This past weekend I spent a couple of days with Margaret, John and Erin up at a place called Mountain Paradise about three hours outside of Accra. It was a nice time away from the city. The place we went to is way up on the top of a mountain and is rather small so it is pretty quiet. There really isn't anything to do but hike, read, talk, rest, and eat. We did all of those quite a bit. John can play the guitar very well and we enjoyed a couple of worship times with him leading us.
The hike we went on was rather insane now that I think about it but at the time it was great. The "path" is about a foot wide and only had a couple of places where there were ropes to hang on to. We could have used rope or rails in many, many places:) Of course we decided to go without a guide and that was interesting as the trail wasn't smoothed over or laid out like hiking paths in the states. At one point we were literally walking along the side of the cliff while leaning into the ground to keep from sliding down. I slid along on my backside more than once rather than trust gym shoes on wet leaves. (It had poured the night before). The only seriously scary thing was when John went to retrieve a bottle of water that I had accidentally knocked out of the backpack. It was at the top of the rock cliff that we had to go down to get to the waterfall. He carefully walked down the slope to get the bottle but then it was too steep and slippery to go back up. Against our better judgment he decided to come down the rest of the slope towards where we were sitting with the rope. But he didn't realize that if he slid and missed grabbing the one small tree in his way, he would fall off the cliff to the rocks and the creek below. But going back up for him was equally dangerous. So needless to say he did slide but by the grace of God he was able to grab the tree and didn't go over the edge. Our hearts were racing and so was his! Finally after we all calmed down he inched his way over to where we were and was safe. B/c of this we almost didn't go down the rock cliff with the rope as it had scared us quite a bit. After debating and looking things over we all went down. Basically we held onto a good rope and either repelled or climbed down the side of the cliff. Not having really repelled before I used footholds and sliding on my stomach to get down:) The waterfall and pool at the bottom were so beautiful. Pictures don't do it full justice. It was very peaceful and not disturbed by humans at all. Well worth the trip down. Going back up was simply using foot holds and pulling hand over hand on the rope. I really enjoyed it although I knew some previously unused muscles would be screaming at me the next day. All in all the hike was about 3 hours or more and we were drenched and exhausted by the time we got back. It was one of those great sweats where you have worked hard and feels good. No forest preserve in America would ever let people do the things we had to do to complete that hike. There would have been ropes and steps and rails everywhere but we enjoyed figuring out where the path went and getting through to the end.
The next day we had a little Easter service and then spent time on our own with the Lord. It was good. And the food there was exceptional. Some of the best Ghanaian food I have had since being here. I'd like to say that I was relieved of all that I have been struggling with for the last several weeks or more but that isn't true. I am thankful though for the time away and for friends and for quiet time with the Lord in His creation. And it was fun to build some memories with friends who will be leaving soon.
(See pictures below).
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