Ghana

Ghana

 

Day One

 

We woke up in Tema, Ghana to intense heat and pouring rain. It was the first port where there wasn’t a mad rush to the gangway way when they announced the ship was “clear to disembark”. Bridget, Gretchen and I planned to spend the day together and we started by taking the shuttle into the main part of town called Osu and onto a street called oxford street. I am not sure what I was really expecting before Ghana but I was thinking oxford street would almost be like long street in cape town (cute shops, tons of great bars and restaurants and very comfortable) but it was very dirty, broken down, and old. Like normal an atm was the first stop and there were a couple on the street and there were already sas students in lines at all of them. It was very quick to get money and we walked the street a bit and found a place to get lunch.

            In Ghana you either eat at a local place (on the side of the road cooked in pots that have food poisoning written all over them) or you go to a place for only tourists- like a hotel or enclosed restaurant. At these places they also know they can charge high prices because we really have no other option of a place to eat. Anyways, grethcen, rachele, bridget and I picked a hotel/ restaurant and ate in the back garden. We got drinks (that were veryyy strong- unlike a few of the past countries where we had to ask for extra shots or else it was like drinking juice) and some food. Another thing about Ghana is that they are on Ghana time- everything takes about triple the time as normal and you have to ask and ask again for more ketchup or the bill or another drink.

            After our very long lunch we decided to jump in a cab to one of the big markets. This was definitely a sight to see. It was by far the most local and real market I have been to. Vendors everywhere selling their fruits, veggies, and packaged goods from the dusty, dirty ground or on buckets. Bridget saw a little boy selling peppers and felt badly so she bought some. It was really funny because a bit later she realized that she really had absolutely no use for “soup peppers”. The market was really cool to see just because it was so busy and it was also one of the first markets I have been to where I did not even think about wanting to buy a single thing. Most places on my voyage I can at least imagine buying some of the veggies or fruits but here there was absolutely no way I would have eaten anything. There were also tons of people selling dried and salted fish and it absolutely reeked.

            From the market we headed to Jamestown, a poor beach town located near Accra. When our cab dropped us off we saw some kids playing soccer and 2 guys came up to and told us they were teachers at the school and offered to walk us around the town. They were very nice and friendly so we agreed. They took us down to the beach, which is completely covered about a mile by a mile and a half of some of the poorest housing and people I have ever seen. There were tons of wooden or tin shacks with people sitting in and around them going about daily business: making food in buckets, washing clothes, breast feeding, peeing, etc. It was really intense walking through it. The teachers showed us the outside of the “school”- a larger shack with some paintings on the outside. I was honestly a bit skeptical if they were actually teachers because they asked us for money at the end to give to the school. Bridget was really good about asking lots and lots of questions along the way to find out more about the school and students and what they do and what the donations go towards etc. They seemed very knowledgeable and legitimate so we ended up giving them some money and hopefully it goes towards the school and the kids! I guess that’s really just horrible of me for doubting them so much but I will never know.

            After this we decided to head to the beach hotel we were going to stay at that night. We were told it was 30 minutes away- 1.5 hours, lots of bumpy dirt roads and being freaked out at how in the middle of no where we were- we arrived at the beach hotel, Milly’s. The reception was closed and there was a blackout. We were hot, tired, hungry, and pretty much in awful moods. We got some drinks, awesome fish and chips and hung out with other sas kids who happened to be there too! We were pretty exhausted and at this point and Gretchen had to head back because she had a field lab the next day. I felt so badly she drove all the way there and only a couple hours later had to drive all the way back. Then Ginger showed up with a few other sas people! She was also rightfully a bit freaked out about the blackout and how far away we were from anything and anywhere. We hung out at the beach bar a bit longer then went to our little bungalow, all snuggled into the big bed, put the mosquito net over us and watched Aladdin and fell asleep.

 

Day 2- My Birthday!

Ginger, Bridget and I slept in till about 9:30 which was really nice! I went out onto the beach were I got to see all the locals just coming in from catching fish. They go out in these boats that look like giant wooden canoes- about 25 feet long. There were about 10 of them up on the beach and there were lots of people unloading the fish in nets and ladies starting to clean them so that they could bring them to the market as soon as possible. I walked down the beach 200 yards and it was really beautiful- a few locals came up to me and would always say the same thing in the same pitch and intonation: “hi, how are you? What is your name? where are you from?” its like a script they have learned and when I would respond they really didn’t have anything to say. After this 10 minute walk I honestly didn’t feel comfortable going any further by myself so I turned around and went back to the hotel for a delicious breakfast with all the sas students who were there (about 7 of us- 4 that I just really met the night before). I got cinnamon French toast and a big fruit salad which were both was delicious! Bridget lost her contacts and forgot her glasses so was a bit blind and she also had plans to meet Morgan back in Accra so she had to head back to the ship around 1. I felt badly that it was so far away and she had to turn around so quickly. When we finally had power again I tried to charge my phone but found out my charger was broken and no one else had the charger I needed- so that was that.

Ginger and I chatted more, relaxed and waited until about 4 to head to Cape Coast. The drive was supposed to be 2 hours which was long but we knew we wanted to get to Cape Coast that night so we could do all the slave dungeons and castles the next day. 5 and a half hours later we made it to our hotel. The traffic was awful, our driver stopped at about 3 different mechanics, 3 road blocks, took us to the wrong hotel, had to walk across a pedestrian only bridge in the middle of Elmina in the dark to get to another cab that could take us to our hotel because the bridge was out, and arguing over the fare as our driver tried to charge us an extra 100 cedi- made for a pretty unforgettable birthday.  At 10 pm when we finally got there, one of our best guy friends, James, was using the wifi at the reception and we could not have been happier to see a familiar face! We checked into our room then went to the restaurant for dinner. We had delicious fresh fish and lobster and James hung out with us while we ate. There were no alcoholic drinks served that late so we had sprite instead! Exhausted, ginger and I fell asleep watching Aladdin.  Certainly an interesting and not your average birthday but one I will never forget!

 

Day 3:

Ginger and I woke up and were able to enjoy our hotel in the morning. The hotel was definitely one of the only “nice” hotels I saw in Ghana. It was on the beach, had a big pool, and beautiful landscaping. There was a funny little golf course next to it, old tennis and basketball courts, and even a horse stable! Decided against the horses due to the extreme heat- it would have been miserable and also they weren’t exactly in the best condition. Ginger and I had breakfast then decided to head into Elmina to see the slave dungeon and St. Jago castle. The town itself was extremely poor, dusty, and run down. The beach it is on is absolutely gorgeous with bright blue water and tons of little fishing ships. The Castle has a long history dating back to the 1600s when the Portuguese built it. It changed hands and purposes many times: a place to exchange goods like gold, silver, and ivory, to a place to hold and transport slaves.  The dungeons and cells were in the basement and lower floor and the upper floors housed the generals and various governors. It was really intense to go on the tour and see where hundreds of slaves would be crammed together for 6 weeks or more awaiting an unknown fate. To think that people were in these teeny areas in the dark completely cramped and lying in their own waste. Definitely a moving experience I was really glad I got to see. We had lunch and then went to another castle/ fort 30 minutes away. It was a bit larger and had a surprisingly good museum attached to it. Here we were able to see the “gate of no return” which when you stopped to think was really moving.

 

After this we took a cab back to the hotel to get our bags then take another cab to Takoradi.  Cabs in Ghana were always an experience. They were usually very old and would never come close to passing inspection in the US. The drivers would always try to rip you off at the end of your ride saying that it took longer than he thought so he wanted to charge us more. It was so annoying and we learned to be very firm and not let them cheat us. All along the road during our long cab rides you could buy banana chips, massive loafs of bread, or nuts. They were all sold by women who carried everything on their heads! One of our drivers bought a loaf at one point and we got banana chips. When we got to takoradi we went out to dinner at Captain Hooks- Ginger found it on trip advisor on her phone (thank god for her unlimited international plan!) Ginger and I got some drinks where we learned that in order to get anything other than a beer you have to order everything: a glass with ice with a shot of rum with a glass of mixed fruit juice with a bottle of sparkling water. Then we sort of created our own drinks from that! 2 hours later our food came! We found this to be very normal in Ghana and all of our meals took forever. We joked that when we ordered they drove to the pier to get in their boat to go fishing to catch the fish to drive it back to the restaurant to cook it then wait another hour then serve it.  It was really delicious though and we got awesome lobster, grouper, and king prawns. As it got later a lot more people came to the restaurant- all white foreigners. Throughout my trip I was also shocked at just how expensive it was in Ghana. I was expecting everything to be super cheap but the locals really know how to charge way more to non- locals. We met some great Belgians who are working on building a new harbor in Takoradi. They were really friendly and at the end of the night they had their driver- ebineezer- take us back to the ship for free (we tipped him 10 cedi though)! They were mostly older and in their mid 30s and 40s and it was interesting to talk to a few of them about all the places they have been and how now they really don’t have a home because they just go from port to port and never back to Belgium. Ginger and I had a really great night and after a 30 minute wait and asking 4 times- we got the bill and headed back. Bridget was gone so Ginger slept in my room and we snuggled and watched Aladdin #2 that was looping on the ship tvs!

 

Day 4

 

Ginger and I were up and ready to go by 8am. We were hoping to get in touch with Erin’s Priest from home who is now in Takoradi but we never got in touch with him. Instead we went to the main market. It was a Sunday so some people said it would be very quiet because most people would be at church- but it was far from quiet! People selling stinky fish, more onions than I have ever seen in my life, tomatoes, fruits, old clothes, etc.  I really think the clothes that were being sold were basically donations from countries like the US that got into the wrong hands that are now being sold instead of given away. We bought a mango, papaya, avocados, and pineapple at a stand and we talked to the girls selling it for a while. They were the cutest and most friendly locals of my whole trip. They were 17 and 15 years old and when we asked what we should do to cut the fruit one of them said she would go buy us a knife if we gave her one cedi (less than 30 cents). 5 minutes later she comes back with a big huge cutting knife that if we had tired to buy it would probably have been 30 cedi! Also Ginger and I over the course of our many cab rides had been hearing this one song a lot and we really liked it so we started singing it to see if they knew it so that we could find it on YouTube or something. The girls thought it was hilarious and they had it to play on their little go phone. We were all dancing to it and it was really funny. When we asked what we should do (because Takoradi basically has nothing) they suggested we go to Vienna beach for the rest of the day. One of the girls got us a cab and talked to the driver to only charge us 5 cedi.

            We got to the beach and there was a little restaurant club area with a pool and bar and restaurant. Ginger and I sat and ate a lot of fruit and chatted and got a beer. I sort of felt guilty for sitting on the beach while in Ghana and wish we were taking more advantage of where we were but when we came to think of it- there really isn’t much else to do. The city is dirty, poor and not necessarily safe to walk around in as 2 young white girls. Also there are no cultural sites in Ghana besides the slave forts we did the day before. We went for a beach walk and all along the way we were approached by men who would ask our name and where we were from. It was nice at first but then they would ask to be facebook friends or get our number or our emails and it just made us really uncomfortable. As much as I would have liked to have a nice conversation and get to know some local people they were extremely forward and made us feel really out of place.

            After hanging out longer at the restaurant on the beach we met up with 2 sas guys and decided to go to “the country club” which was recommended by the Belgians from the night before.  The cab driver had no idea where he was going and after asking lots of people on the side of the road, we found it.  It was definitely the country club of takoradi and it was really funny to compare it to any country club in the US. There was a super old tennis court, grungy pool, bar, but a pretty nice lounge area with tv, couches, bar, and pool table. We hung out for a while and had a really good dinner and met more really nice Europeans who were working in Ghana. It was fun to meet more people and see what the “country club” of Ghana was all about!

 

 

Day 5

The last day was a lot of the same and I was not the only one who was having trouble finding stuff to do in Takoradi. The majority of the students, life long learners, and faculty all were sort of aimlessly wondering what to do. Most people were just trying to find a decent place to eat or go to the beach. I ended up going to the same beach bar from the day before with a group of people. We had a good time swimming and hanging out. We still had to be very cautious leaving our bags on the beach and always had at least a few of us watching it. I headed back to the ship with my friend, Sally, and we did some shopping outside the ship where some vendors were set up. Smart of them to go there because everyone was just trying to use up their last cedi.

Its good to be back on the ship and we have 8 days till morocco! I am excited for a long stretch on the boat- I have a lot of work but it will be good to hang out with friends and enjoy some of the last time on the ship. We had a big bbq tonight and it was set up outside on the 7^th deck which was really fun!

I also had the best surprise waiting for me when I got back: 2 letters from my mom and a birthday package from my sisters!!!! It was the best surprise ever! My sisters sent  letters, magazines, candy, chap stick, and other goodies- they know me too well! My mom sent stickers too and signed her letter with a kiss-which was so sweet!

I will try to post some pictures from Ghana tomorrow!