Alright so I guess I didn’t quite finish with my brother’s visit. We also had our trip to Ho. Unfortunately we didn’t have a camera during our first night on the town, so you won’t see any pictures from Jake’s attempts to find me some romance. We did meet some girls from the UK/Ireland that were volunteering in Cape Coast, and it was great chatting with them. Jake was beyond disgusted when I didn’t ask for anyone’s number.
The next day we had big plans to climb Mt. Adaklu. It’s this big sperm-whale looking mountain South of Ho, rising gradually on the eastern side, plateauing, and finally dropping off with cliffs on the west. It really does look like a whale coming out of water if you get the angle right, because the surrounding area is just so flat.
We knew we had to choose the right route–namely for my benefit. Antonia had climbed it before, but the tourist trail required you pull yourself up by ropes in some places, and with my arms at about 60%, it seemed like a no-go. We got ripped off on the tro-tro ride there, and found ourselves with a walk ahead of us. Our vague plan was to find a way up the mountain. During our walk, Antonia convinced Jacob that we needed to get some baobab from a baobab tree. She knew they weren’t ripe, but apparently wanted one anyway. Luckily for her, Jake is a project guy. He quickly obtained a baobab, and proceeded to man-handle it open. We had about a bite each and said, yup, that’s what unripe baobab tastes like. Good story, huh? Also Antonia was her sneaky self and got a great picture of me looking tiny tiny with a tree that was big big.
We asked around in a village about how we could find a good route up. We were encouraged to take the tourist way. A farmer showed us a route behind his place but Jacob and I were skeptical. He called it the “bush way.” It was a little overgrown and we weren’t really clear on where exactly it went. Antonia was all for it, but she was also wearing long pants. She assured us there there are no thorns in Africa, but I later learned the hard way that we were misled in that department.
So we set off for the next village, choosing a path at random. In the end I think we wound up on the “bush way” after all. We meandered from path to path, eventually deciding to tackle the mountain via the work trails that we were on. Locals farm all the way up the mountain, or at least until it gets too steep. In the end, it got too steep. We reached the last cassava farm on an epic slope and there was no more path. We hadn’t made it to the really gnarly rocks, but we were close and pretty hot and tired. It was one of the first times I’ve pushed myself since I got sick, and I did well enough. Here’s a shot from up on high.
And then my brother went home. More or less. I myself am getting ready to ship out of this magical land, but I’ll try and get in a couple more updates. As always there are more pictures of our antics over at my flickr photostream if you’re into that.