Ghana

Ghana

Well we just finished 5 whirl wind days in the African nation of Ghana. Ghana is in West Africa and is the second most modern and developed nation on the whole continent, the first is South Africa which is the next port we will hit. Ghana was an interesting port, when we got here the ship was boarded by a few customs officials and about 20 soldiers and after they cleared us to enter the country they hung around on the ship for the rest of the day. When we finally got out of the ship we were in Tema so we boarded a bus and drove the 15 km to Accra. This trip took nearly 2 hours because the traffic so bad. There seems to be no regard for the lines on the road or really even the road itself. It was a total melee of motorcycles and cabs weaving in and out of each other. It was also little more than a giant shanty town with a few big and modern buildings awkwardly placed in the mix.  In Accra we went to the McCullough market which was this huge outdoor market, and on a funny note everyone that pulled out a camera was yelled at by the locals, but no one yelled at me so I am one of the few that actually has pictures of the market. In the market there were people selling everything from beads to toilet seats to luggage and this is because there really aren’t stores like Wal-Mart so everything is sold at these little stands or by folks that just walk through the traffic jams with huge baskets on their heads. After we went to the market we went to a hotel and checked in and went in search of lunch. For lunch we had the big native dish, this is a soup with some sort of meat (I had goat, it was delicious and all I could think of is that I finally found a use for Edith and Ethel) in a very spicy broth and a bowl of Fufu, which is a root vegetable much like a potato and plantain bananas which have been mashed to the point where they make a large sticky blob. The Fufu was rather tasteless but it really filled you up and kept you going all day long, the soup was insanely spicy and I loved it. Also you eat everything here with you right hand, the left hand is considered unclean, and they laugh at you if you ask for utensils. Instead they bring you a towel and a bowl of water to wash your hands in after you finish your meal. Lunch ended up taking about 3 hours and so after that we went out to a bar. The bar was called Monsoon and it was owned by a New Zealander named Steve it was a great place. After that we went back to the hotel because we were getting up early the next morning.

Day two

On the morning of the second day we got up at about 7 and got a few taxis to drive us to the botanical gardens. The driver said it would take about 30 minutes. 2 hours later we got to the gardens and they were a total let down. They were kind of dead and not particularly well maintained, but all hope was not lost we met these two little boys who said their school was nearby and they insisted that we visit it. So we went over to this little school and these kids just loved us up. They were so much fun and we hung out with them for a couple of hours. After that we went back to the ship to have dinner and to figure out what we were going to do that night. I was going to go back to Accra to meet up with a buddy of mine named Mike, he had gotten a hotel and we figured it would be a great place to go and since it had wifi we thought we could catch up with folks back home. However, he left the ship before me and when I went out to catch a cab most of the drivers were unwilling to do the drive because the traffic is was so bad. I finally found a driver and he took me on this wild ride through these back streets for about 20 minutes and then pulled over and said his car had broken down and I needed to get into a different one. The car he tried to get me in was a black sedan with tinted windows (the kind that Semester at Sea warned us about) and four black guys got out of the thing, I was little nervous at this point and I stepped into the street and flagged the first taxi I saw and jumped in and told him to take me to the port. The drive only took 3 minutes and the driver told me they were probably about to try to rob me. So I’m glad I got out of there when I did. Mike ended up alone at the hotel and he said it was in a very sketchy neighborhood and he didn’t sleep at all that night. I ended up  meeting up with a bunch of girls a the ship and we went to this outdoor bar called Manila that had a huge dance floor that looked more like a roller rink than anything.

Day three

I woke up at about 8 and went up to breakfast, and there was Mike looking a little worse for wear and he told me about the hotel and that he had left it at 5 am and it took him 3 hours to get back to the ship. So I was pretty glad I didn’t get there with him. We then decided that we were going to take the SAS shuttle into Accra and tour the major monuments. This day was a lot of fun, we saw the huge tomb of their first president and their national celebration grounds we also went and got fufu and soup again for lunch which was awesome. We finally got back to the ship at about 8 at night and we found a few girls that were insisting on going to this local reggae festival that the locals kept talking about. Everything about this went against what semester at sea told us to do so…. We went. It was really cool, they had a large stage set up and there were only about 10 white folks at the thing and all of them came with us. It was right on this little beach and it was the first time where we dealt with locals that weren’t trying to sell us something. We danced and just had a great time.

Day four

This was the only day that I actually had something planned, I went with one of my classes on a tour of two of the old slave castles. It was really moving; we had to drive about three hours to get to them. When we got to the castles they took us down into the dungeons and showed us where thousands of people were chained up and ship out like cattle. We also went to the “door of no return” which was a very narrow door in the back of both castles where the slaves walked to the ships never to return to the land of their birth ever again. Looking at these two castles it really shows just how cruel people can be to each other. After the castles we went to lunch at this little beach resort that was on par with many middle range beach hotels in the states, which was really weird… It literally went shacks and shanty towns, resort, more shacks and shanty towns. After than we went to a second castle and then back to the ship.

Day five

Today was an easy day. I went with a few of the girls to the art market and I bought a native drum. It is a really cool hand carved drum that in some ways reminded me of the drum my brother got me when he went on semester at sea. They also carved my name into the side of it and in a moment of homesickness I also drew out our family brand and had them carve that into the drum as well. Then we toured around the rest of the market and the girls all bought these native pants and bags and bracelets and so many other things…. Then we headed back to the ship because on ship time was in a few hours.

Conclusion,

So that was my experience in Ghana, I highly doubt I will ever come back but it was good to see what West Africa looks like. This place has one of the worst inversion layers I have ever seen, the smog just hangs over the city all day every day. There are no rules about littering so trash is just pilling up everywhere and it is rather disgusting. The venders are aggressive to the point of grabbing you and trying to drag you into their stores (this didn’t happen to me but it did happen to a few of the girls I was with) but on a whole the people here are wonderful and really nice.  Now we are off to see South Africa!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brazil

Well, after four days in Brazil we are back on the ship and heading to Ghana. Brazil was an amazing country, but man alive it was hot, hot and wet, and to anyone who knows me that is not a great combination. So try as I might I could not stay hydrated in this extreme climate! Heat aside the Amazon is really mind blowing. The first day we were here we got on a river boat and went to where the Rio Negro and another river meet, this place was unique because the Rio Negro is a very fast moving river and is highly acidic while the other river is much slower and is full of mud and debris. As a result when the two rivers meet the water doesn’t mix until about 12 miles further down the river, so there is a clearly defined line right down the middle of the river where one side is muddy brown and the other is jet black. After that we went further up the river and boarded these small speed boats and went cruising through the shallow jungle water and we saw several monkeys, salamanders, and a lot of tropical birds. Then we had a native style lunch in a floating building that was an interesting mix of modern and native tech, after lunch we went on a hike through the forest and found a few more monkeys. By this point it was about 3 in the afternoon so we went into the city and saw the Opera house and a few other landmarks that were near the docks but we were pressed for time so we headed back to the ship so that we could eat dinner and head to Rio!!!

The trip to Rio was about as bad as a flight can be, It took us over two hours to check in at the airport and because of this we nearly missed our flight, which was a red eye, and then we were delayed at the second airport by about 45 minutes. However, we did get to Rio, and even though we were totally burned out we immediately went to the Babalonia Favela, which is a poor community that is fairly typical in Rio, and took a hike to the top of the mountain that the community was built on. The views were amazing. After we finished the hike we headed for the Hotel where we showered and got ready to go to dinner. For dinner we went to a Brazilian steak house which was one of the best dinners I have ever had. You pay a flat rate and then go to a buffet, and after you sit back down servers come around with HUGE cuts of meat on what I can only describe as forks, and if you say you want it they will cut you off as much as you want!!!! It was so good and I had beef, pork, chicken, and even ostrich! When we finished dinner we went to the Copacabana beach and walked about 6 km back to our hotel. It was a great day but it was only day two!!!

Day three donned but a few of the folks in my group didn’t, so we left them at the hotel and went loaded up into jeeps and went heading up into the rainforest that sits in the middle of Rio. When we got to the end of the road we hiked up to a series of waterfalls, which were cool but were nowhere near as interesting as what we got to see next. The jeeps drove us to the tram that takes you up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. This was the highlight of Rio. This massive statue stands at the top of a mountain and can be seen from nearly every part of Rio. Also on a fun note we met two Norwegian girls that are traveling around the world for a semester, and it was really cool to get their spin on Rio and hear about the interesting places they had already been and then where they were going. After the statue we made our way back to the hotel, and after a quick change a few of us went to beach and then we went to a Samba dance club and stayed there until about 2 in the morning. By the time we got back to the Hotel we only got about 2 hours of sleep before we had to be up and ready to fly back to Manaus. The flight back was uneventful but was much easier than the flights to get out there. By the time we got back to the ship it was nearly “on ship time” so we didn’t have a chance to explore Manaus at all. So that was our adventure in Brazil. Now the next land it will be the coast of Africa!!!!