Monkey sunsets

I just had a phenomenal weekend; I really don’t know where to start. I will have to separate it into two blogs. Here is the first:

Friday morning, eight friends and I got up early, with the intention of going to visit the solo monkey sanctuary, a potentially forty minute drive. Two and a half hours later, after getting lost with our cab drivers down dirt roads leading into tiny villages and ending literally on the ocean, we found it, a lush oasis of rainforest on the beach. We met a man named Kwame, who was a friend of a friend of a girl with us, Olivia. It was a very distant connection, but Kwame embraced us like we were his own family. He walked us around the entire sanctuary, then through the neighboring village, where everyone knew him quite fondly. He was like the unofficial mayor of the town, and he took us to the local school, where we were invited into the principal’s house where we sat around with him and his wife, talking and sharing stories. Then they took us into the classrooms where the students loved playing with us, and the teachers requested to take a big group picture with us. It was such a magical afternoon. Then Kwame took us through the rest of the village and we met so many people. We got to watch fufu being ground in a giant pot by a group of old women and played soccer with all the children following us around. Kwame got us fresh oranges and sweet potatoes off of the street, handing them to all of us. His generosity was astounding. Suddenly, we found ourselves at a beautiful lagoon in a fishing village. There were the most beautiful, colorful boats, they looked like African gondolas. Kwame whispered to a friend and he disappeared for a moment before returning with a giant oar, and ushering us onto a small boat. He took us to an open beach, the most pristine white sand you’ve ever seen, with eight little palapas, and a small bar with fanta and coconuts. We were so hot from walking around all day, and stripped off our clothes and ran naked into the warm, buttery ocean. It was pure bliss.

After the salt water had saturated every part of us, an hour or so, we got back in the boat with Kwame and headed back to town, where we hiked back through the village and up above the town. The view was amazing, and as we looped around back to the sanctuary, we saw monkeys, out for their evening meal as the sun is setting. We returned to our started point with, get this, our cab drivers from that morning, still waiting. STILL WAITING! They were there for nine hours! It was hilarious. They drove us back, straight to our big group dinner. Needless to say we passed out that night, tired, but completely floored by how much we had seen, how much we had experienced.

Being here has really opened my eyes to a completely different way of life, and I have been astounded by the generosity of the people that I have met, especially this day. There are infinite ways to lead a happy life, and you don’t need much to do it. I have always felt so blessed with my home and my friends and my family, and I have this incredible sense of belonging here, that I have only ever felt at home. There is an amazing similarity within the culture here and the way that I am accustomed to, it is strangely familiar and different all at once.