full of water without spilling any!  The women are amazing!

That was my Amazing weekend!  Hope you enjoyed the pictures! :)

Love and miss you all so much!!