To start, the weekend before last was the optional trip offered by my program. We started the long journey to Kumasi, which is the heart of the Ashanti Empire which is in the central region. The Ashanti have been the prominent tribe in Ghana for centuries. We went and toured the old house for the chief that was built by the British around 60 years ago. The new chief lives in the new house directly behind the old one and can be seen from the upstairs windows. The old house we toured was filled with really cool artifacts from past chiefs such as stools, guns and other weapons, jewelry, paintings, and lots and lots of gold items (no wonder this place is called Gold Coast). The stools are a very important part of hierarchy. Like a king is enthroned, an Ashanti chief is enstooled. It was very exciting to say the least. But nothing could compare to what the next stop had in store.
The next day we traveled to the north to Mole National Park. With the title of a National Park, you can imagine how excited I was to not be in a city. The journey to Mole was a very treacherous one. However on the way, we stopped at a water fall that was beyond beautiful. We took a couple hours off to take a "shower" and swim around. After a little relaxation, we continued on to Mole. In Ghana, paved roads outside of the cities are very rare to come by. This road was very bumpy with lots of slants and in a big bus; there were many times where all of us thought it would tip over. Luckily, 9 hours later, we finally made it to the park. It was dark when we arrived but were excited for the morning. We got up the next morning at 6 AM for a safari walk, but it started raining around then and the safari was postponed until 3. So of course, with that time, I went out exploring, something I was specifically told NOT to do…..oh well. I started hiking along a path around the perimeter of the Park HQ. It was absolutely beautiful. After the fresh shower of rain, everything just seemed so alive. The forest was such a vibrant green and the all of the animals were out to get some breakfast. There were lots of monkeys including green monkeys and baboons that came very close to me. It was a little intimidating. After my little exploration on my own, I came back to the Park HQ to find a spectacular site. An elephant had walked right up to the buildings to eat some fresh vegetation there. The wow factor could not be rated on any sort of scale. After the elephant left to find other food, I joined the rest of the group to eat lunch and prepare for the upcoming safari. We met our guide who was caring a very large rifle on his back, which made me understand why they told me not to go out on my own….I guess I got lucky. We set off and immediately saw another elephant eating from a tree. During the safari we saw many different kinds of animals that I didn’t see that morning on my own including antelope, bush bucks, other monkeys, and wart hogs. Towards the end, I was satisfied with what we saw on the excursion, but on the way back, a car told us that there was an elephant just up the road. We decided to check it out. It turned out that one elephant was actually THREE elephants!!! It was very exciting. Also there were a lot of baboons on the side of the road that let us come very close to them. Some of them had babies on there backs, which was also very exciting. Lets just say I went to sleep very please with how the day went. Before the safari, the guide told us that there was a very low chance of us seeing an elephant, but we ended up seeing FIVE elephants during the day. The next morning during breakfast, a monkey came up to the table and we all thought it was a very cute thing, until he jumped up on the table and stole my toast right off my plate. It was quite the nice finishing touch to the trip. We also went to see the oldest mosque in West Africa which was also very cool to see.
We traveled back to Kumasi after the Mole visit where we stayed on the Kumasi University Campus. The next morning, we went to some of the craft villages in Kumasi to do some shopping from the artists themselves. The first stop was the wood carving village. As soon as the bus pulled up, the bus was surrounded by people trying to grab people and drag them over to their shop. These people are very dedicated sales men. However they didn’t expect a very dedicated money saver to walk in there shop. I was bargaining with these people non stop. This one person wanted to sell me a drum for 90 cedis. I wouldn’t have it. So I bargained him down and down. I offered him 35 cedis for the drum and the bag that was made for it. Drums are usually between 30-50 cedis as a normal price. He did not want the offer. So I left. Ten minutes later, he finds me in another shop and agrees to the price I gave him. Everyone else was stunned with the price. A Ghanaian came up to me after and joked that he was lucky I didn’t go to his shop and wanted to know how I learned how to do that…I have a father as a sales man which he past on to me I told him. After the wood carving village, we went to the Kente village where they make hand woven cloth and also their own ink to stamp symbols on the cloth. We all got to stamp our own piece of Kente cloth. All of the symbols have different meanings. Some of the kids taught us how to weave the cloth on the machines which was very cool. We learned how the ink was made and got to help in the process. The ink is made from smashed up bark which is boiled in water. This would conclude the optional trip and soon after, we returned to Accra to load our pictures on our computers and become frustrated that they would not load on Facebook or any other online photo gallery. Oh well, who doesn’t like a good surprise? Haha.
The following weekend (this last weekend) we traveled to Cape Coast to witness a festival that happens in the first week of September. We arrived in Cape Coast on Saturday morning and took a tour of the Cape Coast Slave Castle. This visit was very moving in the way I’m sure visiting a concentration camp would move someone. The dark history behind the castle really gets to you as you tour the dungeons and cells. One of the most disturbing parts of the tour was passing through the “Door of No Return” which is the door that leads to the ocean where slaves were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas and Europe. One of the strangely cool parts of the trip was the plaque that was unveiled by President Obama when he visited the castle in July of this year. It was quite a place to visit. Afterwards, we went to the festival which was amazing to say the least. There was a big parade in the streets which had people playing drums and other instruments. In the parade, all of the local chiefs were being carried in what looked like a canoe with pillows. Some of them were throwing out things like candy and packets of gin. In Ghana, they really like their drinks in little sachets. Things like water, juice, ice cream, and gin. After the chiefs past us, all of the locals started circling around us and marched us down the street and dancing around us and having us join their fun. Unfortunately, most of them were pick-pocketers and tried to take anything they could from us. I caught a guy in my back pocket that almost got away with my wallet, but I caught him. It was quite funny because a very large Ghanaian saw this and grabbed the thief and chased him away and then stayed with us the rest of the way down the street. It was much more comforting. When the festival was over, we went to our hotel, but it wasn’t a hotel at all. It was a very very very nice resort right on the beach away from the city. This resort was full of European tourists on vacation. We went swimming and had a great time for the night.
The next morning we went to Kakum National Park which is a beautiful rain forest. There were lots of monkeys all about the trees right when we arrived, only this time, they didn’t try and steal my food. In Kakum, we went on the canopy walk which is a set of 7 bridges that are 540 feet above the forest floor. It was quite exciting to say the least. Some of us were very energetic about the bridges, while others were not so enthusiastic. But for me, it was just what I was asking for.
On the way back to Accra, a few of the people on my program were not feeling well, in fact they were miserable. We decided to go to the hospital to see if they might have gotten malaria. After a couple hours of tests, they ended up just having parasites from some food that would be easily cured with some antibiotics. I’m glad to say they are feeling much better.
So that was the adventures that I had going for me the last 2 weeks. But I guess I could talk about how I am doing in general. I’m glad to say that I have made Ghana my home and am very comfortable here now. I was feeling a little home sick a couple of weeks ago but now I am in a good groove that has become a regular routine. I’m taking some very interesting classes including African Drumming and Ghana Politics. I have also been going to the beach every Wednesday night for Reggae Night which is a load of fun. I’m also having a blast buying fabric and getting custom made traditional clothes for myself. Everything is super cheap and easy to get. On a different note, my hand has completely healed and is not in a bandage anymore. It is quite stiff but I am stretching it out as much as I can. I have also discovered that I have lost 18 pounds since I have gotten here but feel perfectly fine. I have also found my saving grace for food here. As a vegetarian, I thought that I would have a very hard time getting food that I could eat, but I was making do so far. But last night, a new little shop opened up in the market next to the hostel that is all vegetarian foods. There is a lot on the menu including tofu which I haven’t had since I left. Other than that, I am doing great here in Ghana and am continuing to have a great time and discovering this new way of life. I’m getting used to the cold showers, the hand washing of my clothes, the weather, and the people. But everyday, I’m getting more and more excited for my next adventure in Europe!! But one journey at a time…
Until next time.
Sean
