Day 22 (saturday)

A view from Dr. Diallo's house.

A cool painting I saw at the University of Cape Coast.

This is Kate (in the middle) and her sister, whom I stayed with the first night in Cape Coast.

A cool picture as I was leaving Kakum.

The rope bridge at Kakum.

Me just approaching the bridge.

Being eaten by the skull of a jungle elephant.

Just me hanging out with a crocodile, nbd.

A flower I spotted as I was leaving Han's Cottage.

Dr. Diallo's kitchen...just a reminder to LIVE SIMPLY!

 

I finally got a good sleep but my back hurt so much! By the time I got up (I had been up for awhile but just laid in the bed) Maureen had gotten a hold of Dr. Diallo (who I learned was a medical doctor now going through his residency to specialize in radiology) and he wanted to have us over for breakfast so we got ready and went as soon as we could get ready (fortunately we had a ride most of the way). I kept feeling like I was missing something (seems hard considering I didn't bring that much) and sure enough I realized that I left my shoes (how does that even happen?). It was pouring rain which seemed to be pretty common (I guess it is the rainy season). Eventually we made it to his house (it was tucked away so finding it was a little hard. We were graciously greeted by he and his wife and their sweet little girl. His wife made breakfast for us and I came to find that Dr. Diallo shared my love of coffee so we had a good laugh about it. We left for a while because he said he would drop us off at Kakum. We drove around the University of Cape Coast campus while he was running some errands. He took us back to Kate's house (which is on the way to Kakum) so I could get my shoes and Maureen could get the little bit of snacks she brought. Now we were on our way to Kakum (a cool canopy walk [really a suspended bridge which was really just an old metal ladder pieced together with 2 x 6's on top of them] 40 to 80 meters above the protected national forrest where several endangered species call home) and it was really cool once we got there. We started our walk, again because of the weekend and holiday, it was busy but still fun. People were having a hard time with the bridge and some had to quit early (if you had a fear of heights, I could certainly understand it) and because we were there a little later in the day, we didn't end up seeing any animals but the views were amazing! Maureen was super exhausted and all the walking and hiking was starting to make her leg tired (last year she was in a pretty terrible accident where she had to have surgery on her leg) so we sat for a bit. We walked to the main road and quickly caught a tro tro. I can see why Maureen really hates them sometimes, this one was going so fast and I legitimately was concerned. We got to our destination (Han's Cottage) which was a crocodile farm and first decided to have some food. Now we were feeling a bit rejuvenated (meanwhile we had seen several crocodiles in the water nearby) and decided to look around a bit and one of the lady's that worked there let us through the gates while she called to some of the crocodiles and I thought it was so cool and snapped some pictures. We finished our food (and my coffee) and some other visitors had paid the fee to feed them and were taking pictures with it, so I needed to as well. They obliged and I got to touch and sit over the crocodile. It was pretty awesome (I would recommend going if you happen to be in the area). We left and headed back to UCC and Maureen met with an old professor. It was getting dark and I was certainly ready to get some rest at Dr. Diallo's house, NOPE, but I learned that we wouldn't be staying at his place because there was some changes on his end so we walked through campus and bought some fruit and went to a guest house (they paid for our stay). The first two that we went to were completely full and I assumed that we probably weren't going to find a place to stay but the third one we went to had one room left. Maureen was so beyond stressed and tired and her ultimately tough persona was finally starting to break down a little (I've never met anyone who analyzes/overanalyzes everything, she'll be a wonderful researcher and will surely take her time) and she kept struggling to tell me that she was going to try to stay with a friend and come back after church in the morning. I told her it was ridiculous and we would both adequately fit on the bed (she had ultimately been concerned for my comfort) and we did but I didn't get a wink of sleep (she did and the snoring proved it) because I just couldn't get comfortable enough.