Adventures

Hey everyone! I know it’s taking me a while between posts but I’m trying to keep up. And lucky for all of you, there is a lot to report on from the last 2 weeks!

To start, the weekend before last was the optional trip offered by my program. We started the long journey to Kumasi, which is the heart of the Ashanti Empire which is in the central region. The Ashanti have been the prominent tribe in Ghana for centuries. We went and toured the old house for the chief that was built by the British around 60 years ago. The new chief lives in the new house directly behind the old one and can be seen from the upstairs windows. The old house we toured was filled with really cool artifacts from past chiefs such as stools, guns and other weapons, jewelry, paintings, and lots and lots of gold items (no wonder this place is called Gold Coast). The stools are a very important part of hierarchy. Like a king is enthroned, an Ashanti chief is enstooled. It was very exciting to say the least. But nothing could compare to what the next stop had in store.

The next day we traveled to the north to Mole National Park. With the title of a National Park, you can imagine how excited I was to not be in a city. The journey to Mole was a very treacherous one. However on the way, we stopped at a water fall that was beyond beautiful. We took a couple hours off to take a "shower" and swim around. After a little relaxation, we continued on to Mole. In Ghana, paved roads outside of the cities are very rare to come by. This road was very bumpy with lots of slants and in a big bus; there were many times where all of us thought it would tip over. Luckily, 9 hours later, we finally made it to the park. It was dark when we arrived but were excited for the morning. We got up the next morning at 6 AM for a safari walk, but it started raining around then and the safari was postponed until 3. So of course, with that time, I went out exploring, something I was specifically told NOT to do…..oh well. I started hiking along a path around the perimeter of the Park HQ. It was absolutely beautiful. After the fresh shower of rain, everything just seemed so alive. The forest was such a vibrant green and the all of the animals were out to get some breakfast. There were lots of monkeys including green monkeys and baboons that came very close to me. It was a little intimidating. After my little exploration on my own, I came back to the Park HQ to find a spectacular site. An elephant had walked right up to the buildings to eat some fresh vegetation there. The wow factor could not be rated on any sort of scale. After the elephant left to find other food, I joined the rest of the group to eat lunch and prepare for the upcoming safari. We met our guide who was caring a very large rifle on his back, which made me understand why they told me not to go out on my own….I guess I got lucky. We set off and immediately saw another elephant eating from a tree. During the safari we saw many different kinds of animals that I didn’t see that morning on my own including antelope, bush bucks, other monkeys, and wart hogs. Towards the end, I was satisfied with what we saw on the excursion, but on the way back, a car told us that there was an elephant just up the road. We decided to check it out. It turned out that one elephant was actually THREE elephants!!! It was very exciting. Also there were a lot of baboons on the side of the road that let us come very close to them. Some of them had babies on there backs, which was also very exciting. Lets just say I went to sleep very please with how the day went. Before the safari, the guide told us that there was a very low chance of us seeing an elephant, but we ended up seeing FIVE elephants during the day. The next morning during breakfast, a monkey came up to the table and we all thought it was a very cute thing, until he jumped up on the table and stole my toast right off my plate. It was quite the nice finishing touch to the trip. We also went to see the oldest mosque in West Africa which was also very cool to see.



We traveled back to Kumasi after the Mole visit where we stayed on the Kumasi University Campus. The next morning, we went to some of the craft villages in Kumasi to do some shopping from the artists themselves. The first stop was the wood carving village. As soon as the bus pulled up, the bus was surrounded by people trying to grab people and drag them over to their shop. These people are very dedicated sales men. However they didn’t expect a very dedicated money saver to walk in there shop. I was bargaining with these people non stop. This one person wanted to sell me a drum for 90 cedis. I wouldn’t have it. So I bargained him down and down. I offered him 35 cedis for the drum and the bag that was made for it. Drums are usually between 30-50 cedis as a normal price. He did not want the offer. So I left. Ten minutes later, he finds me in another shop and agrees to the price I gave him. Everyone else was stunned with the price. A Ghanaian came up to me after and joked that he was lucky I didn’t go to his shop and wanted to know how I learned how to do that…I have a father as a sales man which he past on to me I told him. After the wood carving village, we went to the Kente village where they make hand woven cloth and also their own ink to stamp symbols on the cloth. We all got to stamp our own piece of Kente cloth. All of the symbols have different meanings. Some of the kids taught us how to weave the cloth on the machines which was very cool. We learned how the ink was made and got to help in the process. The ink is made from smashed up bark which is boiled in water. This would conclude the optional trip and soon after, we returned to Accra to load our pictures on our computers and become frustrated that they would not load on Facebook or any other online photo gallery. Oh well, who doesn’t like a good surprise? Haha.

The following weekend (this last weekend) we traveled to Cape Coast to witness a festival that happens in the first week of September. We arrived in Cape Coast on Saturday morning and took a tour of the Cape Coast Slave Castle. This visit was very moving in the way I’m sure visiting a concentration camp would move someone. The dark history behind the castle really gets to you as you tour the dungeons and cells. One of the most disturbing parts of the tour was passing through the “Door of No Return” which is the door that leads to the ocean where slaves were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas and Europe. One of the strangely cool parts of the trip was the plaque that was unveiled by President Obama when he visited the castle in July of this year. It was quite a place to visit. Afterwards, we went to the festival which was amazing to say the least. There was a big parade in the streets which had people playing drums and other instruments. In the parade, all of the local chiefs were being carried in what looked like a canoe with pillows. Some of them were throwing out things like candy and packets of gin. In Ghana, they really like their drinks in little sachets. Things like water, juice, ice cream, and gin. After the chiefs past us, all of the locals started circling around us and marched us down the street and dancing around us and having us join their fun. Unfortunately, most of them were pick-pocketers and tried to take anything they could from us. I caught a guy in my back pocket that almost got away with my wallet, but I caught him. It was quite funny because a very large Ghanaian saw this and grabbed the thief and chased him away and then stayed with us the rest of the way down the street. It was much more comforting. When the festival was over, we went to our hotel, but it wasn’t a hotel at all. It was a very very very nice resort right on the beach away from the city. This resort was full of European tourists on vacation. We went swimming and had a great time for the night.

The next morning we went to Kakum National Park which is a beautiful rain forest. There were lots of monkeys all about the trees right when we arrived, only this time, they didn’t try and steal my food. In Kakum, we went on the canopy walk which is a set of 7 bridges that are 540 feet above the forest floor. It was quite exciting to say the least. Some of us were very energetic about the bridges, while others were not so enthusiastic. But for me, it was just what I was asking for.

On the way back to Accra, a few of the people on my program were not feeling well, in fact they were miserable. We decided to go to the hospital to see if they might have gotten malaria. After a couple hours of tests, they ended up just having parasites from some food that would be easily cured with some antibiotics. I’m glad to say they are feeling much better.

So that was the adventures that I had going for me the last 2 weeks. But I guess I could talk about how I am doing in general. I’m glad to say that I have made Ghana my home and am very comfortable here now. I was feeling a little home sick a couple of weeks ago but now I am in a good groove that has become a regular routine. I’m taking some very interesting classes including African Drumming and Ghana Politics. I have also been going to the beach every Wednesday night for Reggae Night which is a load of fun. I’m also having a blast buying fabric and getting custom made traditional clothes for myself. Everything is super cheap and easy to get. On a different note, my hand has completely healed and is not in a bandage anymore. It is quite stiff but I am stretching it out as much as I can. I have also discovered that I have lost 18 pounds since I have gotten here but feel perfectly fine. I have also found my saving grace for food here. As a vegetarian, I thought that I would have a very hard time getting food that I could eat, but I was making do so far. But last night, a new little shop opened up in the market next to the hostel that is all vegetarian foods. There is a lot on the menu including tofu which I haven’t had since I left. Other than that, I am doing great here in Ghana and am continuing to have a great time and discovering this new way of life. I’m getting used to the cold showers, the hand washing of my clothes, the weather, and the people. But everyday, I’m getting more and more excited for my next adventure in Europe!! But one journey at a time…

Until next time.
Sean

Ghana!!

Hey everyone! Well I finally made it to Ghana. I recorded a couple of videos so I can explain everything with out having to type a bunch with my (still) messed up hand. But the internet stinks here and it wont load the video's on the blog. So I'm going to type it all for you!!
Well, I arrived in Ghana about a week ago and was immediately thrown into trouble. Not trouble that you think, but almost got had by a local Ghana'n. They have these people here who they call professional friends. They play nice and then end up taking everything you have. Pretty messed up. But he asked who i was looking for and I foolishly said USAC. He said he was the program assistant and he would take me to the office. A minute later, the REAL program director swooped in and grabbed me and took me back before I could leave the airport. Wow talk about close calls. But wow, let me tell you, what an amazing place this is. Totally different that what I'm used to. The poverty rate in Ghana is 50% and it shows. You drive past the markets and you can see people sleeping in their stalls and little kids running around playing with broken toys and trying to sell stolen stuff. It's definitely a trip. But the taxi drivers and the tro tro drivers are a species of their own. First of all a tro tro is a bus that jams as many people in it as possible and drops people off. But the drivers of these vehicles are absolutely insane. The drivers just do anything they can to move ahead, Anything. They think of their car as a transportation piece rather than a valued piece of equipment. all of the cars have dents and scratches on them from the traffic here. Very scary stuff.
The people in my program are super nice and friendly and we are all getting along quite well. We are trying to get out and make friends with the locals and have not been super successful yet. However, just the other night, we met some locals who are living in the same hostel as us and they are taking us out tonight. They are really good people and I'm very excited to get a fresh eye at Ghana'n night life with good Ghana'n people. I also started classes yesterday. I taking an African Drumming class and African Dance. I am the only white person in my dance class and it is quite intimidating. But everyone here is super friendly and nice and always want to meet the foreigner. The word for white person in Obroni (pronounced oh-bruni) So everyone is shouting that in class wanting me to sit next to them. It's quite fun.
The food here is quite delicious as well. The custom is to eat with your hands, so I'm sure my mom would agree that my table manners from back home should fit perfectly here. Haha. But they have this rice called Jalafo rice, which is this spicy fried rice served with this tomato sauce called stew. Also they have fried plantains and yams that is served with it. Everything here has some spice to it which is very nice for me. But I'm having a hard time finding other things that is vegetarian. There are a few vegetarians in the program and we tend to stick together at restaurants and such. But the food here is very in expensive. A big plate of Jalafo, spaghetti, salad, fried plantains and yams, and stew is around 1 cedi, which is equivalent to around 73 cents. So it is very inexpensive to eat out. But i must admit the food here is quite delicious. But I am starting to miss some of the food from back home like burritos, cheese, and other things. But that's just coming with the mild home sickness that is starting to take hold, which i know is natural, but still stinks. I know that I'll get over it soon, once i start getting into a rhythm. We are traveling to Cape Coast this weekend to get a new look at Ghana'n fishing culture and beach life. I'm very excited for that.
Anyways I hope everyone is doing well back in the states and let me know if you want to know anything else about anything and I'll be sure to report on it next time I blog. Also, sorry this took a while (Aunt Sharon) but the internet connection over here is not like what we have in the States, which means it takes a while to log on and post things (even writing two emails is a 2 hour task). Anyways I hope to be informing you as much as possible as my journey continues. Peace!

The Trip

Hey everyone!!!
I know its been a long time since my last post, that that just means I have MORE to tell you. So to start off, training is FINALLY over. To let you know how much I am pleased that it is over, training was 3 bloody weeks. 3 weeks of telling me how to do my job in many different ways by many different people. It started out pretty shaky because my boss didn't trust me at first because this is her first time being a Challenge Course Manager. So she was really hesitant about letting me chime in my two cents of my experience working a Challenge Course. But after talking to my Director and the Manager, things worked out and I was able to prove to her that I COULD do my job just fine.

This last weekend, my girlfriend Adrianne came up to visit me and hang out for a few days. It was really great to see her after about 2 weeks. This is where the title of this post comes from. We decided to go for a night backpacking trip into Hetch Hetchy for the night to get out of camp and hang out in Yosemite. So we had a couple of options that we wanted to check out, but when we got to the entrance station, all the quota's were met on those destinations. The ranger suggested a place called Miguel Meadows. She described it as a beautiful place with a lot of flowers and a clear view of the sky with a stream close by for water. It sounded really good, even though it was 8 miles out with 3 of them up a switch back trail. But we started our trek. We made it half way up the switch backs to come to a BEAUTIFUL view of the reservoir and it seemed as things were going great. When we got to the top of the switchbacks, we began down the trail towards the Meadows. The trail was full of wild flowers in bloom, trees covered in moss, and wonderful beautiful ferns everywhere. As we got closer to the destination, the mosquitoes started to come around, and not gradually. If I could compare it to something, I think I can sympathize with the Egyptians when they had a swarm of locusts back in the day. They were EVERYWHERE. But we trekked on. Finally we got to our destination. And everything the ranger said it would be was false, wrong, incorrect, a fallacy, and any other synonym of 'not true' there is. There was 2 old ranger stations there, not beautiful meadow, very few flowers, and a TON of mosquitoes. The stream was no stream either. It was a stagnant length of water infested with algae and other nonsense. This was especially bad because we only had about 3 quarters of a nalgene left of water. We set up camp anyways to get away from the mosquitoes. We ate some food and made a decision, we had to hike out ASAP due to lack of water and terrible conditions.

We started hiking out at 8 pm, so we knew we were going to hike out in the dark. It took us about 4 hours to get to the Meadows, so we estimated around 3 hours to get out because we were traveling downhill. About 20 min into our hike out, we heard a rustling about 30 yards away. There was a black bear chilling out on the trail right in front of us. We started to back up and I began to scream at the bear to scare it away. Luckily, it ran off almost immediately. Now we were running on pure adrenaline. We started to book it for the top of the switchbacks, yelling occasionally to scare any bears ahead on the trail away so we wouldn't surprise one accidentally. We finally made it to the switchbacks as the sun fell completely out of the sky and we had to rely on our headlamps. Luckily we made the 3.5 mile trek in about an hour and a half. We were hauling. We started going down the switchbacks, rolling our ankles a plethora of times on the way down and tripping and falling on the way. At this point, we had no more water and were on a desperate need to get back to the car so we could get the hell out of the park. We finally made it back to the dam. We looked at the time, and were amazed. It took us two and a half hours to get down from the Meadows. That was a 7 mile hike. We were beat. At last we could get out of there and go back to camp and have a nice night. But know, Murphy's Law was on our sides. The gate at the entrance station, was locked. Now what??? Luckily, my cell had a sliver of service and I was able to call the dispatch and have them let us out. I told them Adrianne's ankle was rolled badly, but that I was a Wilderness First Responder and was going to take care of it back at camp. They came right away and let us out. Lucky for us, the ranger was super nice and didn't ask many questions and wanted to get us out right away. So Adrianne's visit was quite a thrill and now we have a wonderful story to tell everyone and a great suggestion of where NOT to go camp at Hetch Hetchy.

But there is some good to end this post. I started back on Monday working with bunks (finally) and it is just soo much fun!! I will admit that it is very exhausting having days starting at 6:45 with set up and working on my feet in the sun until 5. Then starting the process all over again the next day. But I love working with the kids and teaching them valuable skills for them and the bunk. Speaking of planning a day, I need plan my day for tomorrow and make sure I have all my supplies for that. With that I will end this post saying please do not camp at Miguel Meadows, but that I have an incredible story from it, and that I am having a great time finally working with the kids.

Hope this post finds you all well!!

Until next time,

Sean

Training Part 2

Hello everyone!
Well after 3 days of mayhem of trying to move everything out of my apartment, I finally succeeded! It took a little more time than I would have liked but it got done none the less. I just hope everyone who is "borrowing" my stuff while I'm gone enjoys the goods and keeps them in one piece.
Now I'm back at Tawonga for the rest of the training and also the start of camp. Today is Day one of 10 weeks here at camp for the summer. Today was pretty brutal in the long run. I went out for a bit to say goodbye to a bunch of friends last night. When I got back to the house, I finally finished moving everything out of my apartment at around 3 AM this morning and then was up for another hour or so with Adrianne. I then had to get up at 6 AM to get the last of the stuff in the car and a last once over of the apartment. Following a 5 hour drive to camp, I had to jump right into drivers training. About half way through, my boss comes up to me and tells me that I really didn't need to be there and that I could ditch the training. Good and bad news. I could have slept longer and showed up to camp at 5 this afternoon instead of noon. But oh well, I was able to take a nap and get some stuff settled in. I still have to set up my tent and move the rest of my stuff in but it needs to stop raining. Why is it raining in June I ask! Oh well.
Anyways dinner bell is ringing and I'm starving. Hope all is well with you all and this post finds you in good spirits.

Ciao
Sean

Training Part 1

Hello everyone!
I know its been a while since my last post but I have been just so busy with everything that its hard to grab a minute to log in and have the time to write a post! Anyways, I just got back into Chico from the first part of my Wilderness Training at Camp Tawonga, and wow, what a great time that was. I met the rest of the Wild Staff and all I can say is that it's going to be an AWESOME summer! We went on an amazing 3 day backpacking trip that included lots of team building skills and just over all fun. My highlight (and most intense part) of the entire trip had to of been when a rattle snake tried to bite me but just bit my boot. Lets just say it freaked me out a HUGE deal and am still a little shaky about stepping over fallen logs and stuff, but still fine. Tawonga is a special place however, everyone is just so welcoming and accepting, and naked. Yes, naked. The staff has a wonderful tradition of going down to the river and skinny dipping during time off (not in front of the kids of course). Lets just say the returning staff introduced this concept to the new staff very abruptly. Back to the job, I will be running the ropes course at camp for its entirety and helping kids face their fears and working together and building group relationships.
But this job is just the first part of my long adventure!!! I will be working at Tawonga until August 7th. The following 2 days will consist of a (possible) farewell party/packing, then I fly to the wonderful country of Ghana on August 9th. Talk about a 10 second turn around. But more about Ghana when it approaches. Now the focus is Tawonga.
In other news, there is a new lady in my life (yes, I realize its crappy timing, but listen to the story about us before you pass judgment). We met last August while hiking in the Himalayas and studying with Tibetan Monks. We formed a great friendship at first. After treking through the Australian Outback for a couple of months followed by a cross Canada touring bike trip, we broke down the mixed signals and got together finally. We are staying together during my travels and am looking forward to sharing my adventurous stories upon my return to the States. Her name is Adrianne and she is a little bad-ass (little is the key word). She is a HUGE (no pun intended) climber and backpacker, which sold me alone. Anyways she is an amazing person who is making me very happy.












Me and Adrianne out on a trip

Anyways, that's all from here at the moment. Next post will be from Tawonga when I have some time off to give you all an update. For now, peace and love!

Peace
Sean

The End of Finals!!

At long last, my finals are over. School is out for the summer. And now I begin my 7 month adventure starting next week. I also turned 22 yesterday, but that's a whole other deal. Bummer that it was right at the beginning of finals week but oh well. The celebration will commence this weekend. But back to my adventures starting to unfold.

I'm leaving for Camp Tawonga in a week and am soooo pumped for this summer. It's going to be an awesome time. I'm working as the ropes course guy, basically making sure people are climbing safe and being responsible. I can't wait to meet and get to know all of the people there and making new friends. I also got a new didge and am hoping to get some sweet jam sessions going at camp. I also got a bunch of new/sweet gear for the summer and just forever. New pack, sleeping bag, pad, harness, carabeners, tent, and boots (thanks mom and grandma!) I can't wait to get to use it all and use it while I pack around Ghana and Europe.

Yes that's right, Europe. This will be the cap to the entire adventure. After the semester in Ghana, I'm (hopefully) going to hang out in Europe for a month. Just trek around Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, hopefully Greece, and (maybe) Istanbul for New Years! I have some friends who will be in France and Germany studying abroad that I will crash with and travel with while I'm there. The rest of the time I'll be staying in Hostels and living on the cheap.

When I get back, I'm starting the Outdoor Education program at Chico. I'm really looking foward to it. It's going to teach me how be an effective trip leader and mountaineer. In the long run, I'm hoping to work at an outdoor school and teach backpacking and climbing to kids. I also want to get certified as a raft guide and work for a raft company (I think I know someone who owns one...)

Now all I have to do is start packing up my apartment and checking to see if anyone wants to take any of my furniture while I'm gone. Sorry the blue couch has been claimed already.
Until next time...

Peace