Flying High!

Paragliding in Ghana, just sounds dangerous…so I had to go! Every Easter a group of South Africans come in and host a paragliding festival in Ghana, as an adrenaline junkie this is something I just couldn’t miss. A great group of friends decided we needed to go, so we all meet up at the KSO (Kumasi Sub-office), a bunkroom for Peace Corps travelers and sick volunteers. Erika, Terri, Caitlin, and I went…lets just call us trouble! We meet up on the 20th at the KSO and after staying up till 3a.m. having girl talk we headed out at 6a.m. to go paragliding on the 21st. (Tro rides just never bring out your beauty…rough pic) We took about a 2 ½ hour tro ride, normal people would’ve slept after only getting 3 hours of sleep but the girl talk continued for “trouble”. We got there and rushed to put our names at the top of the list! I was first on from our group, a few Europeaners went ahead of me.
Paragliding is a very relaxing sport! We went on tandem rigs, so I was attached to someone the whole time. Very different from skydiving which is what I am used to and was expecting. In skydiving you pull a parachute, or rip cord, whereas paragliding you run off a mountain side with your parachute already open. You really don’t even make it off the cliff; typically you “take off” before you make it to the edge. If you are me you start running and take off then you touch back down and eat it. I’m not talking about tripping and falling, I mean sliding face first in the mud with the person strapped to you just hanging out on your back nice and clean. To make it worst when I stood up covered from head to toe in mud a Ghanaian man walks up to me and says, “Oh, sorry!” then he asks to take pictures and tries to kiss my cheek in the picture. We gathered up the parachute and got back in line, with my group of 7 PCVs laughing at me. Ian, my tandem instructor decided that our next take off attempt we would try to take off in reverse. He convinced me that that would be easier; who would believe reverse is easier than forward….not me anymore! So we ran and turned (very small difference in the two take offs), but he told me to stop running. We had to abort the take off because there wasn’t enough wind for a reverse take off. Our third attempt was once again a forward attempt that finally worked. We ran and the parachute just lifted us up in the air, it was not a rush at all…but it was very relaxing.
Relaxing until he said that his rig wasn’t working properly! Ian told me that they were instructed to travel light so he took a few pieces off his rig. He left a part of the back support off his rig which made it very difficult to sit comfortable in his seat. The only way he could sit in his rig was to prop his legs up on my thighs, so he had to wrap his legs around me. I harassed him the whole flight saying he was getting pretty frisky for our first date and he might have to buy me a beer when we land.
The flight was great! He taught me all about how to find a thermal and what they are, upward winds that prolong your flight. We followed the birds to the thermals and flew around the mountains and the cliffs. It was beautiful! The landing was very easy; all I had to do was lean forward and take about 3 or 4 steps. I never really mastered the landings in skydiving so I was a little nervous but it was great.
We packed the rig up in the back of the truck and 4 people sat in the cab and about 6 sat on all the equipment in the back. We rode from the soccer field we landed on back up the mountain to where we took off from. About half way up we got in a car accident though! A small taxi T-boned us because he claims his brakes when out. Fortunately the taxi was so small the 6 of us in the bed of the truck barely felt the accident. We all waited on the side of the road while the drivers yelled at each other. Turns out this picture I took of his license plate is what was used to track the drive down. He hit and ran after 20 minutes of arguing. We reloaded the truck and headed back up to the top.
At the top we relaxed while the rest of the volunteers went gliding. Cait was the last to go so we waited till very late for her to make it back up. The whole group of us loaded up in the back of a truck for a free ride back down the mountain but, last minute Cait and I decided to get free rides back down, paragliding! So I got a free second glide down! A much easier take off, got it on the first time, and another smooth landing. The rest of the group headed back to the KSO and Cait and I decided we were going to take a quick swim at the paraglider’s hotel before heading back. I also had to cash in on my free beer from my frisky late 40’s first date. We ate dinner, swam, and had a beer or 2. By the time we were ready to go we had several offers to stay…lol!
We made it back to the KSO and I took my rabbit home to start my rabbit ranch. My landlord and his grand kids were so excited to see the rabbit. I also made them mashed potatoes for dinner and they small kids loved them. I’m not sure if they loved them or the fact that I was feeding the kids with my hands the way the Ghanaian women do.
I’m very excited about Monday though, I am having a meeting in my village to start a women’s savings group called a “susu”. Also, my last mango seeds I planted were eaten by goats after there were about a foot tall. While I was away my new mango seed sprouted, along with corn, tomato, cantaloupe, and watermelon seeds. Several of my original seedlings are branching out and getting big! My brochure should be out real soon also. Classes are studying for their finals and then they will be out for over a month so I will get a nice break from my teaching and clubs. IST (in-service training) is April 7th so I will get to see some of my friends that I haven’t seen since the end of November.

It might sound a little strange but I really feel like I’ve changed so much here. I am hanging out with friends who are very spiritual, not so much religious, but believe in energies and all sorts of crazy interesting things. I’m really starting to feel at home here! We really had a great trip, it was just what I needed!

I miss you and love you all!