After a week of midterms, Mauritius was exactly what the SAS community needed. We came into port in the midst of the most crystal clear blue water I have ever seen. Customs cleared the ship quickly and most of the students got off the ship immediately. We were in a port that didn’t allow us to walk into the main part of town, so we had to take a water taxi into the visitor-friendly portion of the waterfront. We hopped on the water taxi, completely crowded with students, and slowly made our way across the water to the waterfront, with palm trees and little sail boats and a bunch more water taxis awaiting on the other side. After we hopped off the water taxi, we asked a taxi driver to take us on a tour of Mauritius for a couple hours before we had to be on the ship for an afternoon trip. The guy took us around the city and surrounding areas, explaining everything we saw and showing us some incredible lookouts of Port Louis and the waterfront. After we grabbed lunch, Chloe and I went back to the ship for an orphanage visit that we had planned with SAS. We got on the shuttles, and went to the S.O.S. Children’s Village of Beau Basin. This is a place that provides housing for children whose parents are dead, imprisoned, or otherwise unfit for parenting. The kids live in small houses with a “mom” and a handful of other children. Chloe and I hit it off with a little four-year-old boy and played catch and soccer with him. Three of the other boys that lived in the same house came over and played with us too, and were amazed by the stickers we had brought and absolutely fascinated with our digital cameras. After a couple hours, Chloe and I looked around and realized that none of the other SAS people were there, so we ran out and caught the shuttle just before it left! Once we got back to the ship, we cleaned up for a night out and had a great time hanging out at the nearby bars and pubs and meeting new people.
On the second day, I went on an SAS trip to Ile De Deux Cocos. This was, by far, the best SAS trip I have been on so far. We took a bus to the other side of the island of Mauritius, and then took a glass-bottom boat out to the little island that we would be on for the day. The boat ride was great- the weather was perfect and the views were sensational. The water was so clear and we could see everything through the bottom of the boat. The coral reefs were so beautiful and there were so many types of colorful, interesting fish to look at! When we got to the island, we all put our stuff down and lounged on the beach for awhile until we went back out on the glass-bottom boat for some snorkeling. The snorkeling was so AMAZING! The water was clear, the fish were gorgeous, the coral was unreal. We went back to the island for an incredible barbecue lunch and fruit bar for dessert, and then had more time to relax on the beach and hang out in the water. There was a beautiful villa on the beach that they allowed us to explore and I want to get married on this island and stay there…too bad it would cost $5,000 per night! After a few hours of relaxation time, we got on the boats and went back to the mainland so the bus could return to the ship. I came back and got ready for a girl’s night out with some of my friends in Port Louis.
Saturday was our third and final day in Mauritius. We slept in and then took the water taxi back into the main part of the waterfront. There were tons of shops and restaurants to explore. We had a great time shopping; everything in Mauritius has Dodo birds on it! Mauritius is the only place where the Dodo bird lived before it became extinct, and the Mauritians are clearly very proud of this! There are Dodo towels, stuffed animals, ceramics, pencils, watches, key chains…even staplers! So we bought a bunch of random dodo stuff to spend the extra rupees we had, grabbed lunch, stopped by an internet café, and then got back on the ship shortly before on-ship time. We sailed away amidst the decorations and excitement of the Festival of Lights that was occurring in Port Louis that night. It was a very laid-back, relaxing, fun port, and I think a good place to stop before we get to some more culturally shocking areas like India, which we will arrive in tomorrow morning. Two days ago were the Sea Olympics; everyone competed in various competitions to earn points for their “sea”- the halls we live in. I live in the Balearic Sea and we got third place! This was a big surprise considering how much smaller our sea is than the other ones on the ship. I am really looking forward to India, although I am trying to prepare myself for the shock that I’m sure I will experience. I’m so sad that we are finished traveling in Africa, but I look forward to Asia and the new things it will expose me to!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
South Africa!
South Africa was absolutely AMAZING…undoubtedly my favorite port thus far. Rather than coming into an industrial port and having to take shuttles or taxis to the city, we docked at a gorgeous waterfront port right in the middle of shopping, dining, music, nightlife, etc. It only took about 5 seconds to walk off the ship and be in the midst of all sorts of things to do. Table Mountain looms over the entire city and just completes the perfect silhouette of the Cape Town waterfront. On our way in, we saw whales at breakfast, and penguins swimming in the water around our ship! The weather was perfect and the views coming into port were sensational. We spent the day just exploring the waterfront area and trying to make plans for our other days in town. The street running by the water had restaurants, shops, and all sorts of street performers like magicians and musicians. We did a lot of walking and shopping, both at the modern mall (looks just like somewhere I’d shop at home!), and in outdoor marketplaces. They have a cool moving bridge that retracts whenever a ship comes through, and we saw a seal swimming underneath that! Lots of cool waterline in Cape Town! We booked a few trips and met a few locals and had some great steak burgers for dinner before heading out for the night. Cape Town nightlife is crazy and we got home about 2 hours before we had wake up for our trip the next day!
Miraculously, we DID wake up in time for our trip that day, and we got on a shuttle for…SHARK DIVING! We took the shuttle about 2 hours away with a great group of other travelers from all over the world. Once we got to the final location, we were swept into a room for breakfast and a brief overview of our day, and then we hopped on a little boat and went out into a beautiful bay of crystal clear blue waters. There were about 20 people on the boat, but only 5 could fit in the shark cage, so the first group got suited up while the rest of looked out for sharks! Once they threw out the “chum”, it was only about 10 seconds before the first great white came barreling toward it, mouth open, and emerged from the water when they pulled the bait away. We were all a little shocked and very excited, and we watched the first group make their way into the cage and continued to marvel at the multiple sharks coming right next to the boat. Chloe and I got ready to enter the cage next, so we got into wetsuits and booties, pulled on our masks, threw some weights over our shoulders, and climbed into the cage. The water was FREEZING but the excitement of being in the cage outweighed that thought. So we would just hang out in the cage looking around until one of the men on the boat would shout “DOWN!” and we would all grab a specific bar on the INSIDE of the cage to pull ourselves farther under the water and view the shark that they had spotted. They would come SO close to the cage and it was completely surreal. At one point, they pulled the bait into the cage and the shark after it slammed his head into us, right next to Chloe! There was one area of the cage of about 8 inches where there were no bars (apparently for cameras), and the shark just happened to get his nose right in that spot and into our cage, Chloe could have pet him if she wasn’t so afraid of him biting her! We weren’t afraid before that, but we were so scared of all the sharks that came near us after that! Eventually, they pulled us out of the cage so that the next group could get in, and we spent the rest of the time eating snacks and watching everyone else have their turn. We definitely had the best time though, because no one else was run into by the sharks! About 11 great whites came by over the course of the day, but all of them returned multiple times, so there was never more than a 2-minute interval without sightings of a great white. It was absolutely crazy! After we got back to the shore, we had some more snacks and everyone took warm showers and got back on the shuttle to Cape Town. When we got back in, Chloe and I were exhausted and spent our evening watching a movie and eating popcorn- something that both of us love to do and hadn’t been able to in over a month! It was a nice night.
The next day, we woke up early again to meet up with the taxi driver (George) that had driven us out on the first night. He had agreed to meet me, Chloe, and our friend Drew, and take us to a few sights for the whole day for a great price. We started out by driving about an hour to the wine lands, and stopped at a great place called Spier. We walked around the grounds, and saw many different eagles and other birds, and cheetahs that they have at the reserve. After we looked at the animals, we had a wine and cheese tasting. We were poured three glasses of wine and given small portions of three types of cheeses to go with them. The man helping us explained how to properly taste the wine and all the dynamics of the wines and cheeses and why they went together. It was really good and we finished off the tasting with some chocolate truffles that Drew purchased. After that, we found George and he took us into the town of Stellenbosch for lunch. We stopped at this really great, modern café and had lunch, and then walked around the town and did some shopping for about an hour. The town was really cute and I would have spent more time there if Drew wasn’t so tired of shopping with girls and ready to get back to Cape Town. So George took us back, telling us all about apartheid and the “blacks, whites, and coloreds”. We had already made plans for the evening and were short on time, so Drew decided to go back to the ship but Chloe and I wanted to go to Table Mountain so we dropped Drew off and George drove us up to the base of the mountain where we could take a cable car to the top and save the time it would take to hike. We hopped on the cable car with a bunch of pushy tourists and soon we were on our way to the top, while the car rotated and gave us a 360 degree view of the waterfront and everything below us. It was a little cloudy at the top, but we still had a fantastic view of Cape Town…on one side we could see the buildings and the waterfront and the ship, and on the other side we could see the beach and gorgeous natural aspects of Cape Town. When we were done at Table Mountain, George took us back to the ship and we got dinner before heading out for another night on the town!
I had to wake up super early the next morning to catch a flight to Johannesburg for a three-day safari in Kruger National Park. I have always wanted to go there and I was so excited to finally see the park that shares my family name! We arrived via South African Air in the early afternoon, dropped off our stuff at a fantastic hotel, and immediately went out for an afternoon drive in the park. We all got into safari jeeps with 9 people and a guide, our guide was named Stefan and he was great. He knew everything about all the animals we saw and catered to everything we asked for! We saw the sunset in the park and also saw all sorts of deer-like animals including impala and waterbucks, as well as zebras, a white rhino, baboons, water buffalo, and hippos. We went back to the hotel for the most AMAZING dinner I have had since starting Semester At Sea. Everyone went to bed early in preparation for our drive the next day that left at 5 AM. We woke up early for coffee, grabbed our box breakfasts, and hopped into our safari jeeps for a full day in the park. Throughout the day, we saw so many animals- giraffes, elephants, warthogs, crocodiles, more hippos, all sorts of birds (including a hornbill- AKA Zazu from the Lion King), and LIONS! Stefan said it is rare to see leopards, but we wanted to see one…and by the end of the day, we had seen one of those too! We went back to the hotel for dinner again and back to bed for another early drive the next day. At 5 AM, we went back into the park for a couple hours before we would have to leave for our flight back to Cape Town. We saw many of the same animals, but we told Stefan that we wanted to see a male lion and a black rhino. There are only about 300 black rhinos in the whole park, which is HUGE- we didn’t even see a mere fraction of it over the three days, but guess what- we found one! And we saw a male lion! We also saw a family of elephants, a family of hyenas, and giraffes drinking out of a water hole (which is hilarious). Stefan was a fantastic guide and said that it was one of the best drives ever. We seriously saw everything we wanted to see, including the prestigious “big 5”- water buffalo, lion, leopard, rhino, and elephant. After our morning drive, we got on our return flight to Cape Town and arrived shortly before “on-ship time”. I ran by the mall one last time for a few final souvenirs and then got back on the ship. We stood on the deck to see the ship off and waved goodbye to all the people on the dock and a city that I will certainly be back to visit. The view of the waterfront at night was gorgeous and we sailed away to the sounds of cars and ships honking their goodbyes, in response to our horn being sounded as we left the port.
Miraculously, we DID wake up in time for our trip that day, and we got on a shuttle for…SHARK DIVING! We took the shuttle about 2 hours away with a great group of other travelers from all over the world. Once we got to the final location, we were swept into a room for breakfast and a brief overview of our day, and then we hopped on a little boat and went out into a beautiful bay of crystal clear blue waters. There were about 20 people on the boat, but only 5 could fit in the shark cage, so the first group got suited up while the rest of looked out for sharks! Once they threw out the “chum”, it was only about 10 seconds before the first great white came barreling toward it, mouth open, and emerged from the water when they pulled the bait away. We were all a little shocked and very excited, and we watched the first group make their way into the cage and continued to marvel at the multiple sharks coming right next to the boat. Chloe and I got ready to enter the cage next, so we got into wetsuits and booties, pulled on our masks, threw some weights over our shoulders, and climbed into the cage. The water was FREEZING but the excitement of being in the cage outweighed that thought. So we would just hang out in the cage looking around until one of the men on the boat would shout “DOWN!” and we would all grab a specific bar on the INSIDE of the cage to pull ourselves farther under the water and view the shark that they had spotted. They would come SO close to the cage and it was completely surreal. At one point, they pulled the bait into the cage and the shark after it slammed his head into us, right next to Chloe! There was one area of the cage of about 8 inches where there were no bars (apparently for cameras), and the shark just happened to get his nose right in that spot and into our cage, Chloe could have pet him if she wasn’t so afraid of him biting her! We weren’t afraid before that, but we were so scared of all the sharks that came near us after that! Eventually, they pulled us out of the cage so that the next group could get in, and we spent the rest of the time eating snacks and watching everyone else have their turn. We definitely had the best time though, because no one else was run into by the sharks! About 11 great whites came by over the course of the day, but all of them returned multiple times, so there was never more than a 2-minute interval without sightings of a great white. It was absolutely crazy! After we got back to the shore, we had some more snacks and everyone took warm showers and got back on the shuttle to Cape Town. When we got back in, Chloe and I were exhausted and spent our evening watching a movie and eating popcorn- something that both of us love to do and hadn’t been able to in over a month! It was a nice night.
The next day, we woke up early again to meet up with the taxi driver (George) that had driven us out on the first night. He had agreed to meet me, Chloe, and our friend Drew, and take us to a few sights for the whole day for a great price. We started out by driving about an hour to the wine lands, and stopped at a great place called Spier. We walked around the grounds, and saw many different eagles and other birds, and cheetahs that they have at the reserve. After we looked at the animals, we had a wine and cheese tasting. We were poured three glasses of wine and given small portions of three types of cheeses to go with them. The man helping us explained how to properly taste the wine and all the dynamics of the wines and cheeses and why they went together. It was really good and we finished off the tasting with some chocolate truffles that Drew purchased. After that, we found George and he took us into the town of Stellenbosch for lunch. We stopped at this really great, modern café and had lunch, and then walked around the town and did some shopping for about an hour. The town was really cute and I would have spent more time there if Drew wasn’t so tired of shopping with girls and ready to get back to Cape Town. So George took us back, telling us all about apartheid and the “blacks, whites, and coloreds”. We had already made plans for the evening and were short on time, so Drew decided to go back to the ship but Chloe and I wanted to go to Table Mountain so we dropped Drew off and George drove us up to the base of the mountain where we could take a cable car to the top and save the time it would take to hike. We hopped on the cable car with a bunch of pushy tourists and soon we were on our way to the top, while the car rotated and gave us a 360 degree view of the waterfront and everything below us. It was a little cloudy at the top, but we still had a fantastic view of Cape Town…on one side we could see the buildings and the waterfront and the ship, and on the other side we could see the beach and gorgeous natural aspects of Cape Town. When we were done at Table Mountain, George took us back to the ship and we got dinner before heading out for another night on the town!
I had to wake up super early the next morning to catch a flight to Johannesburg for a three-day safari in Kruger National Park. I have always wanted to go there and I was so excited to finally see the park that shares my family name! We arrived via South African Air in the early afternoon, dropped off our stuff at a fantastic hotel, and immediately went out for an afternoon drive in the park. We all got into safari jeeps with 9 people and a guide, our guide was named Stefan and he was great. He knew everything about all the animals we saw and catered to everything we asked for! We saw the sunset in the park and also saw all sorts of deer-like animals including impala and waterbucks, as well as zebras, a white rhino, baboons, water buffalo, and hippos. We went back to the hotel for the most AMAZING dinner I have had since starting Semester At Sea. Everyone went to bed early in preparation for our drive the next day that left at 5 AM. We woke up early for coffee, grabbed our box breakfasts, and hopped into our safari jeeps for a full day in the park. Throughout the day, we saw so many animals- giraffes, elephants, warthogs, crocodiles, more hippos, all sorts of birds (including a hornbill- AKA Zazu from the Lion King), and LIONS! Stefan said it is rare to see leopards, but we wanted to see one…and by the end of the day, we had seen one of those too! We went back to the hotel for dinner again and back to bed for another early drive the next day. At 5 AM, we went back into the park for a couple hours before we would have to leave for our flight back to Cape Town. We saw many of the same animals, but we told Stefan that we wanted to see a male lion and a black rhino. There are only about 300 black rhinos in the whole park, which is HUGE- we didn’t even see a mere fraction of it over the three days, but guess what- we found one! And we saw a male lion! We also saw a family of elephants, a family of hyenas, and giraffes drinking out of a water hole (which is hilarious). Stefan was a fantastic guide and said that it was one of the best drives ever. We seriously saw everything we wanted to see, including the prestigious “big 5”- water buffalo, lion, leopard, rhino, and elephant. After our morning drive, we got on our return flight to Cape Town and arrived shortly before “on-ship time”. I ran by the mall one last time for a few final souvenirs and then got back on the ship. We stood on the deck to see the ship off and waved goodbye to all the people on the dock and a city that I will certainly be back to visit. The view of the waterfront at night was gorgeous and we sailed away to the sounds of cars and ships honking their goodbyes, in response to our horn being sounded as we left the port.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Ghana!
I want to move to Ghana.
I can’t believe what a wonderful time I had there. I didn’t expect that Ghana, of all places, would capture me so much, but it was amazing. The people were great, the culture was beautiful, and the history was interesting. I wish we were able to stay longer, but I definitely plan on going back and spending more time there someday.
When we arrived on Tuesday morning, Chloe and I woke up early to watch the ship come into port. The ship was rocking a lot and everyone was falling over on the decks, which was quite amusing. We were a little late on arriving to port so we went to breakfast while we were waiting, and we saw whales! There were a few of them and we could see them coming up for air and swimming in the water, which was really cool. When we came into port in Tema, Ghana, men in fishing boats were waving at us and everyone already seemed very welcoming. This was the first time that Semester At Sea has visited Ghana so we didn’t quite know what to expect, but we certainly had a warm welcome!
After we came into port and waited for customs to clear the ship, Chloe and I were ready to explore with some of our neighbors here on the ship. We hopped on the shuttle provided by SAS into the capital city of Accra, about an hour away with traffic. We got into Accra and spent some time walking around the streets, people-watching, and looking at the little shops and carts of items. We were shocked to see that everybody was carrying things on their heads! People were carrying food, clothes, crafts, even luggage…with no hands! So we continued to walk around the streets, and were blown away by how friendly and nice all of the people were. As we walked to various banks trying to find a good place to exchange currency, the bank employees would ask what we wanted and make sure we were served quickly and thoroughly, all the while asking us about our trip and what we thought of Ghana so far. Everything just seemed so simple and easy, and no one was in a rush or upset that we weren’t sure what we were doing. So after we got all of that taken care of, we took a taxi to the craft market in Accra. The taxi ride in itself was a hysterical experience. It is like a drive-through shopping center, people on the streets are selling all sorts of things, and if you roll down your window then you are guaranteed some face time with them. I wanted to buy a Ghanaian flag from a particular man who threw the flag in the window of the taxi, and then bartered with me until we agreed on a price- all the while refusing to take the flag back from me, which meant that every time the taxi moved, he would have to chase after us. We eventually settled on a price, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to give up on all of the other people in the taxi! In the end, he thanked us and gave us God’s blessing for helping him out. We laughed and chatted with more people while listening to the great song “Facebook Lover” on the radio until we arrived at the market. The craft market was similar to the souks in Marrakech, but less intense and obviously with different items for sale. Initially, we were swarmed by the vendors there, but when we made it clear that we were just looking, they became much less aggressive and just talked to us and walked us through the market. However, when we did want to buy something, their system was very surprising. At one point, I wanted to buy a bag, but the shop I was in did not have a pattern that I liked. The lady whose shop I was in went to another shop and took all of their bags, and continued to do so until I found one that I liked. When I finally found one, I paid the lady who had been helping me, even though it didn’t come from her shop. She assured me that this was common and that their system of trade and sharing meant that everyone came out even in the end. After we made a few purchases, everyone wanted to take pictures, exchange phone numbers and emails, and assure us that we were all friends and sisters. Even the people we did not buy from were a part of this kind exchange. As we walked towards the outside of the market, a group of college-age Ghanaian guys asked us to come to their shop. Reluctantly (we were all out of money!), we agreed, and we walked to a shop full of drums. We made it clear that none of us wanted to buy a drum, but the men simply gave us each a drum and showed us each some different rhythms, which we picked up quickly. Before we knew it, the four of us were in a drumming circle with about 10 guys drumming, dancing, singing, and shouting. People would stop by and join in, and lots of onlookers came to watch and dance. We kept this up for about half an hour and it was so much fun to feel so connected to the locals and their culture. Before we left, one of the guys, Anthony, gave me an authentic Ghanaian name (Ayine Poka- “God’s daughter”), and told me to close my eyes for a surprise. He clasped a really cool necklace around me neck and said “If you love Africa, you will love this”. It was getting dark and we knew that we had to catch the shuttle back to Tema, so the four of us said goodbye, exchanged contact information, and hopped into another taxi back to the shuttle and back to the ship.
The next day I went on an SAS trip to Kakum National Park. We left early for what is supposed to be a 3-hour drive. However, traffic in Ghana is TERRIBLE, and the tour guide knew it would take much longer than that to get to the park. Since we were on a schedule, the tour guides of our bus and the other SAS buses with us somehow convinced the Ghanaian police to give our buses a police escort for the next half hour or so, until we were out of all of the traffic. This meant that a police officer on a motorcycle drove through the middle of the road with all his lights and sirens on, forcing the traffic on both sides to pull over, and our bright green buses drove through the middle, honking and laughing the entire way. Eventually, we made it to the park, where we walked through the rainforest to a canopy walkway. This walkway consisted of 7 bridges, all connected with platforms and trees in the middle, about 40 meters high. We walked across the bridges, which were very shaky and sometimes difficult to walk on, but it gave us all a great view of the rainforest! After the canopy walk and a great lunch at the restaurant at the park, we watched a bamboo orchestra play. This orchestra was a group of students who played instruments out of bamboo and sang and danced for us. At the end of the presentation, all of the people in the audience were invited to the stage to learn some dance moves and participate in a song. We had fun but none of us had the rhythm or moves that the Ghanaian people displayed! After the bamboo performance, we loaded back on the bus for our drive home. Unfortunately, we were low on gas and the bus broke down. We stopped at a gas station and waited for help, but instead of being an inconvenience, this ended up being a cool extra stop. There were multiple schools around the gas station that were being let out at the same time we were there, and all the children came over to see why were there. We spent awhile talking to the children, taking pictures (they were fascinated by our cameras, trying to take pictures with them, and seeing the photos on the screens afterwards), and giving away candy and stickers. The kids were adorable and were so excited to interact with us, and we got to wait at a cool restaurant with crocodiles (which one man encouraged me to sit on for a photo because he had apparently trained all of the crocodiles), so I guess the broken bus was a blessing in disguise. We were able to steal a bus from another SAS trip that was staying the night in town, and finally got on the road. Unfortunately, this time we did not have a police escort and the drive took hours. Thank goodness the crew on the ship held dinner for all the late trips so we ate dinner and I went straight to bed!
Day three, I went on another SAS trip to see the “castles and slave dungeons” of Ghana. I took this trip for my U.S. South class, to learn about the slave trade and draw connections between the history and culture here in Ghana and that in the U.S. South. The drive was long again, but the castles that we visited were on the coast so it was really beautiful. First, we visited Elmina Castle, and then we drove just about 20 minutes to the Cape Coast Castle. It was really heartbreaking to see the slave dungeons. The stories that they told about these people and the experiences that they went through were just terrible, and to stand where so many people suffered and so many people died was really hard and emotional for a lot of people. The town around Elmina Castle was really cool though, it was on the water and hundreds of people were there on boats and bringing in fish for the day, with hundreds more waiting on land to purchase them. It was very loud and crowded but also really fascinating and interesting to watch. We left the castles early in anticipation of the traffic and, again, took multiple hours to get back to the ship. The trips were really informative and interesting, but it would have been nice to have been informed of the long drives in advance. Had I been aware of that, I wouldn’t have participated in 2 SAS trips in Ghana.
Friday was our final day in Ghana. Chloe and I went back to the craft market with some other friends who wanted to do some shopping. Our experience there was very similar, but the people seemed more aggressive- maybe they were ready for us after having American students come through for four days, but we still enjoyed ourselves and made lots of new friends, sisters, and brothers. The guys that we had been drumming with on the first day found us again and invited our friends to come have another drum circle, so that was fun. I tried to learn how to carry things on my head, but was pretty unsuccessful and I think served only as entertainment for the people we were hanging out with. The Ghanaian locals could not stop laughing at me and trying to give me more things to carry! After hanging out with our new friends for awhile, we said a sad goodbye, grabbed lunch at a fun local placed called “Frankie’s” and got back to the ship shortly before the mandatory on-ship time.
I bought a ton of souvenirs and gifts in Ghana, there were just so much cool, locally made stuff and everything reminded me of someone back home and it was easy to bargain! We arrive in Cape Town, South Africa tomorrow. The ship has been in a rough storm for the last 3 days or so, which has made everyone even more anxious to get off the ship than they normally are. I have never felt so disoriented and frustrated and tired, when the ship is rocking so much all anyone wants to do is sleep, because it’s the best way to avoid getting sick or running into people walking around the ship and we all have gotten used to the boat rocking us to bed each night. I am more than ready to be out of these waters for a few days, it’s very frustrating to not be able to get out of such an uncomfortable situation. I’ve heard that the sunrise in Cape Town is incredible, so I plan on getting up early to see the sunrise and watch us come into port. I have been looking forward to this stop more than any other stop on our trip so I can’t wait to get there and see what South Africa has to offer!
I can’t believe what a wonderful time I had there. I didn’t expect that Ghana, of all places, would capture me so much, but it was amazing. The people were great, the culture was beautiful, and the history was interesting. I wish we were able to stay longer, but I definitely plan on going back and spending more time there someday.
When we arrived on Tuesday morning, Chloe and I woke up early to watch the ship come into port. The ship was rocking a lot and everyone was falling over on the decks, which was quite amusing. We were a little late on arriving to port so we went to breakfast while we were waiting, and we saw whales! There were a few of them and we could see them coming up for air and swimming in the water, which was really cool. When we came into port in Tema, Ghana, men in fishing boats were waving at us and everyone already seemed very welcoming. This was the first time that Semester At Sea has visited Ghana so we didn’t quite know what to expect, but we certainly had a warm welcome!
After we came into port and waited for customs to clear the ship, Chloe and I were ready to explore with some of our neighbors here on the ship. We hopped on the shuttle provided by SAS into the capital city of Accra, about an hour away with traffic. We got into Accra and spent some time walking around the streets, people-watching, and looking at the little shops and carts of items. We were shocked to see that everybody was carrying things on their heads! People were carrying food, clothes, crafts, even luggage…with no hands! So we continued to walk around the streets, and were blown away by how friendly and nice all of the people were. As we walked to various banks trying to find a good place to exchange currency, the bank employees would ask what we wanted and make sure we were served quickly and thoroughly, all the while asking us about our trip and what we thought of Ghana so far. Everything just seemed so simple and easy, and no one was in a rush or upset that we weren’t sure what we were doing. So after we got all of that taken care of, we took a taxi to the craft market in Accra. The taxi ride in itself was a hysterical experience. It is like a drive-through shopping center, people on the streets are selling all sorts of things, and if you roll down your window then you are guaranteed some face time with them. I wanted to buy a Ghanaian flag from a particular man who threw the flag in the window of the taxi, and then bartered with me until we agreed on a price- all the while refusing to take the flag back from me, which meant that every time the taxi moved, he would have to chase after us. We eventually settled on a price, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to give up on all of the other people in the taxi! In the end, he thanked us and gave us God’s blessing for helping him out. We laughed and chatted with more people while listening to the great song “Facebook Lover” on the radio until we arrived at the market. The craft market was similar to the souks in Marrakech, but less intense and obviously with different items for sale. Initially, we were swarmed by the vendors there, but when we made it clear that we were just looking, they became much less aggressive and just talked to us and walked us through the market. However, when we did want to buy something, their system was very surprising. At one point, I wanted to buy a bag, but the shop I was in did not have a pattern that I liked. The lady whose shop I was in went to another shop and took all of their bags, and continued to do so until I found one that I liked. When I finally found one, I paid the lady who had been helping me, even though it didn’t come from her shop. She assured me that this was common and that their system of trade and sharing meant that everyone came out even in the end. After we made a few purchases, everyone wanted to take pictures, exchange phone numbers and emails, and assure us that we were all friends and sisters. Even the people we did not buy from were a part of this kind exchange. As we walked towards the outside of the market, a group of college-age Ghanaian guys asked us to come to their shop. Reluctantly (we were all out of money!), we agreed, and we walked to a shop full of drums. We made it clear that none of us wanted to buy a drum, but the men simply gave us each a drum and showed us each some different rhythms, which we picked up quickly. Before we knew it, the four of us were in a drumming circle with about 10 guys drumming, dancing, singing, and shouting. People would stop by and join in, and lots of onlookers came to watch and dance. We kept this up for about half an hour and it was so much fun to feel so connected to the locals and their culture. Before we left, one of the guys, Anthony, gave me an authentic Ghanaian name (Ayine Poka- “God’s daughter”), and told me to close my eyes for a surprise. He clasped a really cool necklace around me neck and said “If you love Africa, you will love this”. It was getting dark and we knew that we had to catch the shuttle back to Tema, so the four of us said goodbye, exchanged contact information, and hopped into another taxi back to the shuttle and back to the ship.
The next day I went on an SAS trip to Kakum National Park. We left early for what is supposed to be a 3-hour drive. However, traffic in Ghana is TERRIBLE, and the tour guide knew it would take much longer than that to get to the park. Since we were on a schedule, the tour guides of our bus and the other SAS buses with us somehow convinced the Ghanaian police to give our buses a police escort for the next half hour or so, until we were out of all of the traffic. This meant that a police officer on a motorcycle drove through the middle of the road with all his lights and sirens on, forcing the traffic on both sides to pull over, and our bright green buses drove through the middle, honking and laughing the entire way. Eventually, we made it to the park, where we walked through the rainforest to a canopy walkway. This walkway consisted of 7 bridges, all connected with platforms and trees in the middle, about 40 meters high. We walked across the bridges, which were very shaky and sometimes difficult to walk on, but it gave us all a great view of the rainforest! After the canopy walk and a great lunch at the restaurant at the park, we watched a bamboo orchestra play. This orchestra was a group of students who played instruments out of bamboo and sang and danced for us. At the end of the presentation, all of the people in the audience were invited to the stage to learn some dance moves and participate in a song. We had fun but none of us had the rhythm or moves that the Ghanaian people displayed! After the bamboo performance, we loaded back on the bus for our drive home. Unfortunately, we were low on gas and the bus broke down. We stopped at a gas station and waited for help, but instead of being an inconvenience, this ended up being a cool extra stop. There were multiple schools around the gas station that were being let out at the same time we were there, and all the children came over to see why were there. We spent awhile talking to the children, taking pictures (they were fascinated by our cameras, trying to take pictures with them, and seeing the photos on the screens afterwards), and giving away candy and stickers. The kids were adorable and were so excited to interact with us, and we got to wait at a cool restaurant with crocodiles (which one man encouraged me to sit on for a photo because he had apparently trained all of the crocodiles), so I guess the broken bus was a blessing in disguise. We were able to steal a bus from another SAS trip that was staying the night in town, and finally got on the road. Unfortunately, this time we did not have a police escort and the drive took hours. Thank goodness the crew on the ship held dinner for all the late trips so we ate dinner and I went straight to bed!
Day three, I went on another SAS trip to see the “castles and slave dungeons” of Ghana. I took this trip for my U.S. South class, to learn about the slave trade and draw connections between the history and culture here in Ghana and that in the U.S. South. The drive was long again, but the castles that we visited were on the coast so it was really beautiful. First, we visited Elmina Castle, and then we drove just about 20 minutes to the Cape Coast Castle. It was really heartbreaking to see the slave dungeons. The stories that they told about these people and the experiences that they went through were just terrible, and to stand where so many people suffered and so many people died was really hard and emotional for a lot of people. The town around Elmina Castle was really cool though, it was on the water and hundreds of people were there on boats and bringing in fish for the day, with hundreds more waiting on land to purchase them. It was very loud and crowded but also really fascinating and interesting to watch. We left the castles early in anticipation of the traffic and, again, took multiple hours to get back to the ship. The trips were really informative and interesting, but it would have been nice to have been informed of the long drives in advance. Had I been aware of that, I wouldn’t have participated in 2 SAS trips in Ghana.
Friday was our final day in Ghana. Chloe and I went back to the craft market with some other friends who wanted to do some shopping. Our experience there was very similar, but the people seemed more aggressive- maybe they were ready for us after having American students come through for four days, but we still enjoyed ourselves and made lots of new friends, sisters, and brothers. The guys that we had been drumming with on the first day found us again and invited our friends to come have another drum circle, so that was fun. I tried to learn how to carry things on my head, but was pretty unsuccessful and I think served only as entertainment for the people we were hanging out with. The Ghanaian locals could not stop laughing at me and trying to give me more things to carry! After hanging out with our new friends for awhile, we said a sad goodbye, grabbed lunch at a fun local placed called “Frankie’s” and got back to the ship shortly before the mandatory on-ship time.
I bought a ton of souvenirs and gifts in Ghana, there were just so much cool, locally made stuff and everything reminded me of someone back home and it was easy to bargain! We arrive in Cape Town, South Africa tomorrow. The ship has been in a rough storm for the last 3 days or so, which has made everyone even more anxious to get off the ship than they normally are. I have never felt so disoriented and frustrated and tired, when the ship is rocking so much all anyone wants to do is sleep, because it’s the best way to avoid getting sick or running into people walking around the ship and we all have gotten used to the boat rocking us to bed each night. I am more than ready to be out of these waters for a few days, it’s very frustrating to not be able to get out of such an uncomfortable situation. I’ve heard that the sunrise in Cape Town is incredible, so I plan on getting up early to see the sunrise and watch us come into port. I have been looking forward to this stop more than any other stop on our trip so I can’t wait to get there and see what South Africa has to offer!
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