October 20, 2011
This morning we left Cape Coast to travel to Accra for lunch and then to the Volta Region for four days. After the Volta Region, our group heads farther East to continue our excursions, and then eventually back to Accra. After a few days in Accra, we will all individually leave for our ISP locations. I still have yet to completely figure out where I will be during the Independent Study Project time in November. Currently, I'm between a village in the Eastern Region or Tamale in the Northern Region, but definitely in Accra for the second half of November.
Cape Coast was an incredibly rich experience for us all. We stayed at Somma Guest House, which had a roof top restaurant/bar that overlooked the ocean! The views were so beautiful, and we ate both breakfast and dinner on the roof top everyday. On the first day we arrived in Cape Coast, we had some time to explore and relax. I, along with some other SIT students, went to the beach. The ocean water was so much cleaner than the beaches in Accra, as well as being less crowded. The waves were super strong but really fun to swim in.
The next day we took a tour of Cape Coast Castle, the youngest of the slave castle dungeons in Cape Coast. The tour was very informative, yet extremely sad. Each and every one of us felt different things. Though I have learned about slavery and the slave trade for quite some time, being in Cape Coast at the actual sight of all of the inhumanity was a horrific feeling. The castle dungeon was not exactly what I expected, but I learned a great deal about the history of Ghana, as well.
After the tour, we went to Kokum National Forest where we got the chance to do a canopy walk through trees! The canopy walk consisted of a hike up to the top of a forest, and basically walking on a small wooden plank with ropes on either side to hold on. There was a net with fairly large holes about waist-high which provided some extra protection. We were over 150 feet in the air! The views were incredible, though I was probably shaking almost the entire walk. The walk was over a mile long and had 7 platforms in between each stretch of walk. The platforms were literally small wooden platforms around a large tree, similar to the deck of a very small tree fort. The canopy walk was so much fun, and definitely ended too fast. It was also probably one of the scariest things I have done thus far in my life, but it feels like a really cool accomplishment. All in all, the first day in Cape Coast was extremely intense and overwhelming, but filled with various learning experiences.
On the second full day, we had a free day and went to the beach again in the morning. In the afternoon, we traveled to Elmina, which is right outside of Cape Coast. Elmina Castle is one of the oldest slave castle dungeons in Ghana, and is much more well preserved. The tour was much more intense for me, probably because the tour guide was more descriptive about the torture that occurred in the castle dungeon. It was hard to see such a beautiful view of the ocean from such a horrible place. Later than afternoon, we stayed in Elmina and went to Mabel's Table. At Mabel's Table, we walked along the ocean for a while, kind of recovering. We sat in on a lecture of the owner of Mabel's Table, a man from New York who moved to Ghana 17 years ago. He was definitely the best lecturer I have seen yet in Ghana. He is very involved in creating Ghana/African pride, redeveloping education in Ghana, and converting much of the Ghanaian exports to free trade. He was extremely intelligent and captivating. We were all blown away by the discussion that was informative for all of our projects. The food we ate at Mabel's Table was wonderful too! We had fish, chicken, rice, salad, and cabbage. Everything was prepared with a little bit of an American taste, which was a nice change in the food we usually eat.
The last day in Cape Coast, we had a short lecture in the morning on Ghanaian storytelling. Then we went to the beach, yet again. I had spring rolls and delicious pizza! The food at the beach is again fairly American, but enjoyable! Our last night in Cape Coast was bitter sweet because of the beauty of the town. However, the historical nature of the place is so brutal and horrific, that the learning experience in itself outweighed any of the beauty seen.
