Never Ghana give you up, never Ghana let you down.

Let me preface this blog entry with this: I cannot possibly explain in words how amazing four days in Ghana was. The words I have will not possibly do it justice, and I’m kind of ok with that.

Day 1:
We got off the ship around 10 or 11 AM, so freaking pumped to be in Ghana. I wrangled everyone up in Timitz square and we headed out together to get to the gate. It was about a seven minute walk, and a few people decided to just take the shuttle. Along the way, people tried to sell us a lot of stuff and we got a lot of welcoming “hellos!” which was nice. One of the first things I noticed was that on the back of almost every taxi was an uplifting message, usually from the bible but sometimes not, things like “Still living” and “Be happy”, which was really amazing. After leaving the port gate, we were BOMBARDED with people selling things. I struck up a conversation with Kalabash, who was an artist with some very cool paintings. I also gave my saltine crackers to someone to trade, and I gave him about 3 dollars for one of his paintings. It was harder telling people we wouldn’t buy stuff, because they were VERY persistent. I told Kalabash which of his paintings I liked, but that I couldn’t pay him. I found our tour guide as well as Fred, who welcomed me with a huge hug and a warm smile. Our tour guides name was Emmanuel, and we also met Olivia who was Freds sister. We got on the bus and headed to Accra to use an ATM, which was quite an interesting experience. When I took out money, good old Kalabash was there telling me that I could buy his painting now. I bought one and I also got a necklace, which was the same one he was wearing so I decided that we were twins. We headed back to the ship and Kevin had another artist bugging him to buy things, making him bracelets, and calling me Nikki Minaj. Everyone was SO friendly, even if you weren’t buying things from them. The bus took off, and throughout the bus ride Emmanuel told us all about the history of Ghana and all about what our tour was going to be like. I was completely overwhelmed with this intense feeling of happiness throughout the whole bus ride, which was SO surreal because I had no idea WHY I was so happy. Emmanuel stopped so we could buy plantain chips off of a street seller, which was SO good. They started to taste better the more you ate them, but they were delicious. We stopped for lunch at one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. It overlooked a beautiful lake, the walkways were dotted with seashells, and there was beautiful forestry everywhere. I got jolof rice with chicken, which is a very common dish in Ghana. It was very good, but a little too spicy for me. Kevin got yams with chicken which was AMAZING. I ate quite a bit of it. After lunch, we hopped back in the bus and played slides along with thumb wars to keep ourselves entertained, and I took several naps. We got to our hostel in the Amedzofe village, which was very high up. The weather was not that nice, so our original plans to go around the village didn’t happen, but that was ok. The hostel was really cool because it was someone guest house, so I felt like I was just in their spare bedroom. Dinner was more delicious rice with chicken, but it was way less spicy so I enjoyed it more. We set up our rooms and all hung out, and Evan, Nate, Kevin and I decided to walk around the village ourselves for a bit. This didn’t last long at all, because we couldn’t find anyone. We spent the night playing big booty, never have I ever, and shoulders which was awesome. We headed to bed around midnight, because we knew we had to wake up before 6 AM the next day.

Day 2:
We woke up to the very annoying rooster directly outside of our window around 5:45 AM. It was my first time being woken up by a rooster, and even though I wanted to punch it, it was pretty awesome. I sat outside with Solomon, who was going to be helping with the tour for the day. Around 6:30, breakfast was served. IT WAS SO GOOD. It is literally the best breakfast I have ever eaten. It’s been a few days and I’m still telling people about it. We had fresh bread which tasted like it had just been made, with a small omelette. The omelette clearly was made from eggs that had been hatched by the nearby chickens, and the carrots, green peppers, and onions inside were clearly picked from their garden. It was absolutely amazing. We were then told that it was time to head for a 45 minute walk to a waterfall, so we all left, very excited for that. The walk was nice, we were able to walk through the village and the marketplace and almost everyone we walked by said “welcome to Ghana” or “hello”, which was a warm welcome from the whole community. The walk was interesting, we walked through the forest and had to use ropes to repel down some parts, which got pretty intense for a few of us and pretty awesome for a few of us. The waterfall was absolutely beautiful. As soon as we got their, I got into my bathing suit and climbed over the slippery, wet rocks to enjoy the water. I went underneath and let the water hit me, and I had this insane moment of clarity where my brain wasn’t clogged with a million thoughts about ridiculous things that don’t really matter in life, which was crazy intense and made me feel amazing. We were there for about 20 minutes, and I don’t think I stopped smiling for even a second. We took a bunch of pictures, and then it was time to leave. On the walk back, we saw a boy cutting big leaves with a machete to make brooms, and he let me try it which wa pretty awesome. We had the option of climbing a second, less intense mountain, or spending time in the village. I chose to spend time in the village, which was amazing. I stopped and talked to so many people, and they were all so friendly. Everyone was curious about what we were visiting for and about our lives, and everyone was just so happy and welcoming. Everyone was also fascinated with our cameras, and everyone wanted to try taking a picture which was cool. We wound up getting slightly lost on the way to our hostel, but we found it eventually. We packed up our belongings and headed to another waterfall, the tallest one in Ghana. Along the way we stopped for lunch and drinks. I got chicken with yam chips, which are similar to french fries. We also discovered our love for Ghanian music, including the songs “I Love my life”, “Easy” and “Strong black African man”. These probably aren;t the real titles, but that’s what we call them. The place we went was super cheap and really cool, and the drinks were very refreshing. We reached the waterfalls and walked about a half hour trail to get to the actual waterfall. It was absolutely beautiful. As soon as I got there, I jumped in the water and went to go under the waterfall. Fun fact: NOT as romantic as in the movies. I felt like I was battling nature. When I was under there, I could barely see anything or hear anything or really stand up on my own, but it was amazingly intense and just so awesome. Again, I wish there were words for it. I stayed under there for a while, trying to take pictures and just enjoying being there. I came out and saw several hundred bats just flying around far up in the air, which was really freaking cool. We walked back, and I was with Emmanuel so he played his music and we sang and danced along. We spent bout 20 minutes walking around the local market, and I bought myself come cool earrings and a bracelet for someone else. We rode another hour or so until we reached the Tafi monkey village, where we split up into our rooms and got ready for dinner. We got to see a sneak peak of the drumming that the villagers had prepared for us, which was really, really neat. We had dinner, which was rice with a really spicy sauce, so I just ate some rice which wasn’t bad. We then sat and listened to the drumming and watched the dancing of the villagers, which was absolutely beautiful. They put on a really amazing show for us. Toward the end, Emmanuel called me over and asked me to dance with Evan during one of the performances, so Evan and I jumped in with insane amounts of enthusiasm. It felt amazing. We had both been paying attention to the pattern of the dance and the beat that was going, so we pretty much did it right. It was cool because the villagers as well as semester at sea students all cheered for us, and a few of them laughed at me because I got confused about when it was my time to leave the dance (I wound up leaving halfway between when the girls left and the boys left) There was then another song which everyone got up and danced to, which was also pretty awesome. After that. Emmanuel took us to the only bar in town, where I tried Appateschi which is a type of gin that is distilled in the village, and incredibly strong. It was gross, but I had about four shots. I struck up a bunch of conversations with a bunch of different locals, including one of them asking me if I wanted to be an actor “like John Travolta”, which was really funny at the time. the night consisted of breakdancing, talking with locals, slides, and pullup competitions. We all left a bit before midnight because we had another early morning the next day.

Day 3:
We woke up around 6 AM and went to find the monkeys. They were everywhere! We all tried feeding them bananas, which was cool because a few of them jumped onto peoples arms and hung out for a while. We walked through the forest and saw more monkeys and Emmanuel told us about the village and about the monkeys, and we learned that there was a medical clinic they were trying to open, but they didn’t really have the resources to do it. We asked if we could add a quick tour of the clinic to our itinerary, and Emmanuel made it happen because he was fantastic. We had a quick breakfast of bread and grits and headed to the clinic. It was basically just a building with a lot of rooms, but it was really depressing because it wasn’t open or working, and they’re working so hard to get the funding for it but it’s not working. (If any of you reading this are rich or know some doctors/nurses with kind hearts, contact me.) We then headed to the school to teach and play with the children. I LOVED IT. The first thing I did, obviously, was have the kids do some repeat after me songs. I wound up running around to a few different classrooms and teaching a few different songs. It was amazing. The language barrier was a bit difficult, but all of the songs had some kind of physical movement, and that translated with ease. We were there until about 10:30, running around, singing, dancing, holding, laughing, and crying with these kids, who were all so genuinely happy to be there. We learned that a lot of the classrooms don’t have teachers because most teachers in Ghana want to work in bigger cities, so the whole school of about 200 kids only has about six teachers, who rotate which classrooms they’re teaching. (If you’re reading this and you’re a teacher with a kind heart, contact me) We all left really sad and really sweaty to head back into Accra. We stopped for snacks at a gas station, but we didn’t want to have a full on lunch because the day before took longer than expected. We got to Fred’s house, where his family was making us dinner. We had red-red, which is another traditional Ghanian dish which was too spicy for me. Emmanuel gave me a gift from can do land tours as a thank you for helping organize it, which was super sweet of him. We have Freds family our email addresses and facebook names so we can all keep in touch. The ride back to Tema took quite a while, so when we arrived we were all ready to shower and head out into town. We said our goodbyes to Emmanuel and our other tour guides, which was very sad because they were just SO amazing the entire time that we were with them. I showered and met up with Evan, Nate, Cassie, Joe, and Kevin, and we planned on heading into Accra and going drinking, then staying at a hostel. We took the shuttle into Accra and tried to find a bar called Bywell, which was where Evans friend who is studying in Ghana was planning on meeting us. After asking a bunch of people for directions, including my dear friend Kalabash, we found it. It was beautiful. It had no ceiling and there was live music and people dancing. A waitress came over to take our drink order, and it was just so cool because there weren’t very many non-locals there so it was a cool experience. We had a few drinks and danced quite a bit, and Evans friend Olivia came with a bunch of her friends from NYU who are studying here. Cassie had an allergic reaction to something, so her and Nate left to go to the ship. The rest of us headed to a club called citizen kofi, which is where someone from SAS had rented out a private room for us to hang out. As soon as we got there, I was not impressed. Everyone was way too drunk and sloppy, there was vomit in the sinks in the bathroom, and people were being carried out by their friends because they were completely passed out. It was embarrassing, sloppy, and just really lame. Kevin and I made a deal to not leave without each other (buddy system for the win), so I stuck around for a few hours just kind of hating everything. We left around 2:30 AM and hopped into a car to take us back to the ship, which went about 100 MPH and drove down random back roads, so we were all positive we were going to die for a solid five minutes. We got back to the ship and Kevin and I hung out for a bit, then I went to bed.

Day 4:
I woke up around 7 AM to get ready for the day. I went around to the rooms of Evan, Nate/Joe, Cassie, and Kevin to make plans. Evan, Cassie, Nate and I grabbed breakfast and decided to spend the day in Tema. We left the ship around 9 AM and decided to go to the market. We wound up walking the whole way there with a few of the guys who tried selling us stuff. Albert asked me to marry him, to which I politely declined. We got there and gave Albert some money so he would stop following us. It was awesome. We walked through the markets which was a total sensory overload. There was all sorts of weird seafood and fruits for sale, and seamstresses and peple selling trinkets. My nose went through a lot of confusion. We bought some fruit to eat and struck up a bunch of conversations with different people about where we were from and things like that, which was awesome. Everyone, again, was SO welcoming and warm hearted. (Common theme here) We left the heart of the marketplace and walked around a bit, and as Cassie and I stopped to buy some stuff, Nate and Evan struck up a conversation with one of the ladies on the street who was selling some things. She was super friendly and welcomed us to come back to Ghana to visit her anytime, to which we all returned the invite. I asked her if she knew somewhere that I could go to get my hair corn rowed, and she excitedly grabbed my hand and took us to her sister, which was the most incredible thing ever. It was down a random side street alley completely off he beaten path, and I sat down to get my hair braided and everyone was so friendly and laughing and having a good time. Everyone was talking to everyone, and Evan struck up a conversation with the woman braiding my hair. She was a Liberian refugee, and she’s leaving for Liberia again on Monday to try to start her life over, because life in Ghana is just too hard. While she was telling his story, she didn’t have even a hint of sadness in her voice, she was just happy to be ABLE to be alive. Nate and Cassie were meanwhile talking to this girl about the music we had been listening to that we loved, and we started playing music on her phone, which Nate and Evan were dancing to. They were teaching us some new dance moves, and we were teaching them some new dance moves and it was just so incredible. Even though we only spent an hour there, we were treated as if we were apart of this family that they had created. We left feeling incredibly happy and humbled, and we went for lunch. We picked a random restaurant and all ordered something different so we could try a little of everything. Evan had jolof rice, Nate and Cassie got variations of fried rice, and I had fried chicken. Everything was absolutely delicious. We left lunch and just started walking fairly aimlessly, deciding to turn at random times at places that seemed cool. We walked through a small village street where there were men playing checkers and children who all gave me a high five. We talked to almost everyone we walked past, sending greetings and laughing. We also happened across a litter of puppies who were PRECIOUS. I wanted to buy one so much I can’t even describe it. We found a school and decided to walk behind it, where we found a small group of kids playing soccer. Evan started playing with them, and I talked to a few locals and then sat with Nate and Cassie for a bit. Before we left, we met this man who was a contractor who told us a bit about himself and life in Ghana, which was amazing. We were all feeling really good, and we walked past this store where this woman called us over to say hi. It was incredible. We talked for a long time about our lives and their lives and our school program, and she told us that she’s a teacher at the school and they don’t have many school supplies or books, and she asked if there was anything we could do to help. We worked it out that the four of us are going to do a book drive when we get back to our homes and then we’re going to mail them out sometime in January. Her whole family and the four of us exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch. We were there for about a half an hour, but I felt like they were my aunts and uncles and cousins at a family gathering. We decided to head back to the ship, because we left on such a positive note. The taxi ride back was wonderful, Nate had a long conversation with our driver about his life and our lives. We got to the port gate and were hassled to buy more things, and then we headed for the boat. I bought some waist beads and a backpack outside of the ship, and then I boarded. The ship left around 2000 hours, and I sat alone watching it leave with these overwhelming feeling. I was so sad to be leaving, but so blessed to have been here at all. I found myself telling myself to stop being sad and to just be happy that I can even be alive. I smiled at the thought that I will absolutely be returning here some day.

To sum it up: Ghana is the most welcoming, friendly, heart-warming place I’ve been. It put my life into a brand new perspective, and in four days I learned to appreciate my life so much more than I ever have before.