America? Obama!

As the title suggests, many people from Ghana are very excited about President Obama.  They don’t seem to know exactly what his policies are, but they’re pretty happy that he’s president.  Anyway, as my time in Ghana draws to a close, I’ll reflect on a couple of interesting tidbits of my visit.

On the first day, I went to Cape Coast with a couple of friends.  We took a tro-tro, which is a 12-person van that doesn’t leave until it’s full.  When it finally took off, the ride was kind of like a rollercoaster.  A three-hour rollercoaster.  A three-hour rollercoaster that has no airflow at all.  But the experience was overall good because it was 6.5 cedi, which is like $4.  We found a hostel to stay at in Cape Coast that was also inexpensive and we toured the area a little bit.

One of the famous slave castles is in Cape Coast and it was in walking distance from the hotel.  The experience of going to a slave castle is sobering, to say the least.  I’ve been to two now—I went to Elmina today—and the feeling is strange.  Both castles have “condemned rooms,” where they just let people who were “unfit” for slavery die.  I really don’t know how to explain the whole thing. 

Also weird is the fact that there’s a market in and around the dungeons.  It’s a strange atmosphere.  And it’s a little disconcerting when you walk out of a serious environment and people start surrounding you and telling you to buy their things.  “Friend, I have a gift for you!”  No, sir, you don’t.  You have a business proposal for me and I won’t fall for it a second time!  We did spend a little bit of time in the market and talked to some people.  One person knew where Columbus was and he apparently knows people in Cleveland, so I bought a painting from him. 

The next day, we went to Kakum National Park and did a canopy walk.  IT WAS SO COOL.  I don’t know how high up we were, but it felt pretty high.  Then we had a long tro-tro ride back to Tema, where our ship is docked.

Yesterday I participated in Habitat for Humanity, where I learned that I am unable to plaster walls.  Also, a small child almost stole my watch; I had to barter with silly bands in order to get it back.  But I was successful. 

Today I had a trip with Semester at Sea (because FDPs are the worst) and it focused on slave dungeons.  We went to Elmina, another big castle, and then back again to Cape Coast (but this time on an air-conditioned bus).  Guess what?  The vendors remembered me and didn’t bother me.  Instead they asked how my trip was and where my other friends were.  Yay Ghanaian friends!

I want to take a moment to acknowledge my newfound love of goats.  There are a lot of them here, and they are hilarious.