Day two was by far my favorite day in Ghana. I had heard amazing things about Cape Coast but was unsure of how I'd be affected by it. It was well worth the 0700 leaving time. We spent three hours on a bus to Elmina, where our tour guide jabbered away the whole time. I tried to take good notes as it was an FDP but after awhile I gave up and succumbed to sleep.
Elmina Castle was extraordinary. The architecture is outstanding and its position is gorgeous. It was hard to accept the fact that something so terrible could happen in such a place like this. Elmina Castle served as a base for West African slaves to be shipped off to the Americas and the Caribbean (as did Cape Coast). We went into the female dungeons first and we stood in the court yard where the slaves were once lined up and picked for the pleasure of the Governor. Some of my classmates were not acting to their best behavior and I was appalled. It baffled me how people could act silly and not care about the historic place they were in astounded me. We visited the "Door of No Return", where the slaves were taken to the ships to take them to the New World. We had the opportunity to enter the "Cell of No Return" and it was so eerie. Men were thrown in here who were unruly or had tried to start their own revolution and were not fed, given anything to drink, and were not allowed to have light inside, so the doors were completely lightproof.
Thinking that these people, whom I have never met, went through such torture left an extremely solemn feeling. We stopped for lunch at the Coconut Grove Beach Resort and I almost felt like I was back in the 305! J Then we went to Cape Coast Castle, which was a much larger version of the first castle. The male dungeons had the capacity to hold 1,000 men at a time, an astounding figure. What I enjoyed about this castle was that they had the "Door of No Return", which we all went out, and as we looked back from where we came there was a sign called the "Door of Return". This castle's preservation board put this sign up to beckon to all who have descended from West Africans who were taken to return and embrace their culture. They were greeted with a sign that read "Akwaaba", the Ghanaian word for "welcome". I think that is what stuck with me the most, that there was something nice and welcoming coming out of this, to assure that the descendents can benefit from returning to the site of a tragedy and learning from it.
The next couple of days flew by, it's hard to put into words how much I loved this place. The third day we had a bit of a lazy start and made our way to Labadi/La Pleasure beach. We crammed 6 of us in a taxi and went for it. As we made our way to the beach, our cab driver warned us that it was a little unsafe and he did not feel comfortable with us leaving our belongings alone on the beach if we were to go into the water; he then offered to stay with us for the day. He sat with us at a table as we sat and watched the beach and helped us with the buyers that came around so they did not take advantage of us "Obrunis". He was an interesting fellow and after watching all the people on the beach, I'm extremely happy he stayed with us. There was a couple behind us with the most adorable child ever and after luring us in with her baby, asked us if we would like to see her gold. 1) it was fake. 2) if it WAS real, it was more than likely mined under dire circumstances. So we politely obliged. It's remarkable how each vendor can sell such similar things, just like in the Arts Centre. I know that it's like that in every port and touristy country but the amount of name bracelets, "travelers paintings", wooden bracelets, African garb, etc, that is exactly the same from person to person was astounding. It's hard to say yes to one person and then no to the rest of the following because you've already bought it, and normally for a more expensive price.
Normal conversation
Me: No, I'm sorry, it's all beautiful but I cannot buy anything right now, I've already purchased something.
Vendor: No, no. Mine is different. I give it to you for good price. $75 cedi.
Me: Thank you, it's beautiful but no.
Vendor: Okay, $65 cedi.
Me: Thank you, it's beautiful.
Vendor: Okay how much you pay?
Me: Nothing, I'm sorry, I can't buy anything now.
Vendor: Okay, I give you 2 for $70 cedi
And it goes on until you either ignore or they get the hint
It was all kind of the same old, same old. I met a cool artist though who was a Rastafari and we bonded over travel, the beach, and Bob Marley. He took the last cedis I had for a tshirt as long as I promised to wear it around the world, which I will. Will post a picture of me in it soon!
Day 4 saw a bit more shopping, a bit more of the Arts Centre. We went to Global Mamas, an NGO that empowers women and gives them the tools necessary to promote economic well-being for their families. I bought quite a few headbands, aprons, etc, just because it was for a good cause. And they took American money J After Global Mamas, some man tried to trade me an "Amanda" bracelet for my black Toms I was wearing. Not the best of offers so I had to turn it down. The arts centre was just as hectic as the last time and I only went to pick up a few things. My friend, M, got ill and one of the vendors kept everyone away from us and took us around to some of the stalls where he knew we could find what we liked. That was all fine and good until he took us to his shop, where he tried to charge me $40 cedis for a postcard, a magnet the size of my thumb, and a shot glass that had a STICKER on it for the Ghanaian flag. That was out of control. I bartered it down to $30 cedi just because I felt obliged to help him out after him helping us for part of the day. Whatever. D, C, and I then tried Fufu and Banku. We were unsure of how to eat it (with our hands but HOW?!) and some Ghanaian man came over and showed us how to do it by literally shoving his hands into the fufu, and slurping it in his mouth. Three times. We all stared at each other, unsure of how to deal with this man eating our food, until we finally piped up saying we understood, thank you for showing us. He was offended that we did not want him to continue eating our fufu but he ate a good quarter of the fufu ball before we even could dig in.
But geez, when we started at that, it expanded. The whole art to this is sticking your hand into this doughy substance, using your pointer and middle finger to cut a portion off and then act as a spoon to ladle into your mouth. And it was spicy. C and I were positive our lips were going to fall off and we were upset about it. We couldn't finish either dish and gave it to an adorable little boy and girl and their family just so we didn't waste it.
The fifth day brought me to an FDP about Queen Mothers. This could have been extraordinarily interesting but we couldn't help but notice how extremely touristy it actually was. The queen mothers are the people who make decisions in the tribe, I think. The whole deal was that the Queen Mothers had an advocate and we did too and the advocates did the speaking, we were just there to observe. Kinda. It was cool and we got to speak to some of them after and took pictures with the younger ones. They used my big cam and took pictures and they loved seeing themselves after. The FDP ended early and we went out to find internet (hence the pictures that have been uploaded) where I got left behind by darling K. It's okay as I found D, C, J, K, and C and we all hung out before on-ship time. The security guards at the port asked if K and I were married and if D and C were married. Amuuuuusing. We walked through the port, as I had the night before, and it was interesting. However, at this point I had spent all my money and was unable to buy the bracelets I had ordered from the vendors at the dock. I felt bad about it but I had attempted to meet up with them at other points and they were never there. So I can't feel too bad about it but whatever, I'm sure they'll meet more people with the same names.
So there it is: Ghana packed into a 4 page word document. I loved it. It sure was an experience and I feel as though I could happily go back. But not until I go to a few more places first!
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