First half of Ghana

Tomorrow we get to Brazil!!  Our last port… other than Florida.  It is crazy how fast this trip is going and how we only have 2 weeks left now. And we are now 1 hour ahead of home!  CRAZY But let me tell you about Ghana…
        Our first day in Ghana was Sunday, April 11th.  Since it was a Sunday, a lot of things were closed.  The first thing we did was go all over Accra (oh yea we were docked in Tema which is about 45 minutes from Accra) so we went all over Accra trying to find an ATM that accepted Mastercard.  After we FINALLY found one, we went to the Accra mall because our taxi driver told us that Makola market was closed and so was the cultural center, so we went to the mall.  When we were at the mall we ran into Emily and Kalee and they told us that the cultural center was actually open, so we went there.  The cultural center by the way is a market in Ghana where the people sell things they made… it’s a bunch of crafts and tshirts.  Lauren (my sister)’s friend Nana told me the markets to go to but he also warned me that they are pretty intense because everyone is telling you to come to their shop.  I thought I was a pro at markets though at this point because I survived the Silk Market in Beijing and Green Market Square in South Africa.  Well, as soon as we got to the market, I think everyone knew our names and where we were from within 5 minutes.  They were all very friendly there and wanted you to see their shops.  I thought it was better than the Silk Market because at the Cultural Center they didn’t hit you or grab you, but they actually taught us cool handshakes and just wanted us to look at their shops… and buy.  Hahah.  The one guy actually said to me (after I turned down his price), “listen Christine… I tell you a price, and I know your not going to take it.  You are going to get me down real low and I just give you a price because sometimes people pay the whole thing… but you’re smart”.  I made out pretty well there.  After the cultural center, it was about 3 o’clock and we brought Jaime to the shuttle because she was going back to the ship and me, Steph and Tess stayed out because we were supposed to surprise Jaime at dinner that night.  We went back to the mall to get some party supplies and get ready and then we went to go to the restaurant where we were supposed to meet and surprise Jaime for her dinner (she was going to be with Sarah) but guess what… Monsoon was closed!!  So we didn’t know what to do.  We went to where the shuttle drop off was and we waited for an hour and a half waiting for the shuttle that never came… and we made friends with the security officers there.  After we waited for what seemed like forever… we just decided to get some dinner and then just go back to the ship on the 9 oclock shuttle.
        The next day I had to wake up very early (at like 6:30 I think) because our trip left at 7 am (or at least was supposed to).  I went to the Elmina and Cape Coast Slave Castles.  So yea, we were supposed to leave at 7 but the one bus was late so we ended up sitting there on the bus, waiting for the other bus, for an hour.  We ended up leaving at like 8:20.  It took us 3 and a half hours to get to the Cape Coast Slave Castle.  Quick FYI… Obama and his family visited there when they visited Ghana in July 2009.  It was pretty intense.  We went into the cells and the lights were out so that we got the full effect of it and it was so hot.  And the dungeon we were in would hold 1,000 slaves and there were only 20 of us in there and I thought it felt a little cramped.  Places like that creep me out though too because when your in a place like that and you can feel the heat and the tour guide is telling you what they would do to the slaves just gives me an eerie feeling because you can visualize it so well.  It’s like when I went to the concentration camp in Austria and we went through the showers, it just gave me the eeriest feeling ever.  After we came out of the dungeon, we went to the “Door of No Return”, which is the door that the slaves would go through and then out onto the waiting boats to bring them to the ship that would take them to the Americas.  It was cool though to go through the door because on the other side, it’s all the local fishermen and all their boats, because the castle is located in a fishing village.  We came back through the door and then went into the cell where they would put the slaves who attempted to escape and would be put in to starve to death.  After Cape Coast, we went to lunch at the Elmina Resort.  It was on the beach and lunch was awesome!  The chicken there was so good!  It looked like it was going to be spicy because it was in the red sauce but it ended up being really sweet and really good!  After lunch, we went to Elmina.  The Elmina Castle was built by the Portuguese back in the 1400s and is the oldest European building in Africa (I learned that in my Sacred Places class).  Here we went into different dungeons again and learned that the governor (I forget of what… but he was European) actually lived in the Elmina Castle and would pick and choose which female slaves he wanted to rape.  It’s so sad that people can be so mean to other people.  I just don’t get how people thought it was okay to do this stuff.  At Elmina we went to the Room of No Return, instead of the Door.  There was a door there also but the slaves would wait in a tiny room before leaving through a very, very tiny door out to the awaiting ship.  What was most shocking at Elmina, is that over the cell where they would put slaves that attempted to escape, was a skull and cross bones.  It was the cell where they would put slaves and they would die because of the heat, and they wouldn’t be given food or water.  Its just so upsetting. 
        After Elmina we headed back to Tema and the ship.  On our way back we stopped and saw a coffin shop!  The coffins were so cool!  They actually decorate their coffins and they aren’t just plane old boxes.  The ones we saw were in the shape of a truck.  Theres all different shapes you can get and they usually symbolize what you did in your life.  For example, if you were a baker, you could get a bag of flour on it.  It’s so interesting!  We got back to the ship at about 7:30 that night.  It was a nice long day of driving but that was all of Ghana because you take local roads because they don't have huge main highways.  it's a really cool way though to see all of the country
 Ok actually it’s time for bed… I’ll write more when I come back from Brazil!  CRAZY!