Market Day

Thursday was market day, a magical day in which people gather in the center of Ho selling and bargaining food, clothes, furniture, jewelery, etc. It was my second excursion to market day. Both times were equally as chaotic and overwhelming. There are so so many places to shop at and so many interesting items to possibly perchase. My goal was to make a dent my long list of presents to bring home for my friends and family but I unfortunately was not as successful as I hoped. I just couldn't decide what exactly I wanted to get or which prices I should settle with.

Outside of market day, Ho is filled with a lot of great places that sell great souviners. Before market day, some of the volunteers and I stopped at a clothing/wooden carvings shop. We found some awesome bags, shirts, skirts, and carvings. We also stopped at two artist stores. One sold paintings and the other sold drums and jewelry. The paintings were all hand made and uniquely made. They are all really colorful and are of an assortment of African motifs. The other artist made some unbelievable drums. Some of the other volunteers have befriended him and have even got him to make some really cool drums. Maybe I will?

The market reminds me a lot of trips I used to take with my Mom to the market in Boston. We would wake up early on saturdays and buy big loads of fresh fruits and vegetables. With all these trips to the market makes me want to start doing that again with my Mom! I forgot all about the energy of the market until I got here. I can't wait for the next market day :)

This weekend we hiked up a mountain in Vlee (sp?), which is about two hours away from Ho. It took us about 3 hours to hike all the way up the mountain to the upper waterfall. It was so darn beautiful, both the waterfall and the excursion to the waterfall. I had never hiked like that before but I absolutely loved it. I was sweating like a fiend because of the humidity but I was addicted to the view that only got more breathtaking as we trekked up the mountain. I will most definitely upload pictures of the view from the mountain. It overlooked a couple villages in Ghana with a bunch of neighboring mountains. The waterfall was equally as wonderful. It was so peaceful. I had so much fun chilling under the waterfall on some rocks. It was a really great. Once we were done taking pictures at the falls and cooling off from the tough hike, we climbed back down to go the lower waterfall. It was a really great trip and I hope to hike a lot more when I go home.

A lot of people left today, which was sad. Fortunately, we also have had a few newcomers come to the house. I leave Ghana in about a week and half! Ah, so soon!

Hope things back home are awesome!