Boti Falls and New Family

ME: "Ete sen?"
Stranger woman in tro tro: "Eye, na wo nso e?"
ME: "Ah eye!"
Stranger woman in tro tro: "Where are you headed today?"
ME: "Koforidua and you?"
Stranger woman in tro tro:"AHHH Menso saa!"
ME: "Oh wonderful, what tro tro should my friends and I take to get there?"
Stranger woman in tro tro:"Oh don't worry I'll show you!"

And that is how a phenomenal weekend began.

I turned around in a tro tro as I so often do, to look for a Ghanaian who looked friendly so I could ask what tro tro I should get on next. Traveling here is nothing like traveling in Fort Worth, or anywhere in the United States for that matter. Let me tell you.

The plan of attack when traveling: find out what tro tro you need to get on first and ask around hoping someone can help you so that you know where to catch your next tro tro and what the mate (the drivers assistant) will be yelling from the tro tro you want...

Ohhhh Africa.

The girls with Mama Vic (in the middle), Grandma, and the kids.

The stranger woman behind me on the first tro tro to Madina turned out to be of the particularly friendly variety. Score. So after we established we were actually headed to the same place (which was SHOCKING because our shared destination is VERY far away and it was not the best time to be traveling there...) she agreed to help me and my group of oborunis find the tro tro to Koforidua.

Towards the end of our second tro tro (the long one... about 1 and a half hours) ... approximately 20 minutes from our stop, Vicmor (pronounced Vickmoe) was no longer stranger woman. She was Mommy Vic. And Mommy Vic told us matter of factly:

"You don't need a hotel. Tonight you will stay with me at my house. We will get off soon."
"Oh my gosh Vic... you don't have to do that. There are going to be eight of us in total... four more girls are meeting us and we have to go to the falls tomorrow..."
"Oh it's no problem." (she said this as she waved both her hands and squinted up her eyes smiling )

We would become very familiar with this phrase over the next 24 hours.
We got off the tro tro at Vic's stop and threw our lives to the mercy of the African Gods. Lucky for us, when we walked up to Vic's house... it was lovely. We waited outside the high white rock walls, outside the blue locked gate, and then some young kids came to let us in. That night we danced with Vicmor's nieces and nephews, saw her homemade hair products she sells in Kofiridua, went to her shop (where she sells imported chinese fake-flowers, and various chinese herbal supplements...), saw her wedding planner albums, and were pointed in the direction of a restaurant where we found burger and chips as well as spaghetti on the menu.

We slept four people a room in two rooms, some on the floor on mattresses, some on bunk beds, and one (my roommate Claire) on two chairs pushed together.

It was hilarious, it was free - and the makings of a GREAT story.

The next morning we all woke up and much to our surprise Vic informed us that her daughter Sarah (who is our age) would be taking us to Boti falls. We thanked her profusely and told her that Sarah didn't have to do that... but she insisted.

So, we went down the road to meet Sarah near the tro tro stop. When we met her... we were concerned.

You see, Boti Falls, according to our Bradt guidebook, offers a hike that can take up to two hours and is fairly rough terrain... and Sarah and her friend were wearing clothes appropriate for a night club combined with sandals. And by sandals I mean one pair of wedged heals and one pair of flip flops.

We hired a tro tro to take us to the falls, a direct trip instead of having to take a cab to the actual entrance. When we arrived after an hour or so of driving we were relieved to see the welcome sign. Our original plan was to stay the night at the “chalet” that supposedly overlooked the waterfall, but when we got there the “welcome man” informed me that they had one room available with two full beds. I figured even for us that was pushing it. After much deliberation we opted to leave the falls by 4 and head back to Accra. Everyone was tired and due to some injuries incurred before our journey the group voted it was best to return home.

The hike cost 3 cedi to take the whole group. Our tour guide: a man who looked 60 years old … wearing flip flops. Hmmmm so maybe Sarah and her friend would be alright?

What we quickly found out was that the hike was not 2 to 3 hours, in fact it was closer to an hour round trip. The hike was not TO the falls at all, we came to find… instead it was in the opposite direction… Ohhhh Africa. We quite literally hiked 40 minutes away from the falls and then back.

The hike started off fine, a bit uphill, past some trash (which I have become more used to since it seems to be EVERYWHERE… even out in a remote area of wilderness), and through the trees. But from there things got more interesting. I kid you not, we scaled rock faces on this hike. Some places we came to made our whole group just laugh out loud. “How in the Lord’s name are we going to climb that with our backpacks on?” Since we planned to stay at the falls that night we had brought our backpacks with all of our stuff for the whole weekend.

We made it out alive although significantly more disgusting. I sweat through all the clothes I was wearing, dripping from under my bandana, feelings like at any moment there was a chance I would pass out from the heat.

Once we returned to the entrance they pointed in the opposite direction of our hike and informed us that it would take us approximately 4 minutes to reach the falls… wait… seriously?

Sure enough after walking down what we estimate to be 200 steps (much easier to descend than ascend) we got a glimpse of the falls. I will be honest, I thought maybe we would see one small waterfall, and I hoped against hope that the scenery would be worth the hike and shenanigans to get there.

What I saw was more beautiful than I could have imagined on my most optimistic of days. We climbed down the 2o0 steps into an area that can only be described as an oasis, with two gigantic waterfalls crashing down a rock face into a pool at the bottom. We stood in the pool, sat on the little rock beach and tried our best to fully appreciate the beauty of the place we had finally arrived at.

We traveled home that night and were more than excited to crawl into our familiar beds. With sheets over us and our fans cooling our quiet rooms we reflected on the weekend of new family, rock faces and waterfalls.

Mission accomplished.