Motorcycling to Jesus – An unexpected journey

Just about an hour after I finished writing the last blog post about letting down walls my neighbor, Godson, asked me if I wanted to go to the Grotto in Fesi. He said I should bring my camera and that it was very beautiful. I see him everyday and say hi but have not really talked that much but I did not have plans, so sure! We hopped on his motorcycle and turned off the main road down an under-construction dirt road. We passed by a few towns, then past his home town where we stopped and said hi to his uncle, sisters, and brother at different points along the road. It was a beautiful day, and a lovely ride along fields and jungle but I was not expecting much since I had never heard of this place and it is pretty close by. I thought maybe a church had a little mosaic grotto like I saw all the time in Nicaragua or Italy. When I found out it was near his hometown I thought he just wanted to show me around, maybe show his family his new neighbor and show me his school where he is the headmaster. And that would have been just fine and dandy. 

Me and Godson

 

People like to show me around, show me their lives, ask me how much I like Ghana; because I think there is a great sense of community pride here. Last week, when I went to town to buy oil and a student of mine asked what I was doing and he said he would take me to buy oil. I knew perfectly well where to go but I followed him anyways and he took me on a long rambling tour of the whole little down, to his grandmothers house, showed me where the pigs were kept, his fathers boat and then to the shop with the oil. But I digress, so we are on the road meeting his family then he pointed off to the side of a mountain, Mount Agbenexoe, and said “Look, that is where we are going.” It was a massive statue of Mary popping out of the trees.

Mary up close with a sun halo

So we turned at the sign for Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, parked the bike and started walking up a dirt road which ended in a charming wooded valley, with big rocks and paths along it with full size white statues of all the stages of the cross, little places to sit, a large outdoor sanctuary where he said he would take me next time they have service there and the huge Mary. It was so unexpectedly beautiful, peaceful, and cool under the shade, hiking up and down this valley to visit all the statues. Each one was adopted by a parish in the region and they were all well taken care of. I have yet to do write much about the level of the religion here (very high) or how it is manifested (bible quotes on every taxi window and business sign, churches filled with drumming). But if I was a Catholic or Christian, this is where I would want to go to church. I may be getting a bike next week and if so I want to come back and just spend some time in the quiet.

Statues in the jungle

 I kept thinking how this valley was like a place out of Lord of the Rings. I have been reading a ton since I have been here and so frequently I am thinking about these books when I see things. Like the series Aaron gave me about dinosaurs what have evolved and tyrannosauruses are trying to learn to get into space. Part of the book is how these dinosaurs are very territorial and when they are about to attack they bob there heads up and down. While reading this I am surrounded by thousands of lizards everywhere and they totally do this jerking, bobbing up and down when you approach if they are not scared away. So here I was in this totally quiet, leaves rustling, sacred place and all I was thinking about was wood elves and if these statues were of kings and not Jesus it would be perfect. Then I was thinking I can not wait to come home and see The Hobbit. Sorry, I digress again.

We then went just a little past the grotto to where the road ends at a river. But it does not really end. For about half the year the river is high and you have to take a canoe over. During the dry season you can drive. It costs 50 peswas to go on the canoe, so one cedi round trip. A meal here costs 1-2 cedis so this seems like a pretty expensive option for people living on the other side of the river and I wonder how many of them go for a log time without crossing. Again, if I come back I am totally going over the river to see what the village on the other side looks like. On the way back Godson bought me Malt that I had heard about and wanted to plan our next trip, maybe to go visit the monkeys or the pottery village. 

Where the Sidewalk Ends

So I think I made a friend that will be a good resource to check out local attractions that are not in travel books, not that there are many that talk much about the Volta region. I am also going to go visit his school which is close to mine but a public school which will be really interesting to see the difference and maybe there are some things I could do with them when I am here too.