ghana with the wind

I am completely in love with the Cape Coast.

This is the kind of town I think I had imagined in my head when I first signed up for this program. (Not that Accra and Legon aren’t great, but they’re urban, frazzled, dirty and loud.) It’s more tropical, beachy and colorful … it slightly echoes of Abaco, where I sailed in the Bahamas, but less clean and far poorer. There are several ports where fishing boats and all the accompanying men and nets paint a striking tableau, and the fresh fish is sold all over town (we definitely didn’t eat any, but it’s still romantic to talk about, right?). Luckily, the town doesn’t smell fishy at all … there is a wonderful ocean breeze that is almost as revitalizing as the new-to-us fresh air, which is essentially non-existant in polluted Accra. The beaches are breathtakingly gorgeous, and the water is warm, even if the Atlantic has really powerful, knock-you-over waves and even fiercer riptides. But it’s SO beautiful. And that’s all that matters.

And to top it off, we stayed at an amazing resort on the coast in Elmina called the Coconut Grove Hotel. I could literally live there for the rest of my life and be completely happy and satisfied. My family has never been the sort to hide away at a swanky resort when we go on vacation, but most of those in the destinations we frequent are overcrowded and much less desirable. There were so few other guests (though apparently the place was booked solid) that we had all the space we could ever want; although, those people I did meet were incredibly interesting to converse with. I met a Mormon family who were picking up their son as he finished his mission. He spent two years in Ghana and Sierra Leone ... and I can't even quite project how I'll finish just seven weeks. There were also this great pair of rowdy middle-aged men from Riverside who were your very typical Southern Californians and kept encouraging us to spend our time in Ghana "partying hard and gaining perspective," which I think is pretty fair advice. More good company: Kofi Annan stays in the same beachside bungalow every time he visits, and Will Smith has been a guest too, when he was in Africa to shoot “Ali.” The owner, whom we unfortunately didn't meet, is actually the CPP candidate in the December presidential elections. (I’ll have to elaborate on the whole election-season thing later, but the CPP is probably the third-ranked party in Ghana.) The hotel was so much more comfortable than the Legon house, and I think its going to be a test of our acclimation as to how we handle this flash of first-world living in the scope of our six-week stay in Ghana. For instance, the showers at Coconut Grove actually had hot water, great water pressure and no creepy-crawlies. I shared a bungalow with two other girls (reportedly, all for just 25 cedi per head per night!), and our porch had an ocean view. I also didn't have to climb a ladder to get into my bed, which is fantastic. To top it all off, the rooms were outfitted with air conditioning -- the ultimate luxury in equatorial Africa. We spent lots of time at the pool (trying to get a nice tan, of course) and playing in the ocean … so yeah, I never wanted to leave.

Anyway, besides relaxing and beaching, we had an eventful weekend seeing the Cape Coast tourist highlights. I think one reason we really treasured our downtime at the hotel is because our days were so intense and draining. When we arrived on Friday, our first stop was to the Cape Coast castle, which was a British colonial fort used primarily for the storage and shipping of captured slaves to the New World. We toured the castle, and it was so emotional to hear of and see the circumstances in which slaves were kept and treated, because they were profoundly terrible, inhumane, atrocious … words can’t even describe it. There were still scratches on the walls of the “Cell,” where misbehaving captives were imprisoned and left to die, as they clawed at life in desperation. So, definitely an experience. Painful, but absolutely worthwhile to see, and it's provided plenty of material for great, intellectual group conversations.

On Saturday we visited the Kakum National Park, which is famous for its canopy rainforest walk. This consists of a series of rope bridges strung 150 feet above the forest floor. It’s really difficult to convey in writing just how frightening yet exhilarating the walk was, because it was a sensory experience that mostly involved gripping the ropes to retain balance and some small semblance of security, viewing the amazing rainforest landscape and watching my feet slowly, steadily traverse across a 10-inch plank (that I think were laid on ladders and not even securely bolted to the tree landings that linked the circuit). After Kakum, we ate lunch at this restaurant that had terrible food, but a crocodile pond (!). Given this, we pretty much gave up on our meal and watched the crocs feed instead. We could walk within five feet of them ourselves (and sort of accidentally did so at first, then realized where we were, realized we weren’t being eaten yet, and continued to observe/photograph), and a lady employee came out at one point (she must have been the trainer or something) and offered to let us pet the crocodile for 1 cedi. A few people did … I did not. I am pretty sure I would have been eaten. So, in summary, I think if our study-abroad insurance carrier knew how we spent the day, we’d all immediately be dropped from our plans.

Once we returned to Cape Coast, we stopped into a shop downtown called Global Mamas, which is a free-trade NGO that trains Ghanaian women to run all aspects of a business (production, accounting, etc.). They take interns through the IE3 study abroad program, and I have a friend who worked with the organization. I am so jealous, because I think it would be an absolutely amazing experience. The store was full of fabulous merchandise – and when it goes to support a GREAT cause, how can you resist getting a little spendy? They also have a website (www.globalmamas.org), which I highly recommend you check out, because the merchandise is fabulous. It consists of bags, skirts, dresses, shirts, home items, baby clothes … anything and everything, all of very high quality and made in Ghana. (Fun Fact: President Bush met with the expatriate founder of Global Mamas on his visit to Ghana in February, and apparently had to ask her what “free trade” meant, because he did not know.)

We had a wonderful last afternoon and evening at the hotel – swimming, beaching, eating, the usual. The Coconut Grove’s restaurant has an extensive menu, and we all – of course – indulged in the American fare while we have the opportunity. After dinner, there was a bonfire on the beach, and I sat in the firelight while the waves lapped at the shore, having great conversations with my amazing group-mates and Leslie, and it was beautiful.

Another Saturday highlight: calling home (!) to wish my baby sister a happy thirteenth.

Sunday, we visited Elmina, another slave castle, and it was very similar to the first. Structurally, it was quite different (and it was a Portuguese and then Dutch fort, so inscriptions on the walls were in different languages), but all the terrible treatment, imprisonment and death were the same. What was striking at Elmina was the fact that the soldiers lived almost right above the captive slaves -- at Cape Coast, there was far more separation. Considering that they had to walk past enormous quantities of suffering people every day, wouldn't it eventually wear them down? I can't quite wrap my head around how it apparently did not. We had a really long, hot and dusty drive back to Accra, hitting all the weekend traffic on the way. The terrible return was an affirming sign of how amazing our weekend was ... and how sincerely the Cape Coast stole my heart.

(P.S. Tegra and Michael, are you SO happy I finally used this title?)