LOCATION: GHANA
TUESDAY: So my day was supposed to start off early, however the ship didn’t get cleared for people to get off the ship until later than we though. I had lunch on the ship with Jordan, Flo, and Kristen (who has livedi n Ghana for 3 months teaching a few years ago). After we got some food in the tummies, we made our way off the ship to take our first steps in Ghana. The shuttle bus runs every hour from Tema, the city where were docked, to Accra, so we made sure to get there exactly at 12. Unfortunately we had to wait for a bus to get there for an hour. We got on at 1 and were finally underway. Even before getting out of the port gates my eyes were going crazy taking everything in. On the right was a covered picnic area where tons of people were sitting around, and on my left was a man taking a piss right off the road. I could tell this day out would be quite interesting. Out of the gate I saw women walking around with all sorts of stuff on their heads and shacks that families lived in that were in absolute shambles. The drive there was kind of crazy, buses must have the right of way, because whenever we came up to another car in front of us the drive laid on the horn and the other car quickly got out of the way. At the toll plaza, in between the lanes there were kids selling candy and chocolate and another woman with a box of some sort of snacks on her head. Every car we passed looked at us, and gave a very friendly wave. When we got closer to Ozu, the town that the bus let us off in, there were people on the side of the streets coming up to the window selling anything you could ever need; mops, batteries, magazines, some sort of ab work out machine, and DVDs/CDs. All the way along the road were little shops set up selling all sorts of Ghana merchandise, as well as some art. Getting of the bus was a complete rush. The roads are packed with cars, and tons of people trying to sell you something. Little boys walked around with ply wood, covered with sunglasses on their head. Whenever they came up to one of us, they’d stand the board and ask us to take a look, their own little portable shop. We ventured down the road, running into tons of SASers all bargaining with people in the streets for bracelets, t-shirts, watches, and key chains. My favorite item was a Ghanaian style t-shirt, with Obama’s face ALL over it. (It had matching pants and a dress too if anyone wants me to run back and grab a pair!). We took in the sights and walked along the road until we decided we’d check out the arts market. To get there we took a “tro tro” a long van-like bus that they cram tons of people on. First we had to find a single one that didn’t have people coming out the windows and doors. The tro tro in itself was an experience, on our way we picked up a number of people and dropped off a few too. Again, at every stop there were women with water and fans on their head, and kids selling gum and candy trying to push into the window for you to buy. We had a nice man in front of us tells us when to get off for the arts market. He walked us almost all the way there as his office was on the way. This market was SOO different than Moroccan souks. Down each hall there were people showing you their products and asking you to come in and see everything. They said “looking is for free, you need something for your mom? She big or small? Oh she’d love this dress or these earrings or necklace.” If you were taken in to see their paintings you saw ALL OF THEM. Some were pretty cool with bright colors and abstract images. Jordan and Kristen both got really cool ones. If someone got you inside to look at their stuff, they’d corner you in and all of their family will bring by things to show you. It probably took us a half our to get through one of the allys, little did I know, the entire place was a maze of shops like that. EVERY STORE you walked by someone comes out and says “Oh friend! Come in!” It was an interesting but really fun time, we went into one women place named Mami who joked around with us and bartered telling us that she makes all the jewelry and certain wood or beads are more expensive than others. We got a great picture with her, exchanged e-mails, and her brother next door gave us his face book info! Ha ha. The other girls spent all their cedis they took out, but I took my time getting a bunch of stuff for only 30 cedis, I’m quite the barterer! At one point Kris and I got separated from Flo and Jordan and while looking for them, every person was convinced that our friends were just down the way towards their shop. (they figured that every single white person there had to be the friend we were looking for) Eventually we found them though. We got a taxi back to the gas station where the bus picks up from in just enough time, well barely. The bus for the welcome reception was pulling out and in the street but luckily there was traffic and we were able to jump on! The welcome reception was pretty cool but I didn’t know many people there, of which were primarily girls. I think there were like 5 dudes out of 150 people. Everyone was just coming back from different places showing each other everything they got until the party started. We had a performance from the dance class at the school which was something I’ve never experienced before. It was cool, but crazy movements to drum beats and stuff. The “honorable head of education” or something of Ghana was there and spoke to us briefly. After we all got up and were served some pretty good food. We had beef and chicken kabobs that were really good, and really spicy. We mingled around talking to the students from Ghana asking them about class and things about them and what they do around the area for fun. We talked to one kid who was working for the US Embassy in Ghana which was pretty cool. I heard one of the city tours went by it today and said it was HUGGEE. It had heli pads and satellites and stuff, and there was strictly no pictures. She said it defiantly looked like they were doing more than we thought there. In all it was pretty interesting, they asked us a lot about SAS which was a concept they’ve never heard of before. I was very happy to go back to the ship, which feels like returning home, more and more along the journey. Tomorrow is an early morning for all sorts of fun!

WEDNESDAY: We were up at 6:15 for a really quick breakfast, but it turned into a mad rush to grab food and go. There were probably 6 trips leaving at 7 so the dining room was open early, with just a bunch of pastries. So that was a huge mess as everyone grabbed a bite and made our way to the buses. Our trip had 2 big buses and one 20 person safari painted one that Missy, Casey, Steph, Steve, me, and a bunch of other San Diego peeps. We ended up leaving at 7:45 and starting our way to the monkey place. We didn’t get there till 11, so we were all ready to hop off the bus. We got there and walked around back towards the bathroom were TONS of cute little monkeys running around and jumping from tree to tree. The little ones were scratching each others backs and just staring at us. They all had creepy red eyes and really long tails, so funny looking! We all gathered for a tour of the town we were visiting and made our way through the dirt paths lined with thrown together houses. Along the way we saw tons of adorable little kids, some curious about these 30 white people roaming around the town, waving to all of us and smiling for pictures, but the littlest children especially started crying when everyone walked through. Every family had a few goats along with a few little kids running about.  We saw a number of classes taking place at schools of every level around the town. We got a special showing of the talking drums that are used to signal break time, lunch, and the end of school, each with a different beat. We were shown around to all the farming lands and saw pineapples, mangos, bananas, plantains, and yams. We were also able to see weavers working to make scarves on a huge loom. We made our way back to our starting point and were all given mini bananas to feed the monkeys. If you hold on tight and walk up to a tree with it, they’ll peel it and take a piece from your hand. Weird little creatures, but it was pretty cool to see them swinging from branches in their natural environment. Before leaving the township we were given an AWFUL sandwich for lunch and were able to hang out with the kids in the community for a little.

After the monkeys, we loaded up the bus again to drive another hour and a half to the falls. At the base was a cute little village selling all sorts of woodwork and jewelry. We started our hike, we were told that it took about 45 minutes to the falls, but it was really easy terrain. Along the way the guide pointed out a coco plant which he climbed up a tree to grab and let us taste the inside. It defiantly did not taste like chocolate! It kind of looked like the inside of a coconut. To try it, you pulled off a pieced and sucked on it, but I did not find it enjoyable at all. Along the way we saw a centipede. Cool, but really creepy crawly looking. So, we eventually made it up to the base of the waterfall and before we could even see it we felt the spray of it. As we got closer it got stronger and when we saw it, all went crazy taking pictures and peeling off our clothes, trying to get into the water. This was the coolest experience; walking in towards the water coming down you had to walk backwards because of all the spray pelting your face and eyes. The closer you got, the stronger it became until it felt like hail pounding on my back. I can’t wait to show you the pictures, this was an occasion that my water proof camera was super clutch. The walk down was boring as we were all just trying to get back on the bus to the AC.  When we hit the road it was 4:30 and we has some serious distance to cover in order to get back to the ship. We had traveled so far north of Accra, that just ten minutes over the mountains was Togo. The bus ride home was only exciting because of the VERY bumpy ride on both pavement and dirt roads. It was bad enough for our little bus, we all would turn around and cross our fingers that the huge tour busses wouldn’t flip over because of the ridiculous pot holes in the road. Other than that, we finally got back at 8 and quickly grabbed some dinner since we totally missed it, and they had stayed open special for our trip getting back so late.

THURSDAY: Today I went on my castles and slave dungeons trip. We were bused up to Elmina, a Cape Coast fishing village where we were given a tour of Elmina castle. The building is the oldest European building below the Sahara, and it kind of looked like it. It was situated right on the water as it was an integral part in the African slave trade. We were shown the cells that were for women and the ones for men. We were also shown the “door of no return” where slaves would be transported from and sold to countries all over the world. After, we went to Cape Coast castle, another significantly known for its influence in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Our tour brought us through the slave dungeons where hundreds would be packed in with horrifying conditions, only to await a journey that many never survived. The day we traveled around these castles was SOOO hot. The views of the water front were gorgeous and Elmina was the craziest market I’ve seen so far. Boats were traveling in and out, filled to the brim with fish, waiting to be sold to the hundreds of people along the inlet. The smell was even worse than Morocco, which nobody thought could be possible. From our bus, the fishing area looked like a huge mass of colors. Thankfully this trip made it back to the boat on time, only because we cut out our traditional Ghanaian lunch, and were substituted with another horrible sandwich that had some sort of hot dog, tuna, and egg, all smooshed between two soggy pieces of bread.

When we got back we all decided to meet up at 9 for the shuttle into Accra, along with the rest of the ship. We filled two big tour buses of people going into the city to play for the night. Probably a hundred of us billowed out of the buses and onto Oxford street, the main strip. We all parted ways, only to meet up with a huge group of us at a place called Venus. From that bar we could see a huge club on the top of a building almost right above us, lit up with pretty pink lights. The WHOLE party made its way over there to find a really really cool club, with the top floor as an open terrace looking over the city. So cool!  Even cooler than that was getting a ride in the back of a policy/security guard truck all the way to the boat from Accra. But not really… our friend Casey had a little too much to drink and they had to escort us back to the ship. Good for a great story though!

FRIDAY: This morning I woke up to find another gross looking day in Ghana. Everyone was gone on different trips, so I met up with a couple of people who were going into Tema, the port city where we were docked. Again we found a crazy maze of market shops selling ANYTHING you could ever need. Clothes stores were right next to a butchers cart with pig feet stacked up and meat hanging from the roof, which was right next to a hair braiding shop. There is no place in town where you couldn’t hear music. Somewhere right outside the market where huge amplifiers that were pumping out some really cool Ghana beats. People were dancing in the streets and just having a good time in the middle of the day. So fun. We were on a mission to find a Ghana football jersey for one of the girl’s little brother, as well as some traditional food before heading back to the boat to set off. Along the street were tiny shops that may have 1 TV, and there were 20 people hanging out around it, trying to catch the football game that was going on. We were able to find a little place to eat and grab a few more Stars (Ghana beer) before peacing out of Ghana.