Ghana Part 2

Here starts part two J
So the next morning arrived and the plan was to eat breakfast at about 7 and then go back to the room and wait for Issac, one of the guys organizing a Habitat trip, to pick us up. 7:30, the time he said, came and went and Jay and I both thought it wasn’t going to happen. I fell asleep, as did Jay, and at 7:55 Issac ran in. Jay apparently bolted up and headed out the door, and on the way out told me to hurry. I said give me two minutes, I wanted to fill my water bottle and go to the bathroom. Less than two minutes later I was up at the meeting spot, but apparently they headed outside to catch the bus. I thought I was early so I went upstairs to blow my nose then came back down and waited for 15 minutes wandering where they were. I checked the sign out sheet finally, realized they were long gone, and had a mild panic attack pondering what to do with my newly free day. I called Jose and found him asleep, so that was my backup plan to hang out with him and Melinda if I couldn’t find anyone leaving earlier. I ended up going to breakfast again to see who was around and found Lindsay and JulieAnne eating there. Lindsay’s parents knew a priest who was from Ghana, and Lindsay had made plans to meet up with him that day and let him show her around. They had an extra seat in the car and I asked to tag along. We met up with Father John at 9:30 and he turned out to be the nicest man ever. He was very hospitable and extremely friendly, I was so glad to have met him. We got about an hour down the road in his car when I believe Lindsay asked what we were doing. He told us we were going to go to a national park first and then to Cape Coast. Knowing full well what we were doing, JulieAnne and I laughed a little at the irony. He eventually asked us what we did the day before and we had to admit that we had done the exact same thing, but we insisted that it was a ton of fun and we were happy to go again. Lindsay had wanted to go with us the day before but couldn’t because of a field trip, so we were both happy that she was going to get the chance.
So we were off on our three hour drive again, but this time it was so much more fun. Father John gave us so much information and was extremely nice the entire day. We stopped periodically to grab snacks or to see things that he wanted us too and it was just a more relaxed atmosphere. We did the canopy walk again and enjoyed it even more the second time. It was funny to see Lindsay, Father John and his niece do it because they were all afraid of heights. Everyone finished it in good spirits though and we set off for Cape Coast. On the way we grabbed a bite to eat. We let John order for us and we all got palm oil soup with Fufu. Fufu is a dough ball like substance that is a mixture of yams and cassava. The palm oil soup was quite spicy and not great at all. We all ate as much as we could to be polite, but no one enjoyed the meal. Fortunately it was spicy enough that we could use that as an excuse to not eat anymore. We finished dinner, still hungry but certainly not about to admit it, and got back in the car. We made it to Cape Coast where the castle was again closed unfortunately, so we wandered around similarly to the day before. This time we only stuck around for about 10 minutes, John was quite helpful in getting the hawkers to leave us alone. We went up the road to grab a drink and see the sunset, then we set off back to Accra. We got lost about 7 times on the way back and the drive took a long time. We stopped at a “resort” which was basically a restaurant by the sea and grabbed a late bite to eat. I had french fries which were great, a huge improvement over the Ghanaian food, and an hour later we set off in the general direction of the port. We stopped and got ice cream on the way, and eventually made it back just before midnight. Father John drove us right up to the ship and it was so cool to see the look on his face when he saw our home. It was the first cruise ship he had seen and he stood there in awe for a few minutes just admiring it. At that moment I felt so lucky to be able to be on Semester at Sea. Well not like I haven’t always felt lucky, it just hit home there more than other moments.
The next morning I had the option of either hopping on a Habitat trip, hopping on a children’s village trip with Tolan, Sarah, Jose, Melinda, JulieAnne, and Deirdre, or hanging out with Jay. Tolan had told me that Habitat wasn’t worth the travel time, he did it the day before, so I ruled that out. I figured that most of the group on the children’s village trip had seen enough of me so I ruled that out, leaving plan A, hang out with Jay. We set off early in search of internet and ended up in central Accra. Jay had hung out the night before with some Ghanaians and we ran into them shortly after getting off the bus. I felt so bad for Jay and so disgusted with the people who he had met. Instead of treating him like a friend who had spent time with them the day before, they tried to sell him stuff. No one acknowledged that he was anything more than a walking dollar sign and it was pretty disgraceful. They started to crowd us fighting over who got to sell us their junk and because we had our laptops in our bags, neither of us felt very safe. We quickly bailed and headed down the street where I bought myself an awesome soccer jersey. Realizing that we were going the wrong way we grabbed a cab and just had him take us to an internet place. We stayed there for 2 hours and unfortunately it was too slow to properly manage my pictures. Mom says one got up on facebook though so that is good.
We left the internet café and Jay wanted postcards and stamps so we followed a guy on a 20 minute walk to the post office. We bought stuff there and had no plans after, so I told Jay that if he would keep me company for the next couple of hours, I would pay for all transportation back to the ship (he was out of money and wanted to wait for the free shuttle). So of course we headed back to the casino where I was determined to win back what I had lost the first night. Jay grabbed lunch at the restaurant and apparently spent way too much money accidentally, so when he finally made it down to watch me play blackjack he was in less than good spirits. I actually had to have them start a table and find a dealer for me which should have been a sign to run the heck away, but I decided to stick it out. I played for an hour or so, started with $100 and walked out with $105. I was up to as much as $140 I think and down to as low as about $60, so I never was in a dire circumstance. I had to rally a bit at the end to get back to even, but was happy that I got an hour of entertainment totally free. We got in a cab and headed back to the ship. On the way back Jay traded three shirts and a hat for a CD from our driver which was hilarious. They all like to trade in Ghana, which I was not a fan of but Jay really got into. They wanted my “Live with no regrets” bracelet really badly but I held onto it. I still feel a little bad because it is a Christian bracelet and maybe the right thing to do would be to give it away, but none of them even took the time to read it. They wanted it just because I was American and it was mine, and it means a lot to me so I held on. Who knows if it was the right choice?
We got back to the port where a guy started hounding me for the rest of my Ghanaian money. I told him that I had none left and to go away but he persisted. I buried my hands in my pockets, protecting my camera and wallet, and he decided that I was hiding money instead. I explained to him that he was making me angry and that unless he wanted my last image of Ghana to be a poor one he should leave. He told me that I had money and that I needed to give it to him. I said no I don’t and that if he kept telling me that I did that he was calling me a liar and that was uncalled for. Needless to say he persisted and I almost snapped, but I was outnumbered so it would have been dumb. Jay told me later he saw some guys pointing at my pockets in the background ready to rob me, so I feel lucky to have gotten out safe. I walked across the street closer to the port security guards who had machine guns and the guy finally left me alone.
At that point I was so frustrated with the people in Ghana. While some, such as Father John, were truly great human beings, most came off to me as extremely desperate and rude. I realize that they live in poverty and have totally different lives than I will ever know, but we have been to other countries with the same level of income that enjoyed life more. I understand that to them we represent the good life, but we are just people too, and I don’t get why they can’t see and speak to us like humans. If Bill Gates walked up to me in the US, I would ask him about Microsoft and probably try and pick his brain about what it took him to be successful. I would not ask him for money, the thought wouldn’t even cross my head. He has every material good that I could ever need, want, or hope for, but to me he represents success not wealth. How come to these people we are different? Why can’t we represent a goal they have instead of money that they believe they deserve. I am a student, I am not wealthy, and I do not handle being begged from well.
My last comment about Ghana is that I have no idea why Semester at Sea chose to stop there. I can see that there are some real beautiful parts to the country. The canopy walk was stunning and I hear that the Wli Waterfalls and Mt. Afojado (Sp) are both well worth the trip, but they were 4-5 hours away from the ship respectively. The port, Tema, had literally nothing to do and was the most industrial thing I have ever seen. In fact we were heavily discouraged from even walking in our own port because of safety reasons. Accra was an hour away and had very little to do inside of it as well. So we had a bad port that was far away from an uneventful city and SAS’ response is to give us a shuttle bus that didn’t even run on schedule. I can see merit to studying in Ghana if you are going to spend enough time there to immerse yourself in the culture because they speak English well and if you have the time to truly travel there are great things to see, but to stop there for 4 days was a waste in my opinion. Other voyages have stopped in Morocco or Namibia, both of which I believe would have been better, but my guess is that SAS gets a really good deal on the port fees in Ghana and the bottom line is their number one concerned. My friend Jon spent a semester in Ghana and I can’t wait to get back and speak with him about it. Being African American, his experience was quite possibly entirely opposite of mine and it will be interesting to compare.
We are now well on our way to Brazil, we will be there in 3 days. My plans right now are very tentative, but I know golfing is something I want to do. I have done a lot of cultural immersion in the other countries that we have been to and have spent a lot of time out of my comfort zone, I think it will be fun in Brazil to relax a little bit so hopefully I have the chance to but we will see!
This means that my voyage is now one step closer to finished and these blogs are coming to an end. Thanks for reading and keep in touch, I will be home soon!

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you feel comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.

-Clifton Fadiman