Cape Town, South Africa Part I

Sooo here’s another long post about our most recent port, South Africa. Okay. I lied. Mauritius was our most recent port but I’m not sure if that really counts. We’ll start with Cape Town and see how far I can make it.

Thursday, February 17th a few of us woke up really early to make sure we could watch us pull into Cape Town. Anyone who knows me is aware of my morning attitude, so you know it was going to be awesome if I was willing to get up earlier than necessary. We met in the lobby, sleepy-eyed and in our pajamas and went out on the deck. The front of the ship was closed because of high winds so we got our first glimpse of Cape Town from the 7th deck starboard deck. It was gorgeous. With the city in our sights and Table Mountain in the background, we were soooo excited to get there and start our exploring. Wanting to get a better look, we walked into the Teacher’s Lounge to get the full panoramic view. After not bothering anyone for about 10 minutes, some guy on a power-trip kicked us out. Granted, we weren’t supposed to be in there, but no one else cared and all of our viewing options were closed off. So, we grabbed some breakfast (By the way, breakfast on the ship is boooomb. It’s soo good. The french toast is amazing and by far exceeds my french toast connoisseur standards, and the chocolate croissants…oh the chocolate croissants. Words cannot describe the deliciousness that these gifts to the earth are.) and started planning our day. Until that was, the first announcement came on and The Voice let us know that due to high winds, we would have to postpone our docking for a few hours.

Bummed, but understanding, we all went back to bed for a few hours gathering up energy for the day to come. Then we got another announcement. It would be longer than they thought before we could port and they would be showing a movie in the Union to keep us occupied. Then we got another announcement. By this time, it was getting pretty old. At 5pm they came out with a whole program of activities for the night. Back to back movies in the union, then an open mic. night. That day literally the entire ship went from finding it kind of funny, to being impatient, to being really annoyed. We were all just bumming around in sweats taking naps, eating junk food and watching movies. Your options to kill time on a ship are pretty limited and we already had cabin fever from the week long voyage from Ghana.

Finally, around 9:00pm and the start of Open Mic., they came on to let us know that we should be porting between 11:00pm-1:00am. Everyone was so excited to finally get off. Even though we had to clear immigration with a face-to-face meeting, we enjoyed the entertainment and then all made plans to go out as soon as we cleared, even if it wasn’t until really late. As a sidenote, the acts at open mic. were awesome always. Huge props to those participants. It takes a lot of courage to get up there and they did it at the spur of the moment. Well done!

Anyway, we waited. And waited. And waited some more. At 1am we still weren’t there. Clearing the ship could take at least an hour and a half and then we would all have to get off. We were still optimistic but when 2am rolled around and we still didn’t even have the local pilot, it was time to wave the white flag and try to get some sleep.

We woke up with high hopes the next morning early enough to get breakfast and get a start on our day in port. Of course, the rolling I felt when my alarm went off let me know that we still hadn’t docked. We got a few more hours of sleep after breakfast and around 10:30am, we finally made it into Cape Town. We had to do our face-to-face immigration clearing and I had to get ready for my day’s activities.

All ready to go, I stepped out onto the back deck to see where we were. I immediately fell in love. The city was gorgeous. Especially compared with Takoradi, this dock was phenomenon. The beautiful Waterfront District right there, the city a little beyond that and then Table Mountain and Lion’s Head completing the backdrop behind. People talk about love at first sight in relationships all the time. Now I know what they mean. In a matter of seconds, Cape Town stole my heart. Super cheesy, I know, but there’s honestly no other way to say it.

After clearing, I met up with Hans and Bonnie and the rest of the group to head off to our wine tasting. They had set up a whole wine-tour for us for Thursday. However, when that didn’t happen, we were lucky enough to be able to reschedule for Friday. Some of the wineries had to be switched, but we were still able to go. After we piled into the chartered bus, we drove about 45 minutes to the Stellenbosch region of South Africa where all the vineyards are. The landscape, like everything else I had seen thus far, was breathtaking.

As we pulled into the first winery, Kanonkop, I got my first lesson. Vineyards traditionally grow roses all around the grapes.  Aside from the aesthetic appeal, they serve as a warning to farmers. If disease or insects attack the roses, they know to protect their grapes well in advance. Smart right? Olive trees are also a common finding around vineyards, but you will almost always see roses outlining the fields of grape trees.

We got a tour of the historic winery and then had our tasting. We tried eight different wines, all of which were explained and enjoyed thoroughly. Heidi, our wine expert was so good to us. She was patient and explained everything while giving us the respect of real adults. Before going, Hans gave us a lesson as to what to do and what not to do so I think that helped. That, and we were all dressed well and attentive while she was speaking. I think we did pretty well for a first tasting!

After Kanonkop we went across the road to Warwick. While the first winery had a classic, timeless appeal, this one was more contemporary. It was also classy but had more to offer for a younger crowd. With lush gardens, they offered picnic sights with large umbrellas and lawn cushions. They also had outdoor patio seating and a restaurant inside. This tasting wasn’t as professional, but it was really nice and we had a good time.

After the tastings, we all went to dinner at a Waterfront restaurant, Balthazar. The meal was outstanding. It’s so different going out to dinner in foreign countries where people sit and enjoy their time together. In the States we’re so impatient. The service has to be quick, quick, quick. This meal was a perfect example of how other countries take their time with ordering, preparation, service, the bill, everything. It was very enjoyable, but two and a half hours later, we were all antsy and ready to go out.

We went back to the ship and changed for a night on the town. A few of us from the wine tasting went to this club, Assembly. We got there around 11:30 and danced the entire time until we left at 3:30am. I surprised myself at how long I could go but I guess I didn’t really have a choice. It’s not like you can just go back whenever. As a foreigner, especially a girl, you always have to go back with a group. No one was ready to go until that late so, we just danced and danced and danced.

After a few hours of sleep, we woke up early and went to breakfast to try to figure out the day’s plans. I read about repelling down Table Mountain before I left for SAS, and it’s something I really wanted to do. We had to go see it anyway, so we got a group of us together and set out.

We took a taxi to Table Mountain and from there took the gondola up. It was amazing at the top. You could see everything. And, with the clouds rolling in over the top, it was like smoke flowing down right over you. It was so cool. After exploring the top for a while, we went over and found our Abseiling guys. The five of us were ready to go while this one girl from England was debating. We convinced her to come with us and we all strapped in.

They hooked us up with harnesses to this short cable while we bouldered down to the starting point. That part was hard enough! We had to shimmy and climb down rocks bigger than me! But, it was totally worth it. When we got to the actual starting point, we were standing on the edge of the mountain looking all over Cape Town. We couldn’t even see the rock below us—it just dropped straight off. Ali and the English girl went first as we watched them disappear over the side. Allie Brown and I were second. We were sooo pumped we weren’t even scared. They strapped us into the new line and kept making jokes about being tired and blah, blah, blah. Even using expletives doesn’t describe how f*cking AWESOME THIS WAS!!! Sorry sensitive audience/mom, but there’s really no way around it. It was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. We were literally walking down the side of the mountain, hanging over Cape Town, South Africa. Then, half way down, the rock face just drops off. There was nothing to put your feet on. Instead of repelling down, you just drop off the cliff overhang and gently fall down in your harness. We were spinning around getting the full view of the place. It was absolutely incredible. We waited at the bottom for the rest of the group and then hiked about 45 minutes back up to the top. We were planning on hiking down, but after that nice little stretch, we decided we had had enough and took the gondola back down.

Once back at the Waterfront, we went to dinner at Quay Four and I had one of the best salads I’ve ever had. It had sauteed portabella mushrooms in thyme, garlic and olive oil, with sun dried and fresh tomatoes and feta cheese with a really light lemon and olive oil dressing. Delicious. And then I got a burger and fries too.

Once back at the ship, we showered and changed and were surprised with a wine tasting dinner that Brittney put together. There were 12 of us total and they set up a private back room for us. Asara, the winery, was beautiful. The grounds were absolutely gorgeous and the interior was old and classic, but with contemporary decorations and artwork. The owner’s Harley was in a case in the front lobby. While the tasting wasn’t as professional as the ones the day before, the wine was good and the food was even better. I had another good salad since I didn’t know I’d be having a second dinner, and then Ali, Kim and I split two desserts. We had this triple chocolate thing which was to die for, and then an apple tart with some kind of delicious ice cream on top which was also amazing. I’d go back just for the food alone. Yuuuumy! After dinner we all went out and had a good time. We started at Chrome, and then worked our way over to Long Street and went to Fusion before calling it a night. A few of us were booked on a safari for the morning so we went back and got everything ready to go. I was so well prepared that night. I took a shower before I went to bed, got my bag ready to go, and then made a list of last minute stuff to grab that I couldn’t forget. I charged my camera batteries and uploaded previous pictures to make sure I had enough room. I did everything I could…except set my alarm clock.

Takoradi, Ghana Day 5

Our last day in Takoradi we went and explored the town. Kim and I wanted to check out the market circle so we wondered our way down. We walked around the outer circle for a while but then decided to go into the inner part. Bad choice. It was so crowded in there and the smells. Oh my god the smells. Immediately a mixture of sewage, fish, garbage, dirt, spices and anything else you could imagine took over. We tried to walk around the tiny paths that wound through the vendors and stands but the smell was so overwhelming we had to get out. It was like a freaking maze though. We walked and walked and walked trying to find our way out. Finally, after passing stands filled with cloth, fish heads, tomatoes, pig ears and feet, peppers and other random goods, we saw the light. We had no idea where we came out but thought we should probably find a place for lunch. We wondered around town some more, ended up walking through some pretty sketchy places until finally we came upon this restaurant that would serve us lunch. They didn’t have a menu so we just ate whatever they brought to us which happened to be, surprise surprise, fried rice and chicken. It was good and Kim and I hung out there for a while before trying to find our way back.

We ended up being so far from where we thought we were. At one point I stepped over the street side gutter (they have trench like things as gutters on all the streets about 15 inches deep and a foot wide) and looked down. Aside from seeing the usual sludge and litter, I saw two rats munching away. That was the breaking point for me and we knew we had to find our way back quick. Gross. I still shudder thinking about that. Blah.

Thanks so some good directions and a little of our own good judgment, we finally made it back to the ship. We could have taken a taxi and been there much quicker, but we wanted to walk seeing as we’d be cooped up on the ship again. We got back and still had a few hours, so we went across the street to the Duty Free place and had a few with pretty much everyone else on the ship. Teachers were even over there enjoying their last bit of freedom (and alcohol) before boarding. We got back on around 5:00 and then had to face the reality of going back to school.

Senase Homestay Day 3, Ghana

The next morning was another early one as we were supposed to be in the town center and ready to dance at 8am. True to form, Ghanaian time changed things for us. This time however, we were ready—the elders weren’t. To kill time we went over to the school and sat in on classes there for a bit. This time went much better because I was with older kids who could understand me, and the teacher was really cool. He let me talk with them and teach what I wanted, but then he took over the real lessons so I wasn’t completely out there by myself.

When we were ready to go the kids all crowded us again and the picture bonanza continued. The teachers and principle even wanted to get in on the action. We obliged but then had to get going for our performance. Obviously, the town center wasn’t set up for us yet either. So, after helping set up the tents and chairs for the elders and audience to sit under, we finally were able to see our dance outfits! Made from African Kenta (sorry I have no idea how to spell it) Cloth, the girls got skirts and bandeau tops while the guys got some pretty sweet looking shorts. We were very vibrant in all of our color to say the least. After changing, we didn’t even get a chance to run through our dance before we had to go out there and perform for the town elders and the entire village. It was really intimidating. The music started and we could hardly hear it so the whole time we were all off, none of us knew what was going on. We must have looked like fools. They were all pointing and laughing like it was a comedy show. They even sent in a few local girls to help us because we were screwing it up so much. I think they enjoyed it though and I know we did. Now at least I can say I performed an African dance in Ghana in traditional costumes.

Seeing as it was getting so late, we really had to get going after that. We jumped on the bus and started the long journey back to Kumasi where we stopped at the same place for lunch and shopping. I got a really nice bag made from that African cloth and some other small things too. My lunch was mixed up with someone else’s though so it took forever to get my food. Finally, it came and I inhaled it all. Kim goes, “Do you even know what you just ate?!” I didn’t even care I was so hungry.

With our bellies full and wallets empty, we got back on the bus to start the last leg of our journey home. We kept ourselves entertained with Disney sing-a-longs that the entire bus was getting into, even the guys. Finally, after all that excitement, a nap, and a good few hours of bumpy bus time, we were back to the ship. We were all just dying for a shower so we got our stuff as fast as we could and got in line.

Well, we got on and were greeted by the worst possible news ever. The water was off on the ship. I’m pretty sure at least one of us shed a tear and we all had some sort of break down. No water at all. After three days in the village like that, I would have rather just stayed another night. Here we could see where the water should be coming from, but it still didn’t work. It was so frustrating. A couple of us took a bar of soap up to the pool to at least wash off our feet, but seeing as it’s saltwater it didn’t do much good.

Not wanting to sleep in our filth again, we stayed up really late and helped with the Hershey valentines campaign. Ghana provides a huge percentage of the world’s cocoa. Cocoa is notorious for using child labor. So, we sent hundreds of valentines to Hershey’s CEO asking him to stop using child labor. Hopefully he’ll get the message.

Sometime around 3:30am we gave up and went to sleep. I baby-wiped my arms and watched as my skin literally changed color. A guy came into the room where we were all working on the valentines and someone jokingly asked him if we stunk and he goes, “I wasn’t going to say anything, but yea. You really do.” We were all pretty bad. I woke up early the next morning and took a 25 minute shower—so much for water conservation. Blah. I would like to say though, the grime was totally worth the experience. I had an awesome time on our village stay even if I was the dirtiest I’ve ever been.

Senase Homestay Day 2, Ghana

Day two got off to an early start. Aside from being woke up by a chorus of everything from roosters to radios, someone also tried to come into our room at 6am. The four-click lock woke us up and then the guy must have realized we were still sleeping in there. We had to get up at 6:30 anyway to make sure to be at Fred’s for breakfast at 7. Only a few people were there so we went to find one of the only porcelain toilets in the village. It was kind of a tease actually seeing as you couldn’t even put toilet paper in it and it didn’t flush. At least it wasn’t the hole.

We went back to Fred’s after our morning adventure and had a breakfast porridge of beans, maize and ground nut (peanut butter). It was like the consistency of really finely mashed oatmeal. You were supposed to put sugar and condensed milk in it and scoop it up with this delicious bread. It actually wasn’t that bad and I ate the majority of it, but after a while I couldn’t handle the texture and surrendered with the rest of the group.

The first order of business that we needed to take care of was announcing our presence in the village and asking permission from the elders to stay there. Once again, we were late, but so were the chiefs so it was okay. We got to the town hall and had to go through the greeting process again. We went through and said our hellos in Twi (the native language pronounced Ch-wee), then they came through and said theirs to us. We stated our case, our plans for our visit and then got their approval. As nice as it was to experience such a traditional ceremony, it went on and on and on. The kids behind me kept me occupied so I didn’t fall asleep.

After the greetings, we jumped on the bus and went to the farms. We divided up into three groups and each went with different guides. My group went to Fred’s mother’s farm which was really cool. We got to see plantain plots, cocoa trees, banana trees, the leaf we ate the night before, the huge seed pods they use to make palm oil, and how they weed with machetes. We got to try a banana right from the tree and a raw cocoa bean. The banana was unlike any I’ve had before. It had a slightly harder texture and it wasn’t as sweet as the bananas we’re used to at home. The cocoa bean was interesting too. When the pod is broken open, it’s all white inside. The individual seeds are coated in this stuff and you’re just supposed to suck it off. It was slimy and tasted nothing like the chocolate we’re used to. 

Once back to the village, they made us lunch with the palm oil. It was beans with this cornmeal type thing and then the oil over the top. It was actually really good. We toured the school there too if you could even call it that. The building itself was made of little more than firewood and tree branches. The wall wasn’t more than four feet high and the “roof” was so worn the teacher said when it rains, all the kids go running. They had one chalkboard per room and shared textbooks with Obama on the cover. By the way, they absolutely LOVE Obama here. Ghana was the first African country he visited after becoming President and they won’t forget it. They have his picture everywhere including on cookies. They’re called Obama Biscuits. Too funny. Anyway, back at the school we handed out stickers and they loved that, and then they put on a little dance show for us. It was all pretty cool, but we had to go on to more schools.

At the next school, we were put into classrooms and the teachers just expected us to teach. I was put in with three-year-olds who didn’t quite understand English yet. They could recite the ABC’s but when you pointed to a specific letter, they didn’t know what it was. So we sang songs and finally, after time seemed to stop, someone finally came to get me bearing raw sugarcane for me to munch on. After all of the members of our group were gathered and ready to go, the principle wanted to show us one last thing; the computer lab. We got there and they had 5 old school computers in this room with a wood bench to sit on. Only three of the worked, none of them were connected to the internet. After giving us this whole spiel and having this kid demonstrate using them, the principle straight up asked us to buy them new computers. I totally understand the need, but I thought it was totally inappropriate. It’s like any white person who went there was expected to just give and give and give because we’re all so rich. I was just so taken aback by it and felt very manipulated by it. As a side note, the demonstration the kid gave was something in itself. He played an American police target practice game, shooting people in the streets. Nice right? And we were supposed to provide more of that?

Thanks to that whole deal our group was late for our drum and dance lesson with the village cultural leader. He was so tough on us. He expected us to learn the dance the first time even though it was confusing and hard to hear the beat from the lead drum or whatever. It wasn’t a typical eight count either so we were totally out of our element. Once we got it down good enough, we finally got to go back to Fred’s for dinner. That night it was a fish stew that you ate with your hands by scooping it up with a cocoa yam, a white potato type thing. It was reaaallllly good but pretty messy. Kinda of gross too seeing as we washed our hands in a communal washing bin (thank god I was one of the first people to go). We all sanitized hardcore that night.

After dinner, Fred wanted to show us a bit of Senase night life. We went to this local bar and there were only three other people there. I guess it was a Tuesday after all. When we walked in, one of the guys goes, “Where’d you get all these white people!?” It was pretty funny. We danced for a while but we were all so pooped from the day, we called it a night around 11:30 and went back to our blue brothel room. 

Senase Homestay Day 1, Ghana

Once back to the ship at 3:30, I quickly showered, packed all my stuff and water for three days, and met everyone in the lobby at 4:30am. It took a while to get everyone together so we didn’t leave the ship until a little after 5am. With the 20-minute walk to the gates (which took much longer that early in the morning), we met our guide a little later than planned. Our bus wasn’t ready so we had to take two tro-tros to the Slave Castle. I thought piling 29 of us plus the guides and the drivers was going to suck. Little did I know this would be the easiest place I could sleep on the whole 14 hour journey that day. So we drove to Saint George’s Slave castle in Almina (or something…I couldn’t understand how he was spelling it).

The castle didn’t open until 9am regularly, but because we were supposed to be there at 6:30am and had a long road ahead of us, the manager came and opened special for us. He had been there since 5am waiting. However, with our late start and the travel time taking longer than expected, we didn’t get there unitl 8:30. Even so, the guide was so nice and welcoming. He was so thorough and told us everything he knew. Touring the Slave Castle was a really unique experience. Built by the Portuguese  as a warehouse and then later taken over by the Dutch, then the English, the European architecture was beautiful. It was a white building on the beach with exquisite detail all around. The black wood detailing offset it perfectly. It was such a strange feeling to appreciate such amazing craftsmanship in such a sad place. The whole atmosphere was subdued as we realized what had actually happened there. We saw where 100-150 women would be kept. There were no bathroom facilities, just cement, brick and stone rooms with iron bars on them. We also saw the courtyard where all the women were brought to be looked over by the governor. He would stand on a balcony above them and then pick out the one he wanted to rape. That woman would then be brought up the steep steps through a trap door to him. If she resisted, she would be shackled to a cannon ball in the middle of the courtyard and made to stand there in the hot sun or rain all day. If they women were captured with a child, they could only keep it with them if it was a girl. Little boys would be separated and then separated out with the other men and kept in separate barracks. As if they hadn’t gone through enough right? We also saw where the slaves were brought as they were taken to the ships. We had to bend down and go through the door they walked through into the last holding chamber before they went through the door of no return. The “door” was no wider than 18 inches. The guide explained that while held at the castle, they were only given enough food to keep them sustained. By the time they walked through that door, they were so think they had no problem fitting.

After the tour, our bus met us and we started off on our journey north. Once on, I almost wished we were back on the tro-tros. The seats were so close together even my knees hit the one in front of me. I don’t know how the tall guys on the trip even fit in there. The isle seat was pretty rough to sleep in too but somehow I managed to catch a few Z’s.  After hours of bumpy driving, honking and rough roads, we finally got to Kumasi. The people who bought drums got to pick them up while the rest of us did a little shopping. We had dinner there too and by that time we were all starving. The restaurant owner (I think?) made us a huge buffet lunch since we were so far behind in time. Ghanaian time is so much slower than regular time. If they say it’s going to take 3 hours to get there, it’ll take at least 4 and a half. We were coming to find this out very quickly. We were supposed to be at the village of Senase at 5pm, and it was already 5:30.  The drummers and villagers had all been waiting for us at the school since 3:30 that afternoon. After dinner we got back on the bus for another few hours and finally arrived at 8:30 that evening. Over 14 hours of traveling with a few stops along the way, we were finally there. We all figured we must be super close to the northern boarder, but didn’t realize we were actually still in the lower third of Ghana. In the states, that distance would have taken 3-4 hours total. We were pretty shocked when we saw the map a few days later.

When we got to the village the kids were all cheering and wanting pictures again. Since it was pitch black, every time a flash went off they would cheer and scream to do it again. It was soo awesome. Looking back at my pictures from that night, it looks like it’s snowing in all of them. I don’t know if it was from ash in the air maybe or just other stuff floating around but it’s pretty gross to think about what we were breathing in. They were all so excited though. We could only stop and say hi for a minute because Fred’s family was waiting for us at his house with dinner.

We walked on this dark path through part of the village to his house will all the kids still following us. When we got there they brought out chairs for us all as it’s customary to offer guests a place to sit and water. However, because we couldn’t drink the water, we had to as politely as possible refuse. Hopefully Fred explained why we couldn’t drink it well enough for them not to be offended. We also went through the traditional greetings. Every member of Fred’s family came through and greeted us all before we were served dinner. Dinner that night was a mashed leaf stew type thing on a bed of white rice. I don’t’ know if it was because of my cold or the fact that I couldn’t see it in the dark, but I ate it all. I thought it was pretty good actually. I guess my taste buds are growing up!

After dinner we were divided into our housing groups. Kim, Maggi, Colleen and I were put together. We were really exited to meet our family, but when we were shown our house, we got there and it was like a compound. We didn’t have a family-just a room. A blue, blue room. Blue carpets, blue paint on every surface, and a blue light. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. The “beds” were one-inch thick pads on the floor with some very questionable looking sheets on them. There was a two burner camp stove in there, and suitcases with piles of clothes in them from whoever lived there. No furniture, no pictures, nothing. Just blue.

Once we got over the initial shock of our sleeping accommodations, we decided to get ready for bed and use the restrooms. Ha. Restrooms. Yea right. Our landlady was asleep so we had to wonder around until finally this woman found us and led us to the toilet. And by toilet I mean shit-shack. It was this super janky shed made out of splintering boards and a slanting roof. You opened the door and aside from being greeted by the most unbelievable smell in the world, you looked in and saw a 6x10x20’ deep pit of poo. There were planks around the edges and then a couple across that you had to walk on, then squat. When we were walking in the lady goes “No no! Not there! You’ll fall if you step on that side!” Needless to say, we were a little nervous. Kim and I went in together so one of us could hold the light and they must have thought we were so stupid. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. It was hilarious. We took so long too because we were so nervous about falling in the death pit! Oh man it was too funny. I’ll spare the rest of the details but the accidental camera video (we were using a phone as a light because some how between the four of us, none of us brought a flashlight) is pretty funny.

Back in the room, we had to get ready for bed. Thank god Kim and I both had bedrolls to put down on the bed we were sharing. Colleen put down a t-shirt for her head to go on and then slept with her jeans tucked into her socks, and arms in her t-shirt. It was so funny. The rest of us kept on long pants of some sort and tucked them into our socks—we were scared of bugs that might be crawling around—and long sleeves too. Once ready, we had to decide between keeping the light on so we could see any bugs that came out, or shutting it off to sleep. Maggi goes, “Sleep, or brothel? Sleep or brothel?” That light was something else. Thank god the long day of travel wiped us out pretty good and we all fell asleep shortly after. Thanks to my cold, I was up throughout the night blowing my nose, but other than that, no major problems (i.e. huge bugs) kept us awake….until the morning.

Takoradi, Ghana Day 1

After docking in Takoradi, Ghana, it took a good couple of hours for the ship to clear. Usually when we get into port the officials come on and it’s a matter of an hour or hour and a half before we’re good to go. This time however, it took roughly three. We can’t get off until all of our documents have been checked so it kind of put a damper on the start of our day. None of us had anything too drastic planned though so it all worked out.

Once cleared, a group of us decided to go to Busua beach to go surfing. We gather up all of our stuff and get off the gangway ready to go. Little did we know, we had to walk about 15-20 minutes from the ship’s dock, down the railroad tracks, past the cocoa and rubber factories, past the storage and shipping facilities and then out the port gates. It was suuuuper sketchy. And the smells. This was the first time in Ghana I would be appreciating my cold. The rubber fumes and smell of urine alone were enough, but the cocoa. Oh my god, the cocoa. The fermentation plant just gave off this awful odor of spoiled vinegar. We couldn’t figure out what could possibly make that smell. When we found out it was actually cocoa, as in the type you use to make a chocolate bar and all other delicious chocolaty goodness, we were astounded. I can’t really describe how much this actually smelled but some people were literally gagging behind scarfs and t-shirts from it.  Thank you stuffy nose!

Once we powered through the stench, we got out to the main gates and were immediately hounded by a dozen or so salesmen and taxi drivers all begging for our attention and money. However, we needed to get some cash before we could do anything so we walked into town for another 20 minutes.

One thing they didn’t tell us was that MasterCard hasn’t really infiltrated Ghana yet. And being Sunday, it was hard enough to find any open ATM’s for anyone (Visa included) to use.  We kept walking and walking until we finally found a huge grouping of SAS kids. This wasn’t going to work for a couple of us so we kept walking to find a MC ATM. After many failed attempts, we finally found one close to the market.. But, after letting two kids go ahead of me who an entire bus tour was waiting for, the ATM ran out of cash. Sooo frustrating. Kim was really nice and lent me money for the rest of the day so I would have something, but it was so annoying to not have cash on me.

13 of us piled into a tro-tro (big taxi/van/bus type thing) and started on the 45 minute drive to the beach. As if the ride wasn’t rough enough thanks to the lack of suspension or shock absorption, we had to stop a few times so the driver could pay off the police at the check pointes. As we each only paid 2 Cedi’s for the ride, I don’t know how he had any money to bribe with. I guess that’s why the same guy charged us 5 Cedi’s for the way home. We made it to the beach and had an awesome time playing on the other side of the Atlantic. The water was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Out a little ways there was an island that was picture perfect. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the Black Sand Surf Shop eating, drinking, and swimming. Even though we didn’t actually get surf lessons, we rented two boards and tried it out anyway.

In the water, we saw some locals paddling out in these rickety old canoes/boats that looked like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Two boats filled with 10-12 men went out, dropped something, then came back in. Then we saw all these kids and other men coming to help pull these ropes out of the water. We went over and it turns out they were fishing. Everyone was helping pull the nets so naturally we jumped in and started heaving too. While we tried to help for as long as possible, the kids around us had other ideas. They grabbed at us and wanted to play. We played the patty-cake games and then they taught us theirs, we would spin them around in circles until we literally couldn’t stand up anymore. Everyone wanted attention so it was really hard to get around to all the kids. Then the camera’s came out. Ghanaian children LOVE to have their picture taken. They would shove each other out of the way, pose like crazy, run into any shot you were taking, and then smile these huge smiles that you couldn’t help but to capture. When we showed them the picture in the camera they would go crazy. They couldn’t get enough of it. When it was time to leave they all walked us out and crowded the bus and then waved until they couldn’t see us anymore. It’s amazing how children can be so open to other people. They let their guard down completely just to enjoy the moment and smile for a picture. It was so weird to think that those kids were going back to their homes, which were little more than shacks when we were going back to the ship.

Once home we had to quick run to dinner. All gross and sandy from the beach, we just changed and then got food. When I took off my bikini top, it was literally like a shower of sand coming down my back. Blah. My shower after dinner felt really good. That night we all wanted to go out. It seemed like all of the SAS kids were at this place we went to, Ocean Bar. It was awesome. It was kind of like a strip mall of bars/food stands/outdoor dance floors. And, the super bowl was on. There were about 5 of us cheering for the Packers. Since Peprah or whatever his name is plays for the Packers and is from Ghana, we convinced the locals to cheer for the Pack too. Because of the time change, the game didn’t start until around 11:30pm. We stayed for the whole thing. Between dancing, cheering,  at 3:30am, the win and the overall atmosphere of the night, we had an amazing time. We took a taxi home, made the trek through the port to the ship and then I had to get ready to leave for my Village Stay at 4:30am.

Sea Olympics

Seeing as I haven’t posted in a while (honestly I can’t even remember when it was so I’m sorry if there are repeats in here), I’ll just cover the nine-day Atlantic crossing first. It took nine days. We had eight days of classes, four each, and it got to be a really small space after a while. I’m so used to leading a semi active lifestyle with the very minimal activity being at least walking 10-15 minutes to class. On the ship, we walk 1.3 minutes, get to class, sit down, walk another 1.4 minutes to the back deck and lay out, then eat, then read, then lay out, then hang out, then do some work, then not walk ever. The cardio room is so small it’s discouraging to even go into and who am I kidding, when is the last time I hit up an elliptical? It’s my Ghanaian resolution to start getting out though. Anyway, the most activity we’ve had so far was the Sea Olympics last Wednesday. While the Yellow Sea didn’t place, my three-legged race relay team did get third. Pretty solid I’d say. Overall however, while it was a fun day and a much-needed break from classes, the whole thing didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The Sea Salts, otherwise known as Life Long Learners, put on a hilarious synchronized swimming routine. Six old men came out in shorts, towel capes, life jackets and swim caps. Once the music started they took off their shorts. While five of them had swim trunks on, one guy, who happens to be the oldest man on the ship at 89, was wearing his whitey-tighties. Too funny. They did a cute little routine in the water and definitely should have won.

After a day of activities, dinner was outstanding. We had a cook out complete with burgers, hot dogs, amazing ribs, corn on the cob and everything else delicious you can imagine. Other than that and the Sea Salt’s performance, I was just expecting a lot more out of the day…like I said before, I really need to stop having preconceived notions of what’s going to happen.  We had two more days of classes after that and then we docked in Takoradi, Ghana on Sunday morning (yes, another Sunday port. I don’t know what message SAS is trying to send docking us every Sunday when everything is closed).

I'm trying to break up posts as much as I can to save you all from HUGE novel posts so another one will be coming about Ghana shortly!

Takoradi, Ghana

Just a quick post before the novel that's to come later today. It's our last day in Takoradi and it's GHANA be awesome!





Hahahaha. Sorry-had to post that before it becomes unusable.