Cape Coast Weekend

Hello all!

I’ve just returned to campus from my first weekend of traveling. My entire group traveled about two hours west (thanks to traffic it took about five hours) to the city of Cape Coast. Once we got into the city we toured a slave castle used for holding thousands of slaves before they journeyed to the Americas. It sat right on the ocean and was amazingly beautiful. But the dungeons and jail cells were definitely surreal and pretty emotional for some of us, especially those whose ancestors were slaves. The conditions they stayed in were dark and stifling and much worse than livestock quarters. The walls of the dungeons had what looked like a water line about a foot from the floor, but in actuality it was the point to which the floors were covered with human waste and rot.

It was quite a shame that it was such a somber place, because the view from the outer walls of the castle was amazing. It looked over the rocks to the oceans where fishermen docked their multicolored boats. One of the boats on the water had sails made of patched together scraps – it made me think of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I loved it.

The next day we traveled out of Cape Coast and into the rainforest. We visited a national park and hiked up to the canopy walk, which is a series of about five suspended rope bridges through the canopy of the rainforest. The bridges were attached to huge trees that towered over the rest of the forest; it was easily over a hundred feet from the ground. Jumping over the edge would have definitely resulted in death. My knees shook the entire time, but it was AMAZING. Pictures don’t do it justice, the view was crazy awesome. I felt like an extremely nervous Tarzan. I only wish the one-foot wide board didn’t creak and rock so much as we crossed between trees. Grammy, you would have died. One of the Ghanaian students who came with us decided to jump and shake the bridge while I was on it, and I threatened his life. He found it hilarious.

After the canopy walk we visited a beach resort for lunch and a swim. The rooms were literally huts on the beach. It reminded me of a secluded beach in Hawaii. The beach was wonderful and everything was open and shaded with palm trees. The waiters brought us towels and food while we hung out under umbrellas of palm fronds. I could have stayed there for weeks. Of course, every person staying there was a rich foreigner…but it was a nice taste of Western convenience and food.

I took a tro tro into Accra and bought a guitar today – very exciting. I now have something productive to do during my downtime! Next weekend we are heading to Kumasi – the largest market in Western Africa. It will probably put a sizable dent in my bank account, but I’ll be getting presents to bring home. So you should all put in your requests now – kente cloth, tribal masks, beads, jimbeys (although those might be difficult to transport), bags, paintings, dresses – let me know!

Love and miss you all,

Becca