HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I can honestly say that this year started a hell of a lot better than the last one. I brought in 2012 on the beaches of Ghana….a far better option than spending it in village.

The itinerary went as follows: three days in Accra (the capital), four days in Takoradi at the Green Turtle lodge, and the final three days in Cape Coast.   Instead of giving a full run down of the trip, I’ll give the highlights and moments that I think may amuse you.

ACCRA

The bus ride from Ouaga to Accra took about 20 hours. This includes the multiple border stops for immigration. As the only Americans on the bus, we tended to take most time getting through immigration because all West Africans are free to move about this part of the continent without visas. And then I of course kept getting the skeptical-american-look from the immigration officers until they heard me speaking English. The worst part of the trip down to Accra had to be when I thought the bus was leaving without me. Around 5a.m. the bus makes a stop at some rest station somewhere in Ghana. Sleeping, I wake up with a terrible pain in my stomach indicating that I had been suppressing the need to urinate for a few hours. I wake up the person next to me to let them know that I’m going to the bathroom and to let the driver know if they try to take off. As I get off of the bus, I’m a little nervous because I don’t know how long we’ve been sitting there or when the bus may pull off; nor do I know where the bathroom is. Some random man points me in the direction of the bathrooms which happen to be pretty far from the bus. So I walk rather briskly to the indicated location, take care of business and start walking back to the bus. I see other people from the bus walking back and I start to ask if they were getting back on the bus or if this was their stop. But I decided against it because I didn’t want to waste anytime. As I approach the bus, it starts to pull off. I should take a moment to explain that this is one of my biggest fears–being stuck somewhere with no money, or phone in a foreign country. And so I began to run after the bus. Now, remember I had just waken up after sitting for about 8 hours and I’m beyond out of shape…regardless of what you see in the pictures. So I’m running after this bus pissed off and sleepy. Every time I think I’m close enough to hit the side of the bus so they know to stop, no bueno. At one point the bus turns and I know for a fact that the driver saw me, at this point slightly jogging, after the bus. When they finally stop I get on the bus PISSED OFF. I start going off on the bus driver and his companion for pulling off without me. Before I could go off on the people I traveled with they were all like, “We told him to stop and that you were coming and he wouldn’t listen.” I actually have to stop the story here because if I disclose what happened next, it would be evidence for charges that could later be brought against me.

30 mins. later we’re off the bus and in Accra! Accra is a very interesting city. I only wish I had more time to really explore. While there, we visited W.E.B. Dubois’ house, which they turned into a cultural center. It was beyond humbling to be in the same house that Dubois, Malcom X, Amy Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Maya Angelou and so many other prominent Black figures have visited.  After Dubois’ house, we went to the Accra Mall which looks just like the mall in anytown U.S.A. And so what did we do at the Accra mall? We went to the food court and then to the movies! Sadly, the movie was horrible and a bit expensive but I guess it was still worth it. The second best part of the entire trip to Accra was definitely the sushi. We found an amazing sushi restaurant and splurged on two large platters of sushi and alcohol. It was honestly better a lot of sushi I’ve had in the states. And that’s not just because its been a while since I’ve had sushi either. The other girls were really excited about the KFC we found. I thought the chicken being sold on the side of the street was way better than the KFC garbage. On to Takoradi.

On the 31st we took another bus from Accra to Takoradi, another coastal city. That ride took about 5 hours and I spent the entire ride feeding and taking care of some woman’s kid. About an hour off the beaten path and through the mountains AFTER getting to Takoradi, was the Green Turtle Lodge. GTL is an eco-friendly, expat-type lodge on a deserted part of the beach. We were seriously stuck at this lodge because everything else was about an hour away on a terrible unpaved road back down the mountain. Nevertheless, the place was beautiful. We took a canoe ride down a river to look for monkeys and saw none. The rest of the time was spent drinking, eating, listening to music, and playing monopoly deal and banana grams. In other words a lot of nothing….which was perfect. While at the lodge, we stumbled across another American man who was in the process of buying land to build a yoga lodge a few meters away down the coastline. This man was nothing short of a nut job. He told us how he jumped into a dumpster full of burning trash for no sane reason at all. And then how when his friends came to pull him out he received third degree burns that he treated himself because he doesn’t trust hospitals….which made me think he must have experienced HU’s hospital as some point. Anyway, set the stage….the man’s elevator obviously did not go all the way to the penthouse. While in Accra, we brought firecrackers  for our NYE celebration. The man was so fascinated by them that he tried lighting one with the kerosene lamp at our table full of people. And so we confiscated the fireworks from him; until….We were lighting them on the beach and some of them wouldn’t light. So the man comes up and holds the end of the firecracker between his teeth and lights it! Yes! He lit the firecracker while holding it between his teeth. The messed up part is that the sparks started shooting directly into his face for like 30 seconds and then explodes into the air. The rest of us are standing there horrified.   Not believing what we just witnessed, everyone is looking at this idiot. He’s holding his face and we’re just staring and cursing soundlessly. When he finally shows us his face, he has a barely visible scar but complains that the worst part is his mouth tasting like sulfur.  I obviously have no words for the man, realizing what I just saw. But I was, at that point, highly amused. This was probably the most eventful night at GTL.

CAPE COAST

The main reason I wanted to go to Ghana was to visit the slave fortresses and see the Door of No Return. As an African American I consider it one of those things you just have to do in your lifetime. Almost like white people who have to go back to Europe. I couldn’t live knowing that I was this close and never got the chance to see such a pivotal part of my history.  And so I did. I went to the slave castle that was visited by Michelle and Barack Obama. The whole experience was beyond moving and definitely brought me to tears. I definitely recommend visiting the Cape Coast Castle to everyone, regardless of race. It put into perspective how far we’ve come and how much further we have to go.

The day after visiting the slave castle, we visited Kakum National park and paid about 35 dollars to walk the first canopy walk on the African continent……yea, we got..got. The canopy walk is a really rickety bridge that dangles about 40 meters above the jungle floor. We went really high up on this bridge that sways back and forth as you look out over the tops of trees. Yet and still, it was fun/scary/ not scary. Not to mention, we did see monkeys! They were cleaning each other in the trees. It was actually really nice to see.

The trip ended with a hellish ride back to Ouaga from Kumasi–the home of the famous Ashanti Kingdom–and then an even more hellish  ride back to village. And so here I sit, typing this post ready to back on vacation. I’m sure some of you are now wondering, “well where are the pictures?” On facebook. I will try to upload some of them on here sometime this week but we all know how slow internet is in village right? But the new profile pic is actually me on the canopy walk. So you can enjoy that for the moment

Of course to my family and friends (especially those that have remained in close touch) I miss you and love you all terribly. I can’t wait to see you all this summer!!

Peace and Blessing

Feist- A Limit to Your Love