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!