Play Boys AND Girls

Two more albums. One is here. The other is here.

And I think I left off arriving in Hohoe, a small and beautiful town in the Volta Region.

Things I remember of this town:
-Amazing kebabs
-A bar with more character than most in the north
-A guy who liked Bush because he is "fighting the Muslims", who he described as "wicked people"
-A guy trying to sell me a red winter hat with a poofball by saying that it is a "chief's hat"
-A shop labeled "The Lord Will Provide Ent."...For a long time I thought "ent." stood for entertainment, which is a lot funnier than enterprise in this context
-An amazing view of green hills, an old church and an expanse of corrugated metal roofs.

The next morning we went to some caves nearby. There are quite a few attractions nearby, including some ginormous waterfall, but apparently the entrance fee is pretty steep at nearly $10. So we decided to go to a village called Likpe Todome where they've got some caves.

We took a tro-tro to the village, which dropped us off exactly where we were supposed to be. We had thought we would have to walk the last couple km, but nope!

There was a little wooden building (an old church apparently) that housed their tourist office. We waited around until word traveled through the village that the white people were here for a tour, and the guide, "Boss" came to assist us. It dawned on me that this was the first actual tourist attraction I had been to in Ghana, unless you count Kintampo Falls.

Boss told us that his Christian name was "Boneyface".

He was pretty old, probably in his late 50's, but of course very strong and a great guide. We walked at a steady pace (he kept telling us that he can go slower if we needed to...giving us the impression that he has guided some pretty weak people in the past) for about an hour up into the hills. We got a great view of the village down below and a vast stretch of green jungle surrounding it.

We arrived at a quaint little cleared out green area on the top of the hill that serves as a place for celebrations in the community. There was a swing hooked up to a tree that Boss swung us around on for a bit as we rested. We then headed down a steep slope toward the caves. Boss insisted that these are the best caves in the world. I have been to many caves and always am amazed. These were...not amazing, though the tour as a whole was really great.

The caves were small, and were just like pock marks in the side of a mountain. There were 6 of them, and they all had some sort of interesting historical significance to them. During the time that the Ashantis were going around Ghana and West Africa to capture slaves to sell to the white men (or use themselves) the village of Likpe Todome (meaning under the mountain) had to find a way to escape. They hid up in the caves whenever invaders were threatening. From the "lookout cave" you could see for miles, though it would have been impossible for anybody below to see any of the caves. Each cave served a different purpose for the people in hiding and the caves basically saved the village. Boss was exceptionally informative and, after 27 years of leading tours to the caves, still excited about them.

After the caves, we continued to descend rapidly down the side of the mountain until it was back to the muggy jungle. There was wild cocoa trees and avocado growing. Boss led us to a great waterfall with a small, shallow pool. There was not a lot of water coming down it though, and it didn't so much "fall" as it did pour down an 88 degree slope. To get the full refreshing effect, we had to push our bodies up against the rock and let the water run over us. Good enough for me though!

Boss had gone ahead of us on the way back to get an avocado. As we got closer to him, he started yelling at me to hurry, and something about ants. I was like, yeah, yeah, Boss, I'm coming, ok. Then he started to get more urgent and telling me to run because of "Driver Ants". That was about the time that I felt an intense stinging on my hand. I looked down and saw a huge black ant wriggling its body, its head pressing hard against my skin. Then I felt it on my feet. On my leg. I tore off my shoe to find a few more of these ants on me. I was under attack and Boss kept telling me to run. I didn't know what to do but these things hurt like hell. I would run for a few feet, then stop, forced to flick more of these things off my body since they had a crippling stinging effect.

I finally ran far enough (like 30 yards) to not be in the lair of these evil ants and Boss helped me get them off. He said, "they climb up into your uniform so fast, they will be all over your body!" This is one more reason that the jungle can be described as "green hell". Seriously, this felt like something out of Jumanji. The ants were ruthless. Lise got one bite.

Boss said that some tribes used to use "juju" to control the ants against their enemies. When opposing forces would try to invade, they would be attacked by the driver ants and immediately drop their weapons and run. I can totally understand this.

When we got back to town after the 4 hour hike, we decided we had earned a beer, so we asked Boss to show us where the "spot" was. I think there was only one in town, so we went there and treated him to a beer. I ate the rice that I had brought and Lise got some banku from across the street. At the bar there was a ridiculous poster for a locally made liqueur that looked like it was
supposed to be pretty high class. It was called "Playboy's" and it had a picture of a kind of well-dressed young guy sitting on a couch with too girls. When we commented on the poster, Boss pointed out there is something wrong with it and that he is going to write a letter to the company. "You see," he said,"if you look at the poster it is not just boys. They should change the name to Play Boys and Girls." We decided it would be better if we agreed with his point, and encouraged him to write the letter.