Since arrived in Ghana we haven't done much traveling outside of Abomosu. So this weekend we decided that we needed to go to Accra to do some grocery shopping and that we wanted to take a tourist trip into Cape Coast. The adventure started out at 1:00 am Saturday morning, where we walked into the center of the Abomosu village to catch the government bus. After a little more than an hour of waiting for the bus it finally arrived and we were off to Accra. We arrived in Accra at around 4:30 am, waited for about ten minutes for our ride and we were off to Cape Coast, which was another 2 hour ride.
We arrived at the Kakum National Park first. It is a national forest and has some endangered species including elephants which sadly to say we never saw. Most of the animals in the Park are nocturnal or are scared away from all of the noise of the visitors of the park. While Joey and I were waiting for our tour to begin we wandered off to look at the views. While I was looking up in a tree I noticed a black and white tail hanging down from a branch and instantly got really excited. I hurried and got Joey's attention just in time to see a monkey jump from a top branch of the tree to a lower branch where we were able to really see him. Then we noticed another monkey. I was satisfied with seeing the monkeys and said that it would be okay if we didn't see any other animals (although I would enjoy seeing more). Our tour began a couple minutes after seeing the monkey, we were off to the "bridge in the treetops" or the Canopy Walkway. These are rope bridges suspended in the air at the top of the trees which was about 125 feet above the ground. We enjoyed trying to walk with no hands, dancing, walking backwards, etc. The views were amazing, we tried to capture them in pictures but although they are great pictures they don't do it justice. (Look on our Facebook pages to see pictures, on Joey's computer he can upload pictures straight to Facebook using iPhoto but it takes a long time to upload them to our blog). These bridges were amazing and I really enjoyed the experience, the trees and roots were so cool, they would wrap around each other and make such amazing designs, one grouping of roots even looked like a bicycle (sadly our camera ran out of batteries so we weren't able to get a picture of it).
After the Kakum National Park we were off to Elmina to go to the Elmina Castle (formerly known as St George's Castle). It was a slave trade castle and passed through different ownerships, it was originally built by the Portuguese. We went on a walking tour and heard all about the history of the castle and those that had passed through it. We went into the slave holding cells, the punishment chambers, and the room of no return. It was quite an experience, it was hard to imagine all the people that past through there as slaves. They said that there had been somewhere around 12 million slaves enter the castle and only 1/3 of them left on boats to become slaves in many different countries around the world. The other 2/3 never made it out of the castle most due to self-induced starvation. The soldiers went to the extremes to feed the slaves by breaking off their front teeth so that they could force feed them with a spoon but the slaves did not want to eat, they would rather die. The stories of what occurred in the castle were heart wrenching but worth experiencing. Due to time we ended up not going to the Cape Coast Castle which was another slave castle but built by another country.
After the Elmina Castle it was lunchtime and also time for the Ghana World Cup football (soccer) game. We hurried and found a restaurant that had the Black Stars game playing and sat down to eat and watch the game. It was so much fun to be surrounded by fans that were really into the game, we have been following the World Cup but we just watch it inside of the Abu's house so it was very entertaining to be surrounded by fans and enjoy the excited environment. (Sort of like the feeling of an Aggie b-ball game :)
It was a very long day but very enjoyable, we ended our day by spending the night at Elder and Sister Dickson in the Area Presidency of West Africa. They took us in as family and fed us, gave us a place to sleep and were amazing company. They told us all about their lives and their experiences serving the Church all around the World (although they claim they haven't been very many places, which is true compared to how many countries their are in the World but they have been to pretty much every continent). Hearing all of their stories made me excited to get to that point in our lives where Joey and I can serve a couples mission for the church. This trip has been amazing, we are constantly surrounded by members of the Church and spiritual experiences. My testimony continues to be strengthened and grow each day. Sunday we attended a ward in Teschie which is near Tema, a larger city next to Accra. When we left church the roads were flooded from the rains, it didn't seem like it had rained that much but it never stopped. At points the roads looked like they were rivers with rapids, it was definitely scary. We later heard that there was a lot of damage caused by the floods and more than 11 people died.
Monday we spent in Accra running errands and getting groceries. Then when we got back from running errands the Dicksons took us to the Cultural Center in Accra. This is not like a Cultural Center that you would think of. It is like a giant swap meet. There are just rows and rows of little shops of African wood work, jewelry, clothing, Football (Soccer) jerseys, dolls, and anything else you could think of. It was really cool to see the ability that everyone had. There were many people making the wood work or sewing the clothes right in front of you. Joey and I weren't really looking for anything so it was fun to try and make it through all the people. (If you have ever been to TIjuana Centro and tried going to the shops, it was quite the same experience except these shops were in a very close vicinity of one another). Everyone tries to get you to go into their shop, which ins't necessary because you can see everything from outside of their shops and then they try to barter. It was a great experience and fun to see so many different things but at the same time same things all over the place. Joey got a Ghana Black Stars football jersey (#8 Michael Essien). Now he is set for the game on Wednesday. The other couple also got a jersey for Stephen Abu that we live with.
Today we are headed back to Abomosu as soon as we are able to get some 2 for 1 pizza. There are some foods that we crave while we are in Abomosu. If anyone has some really simple recipes we would enjoy them. The Abu's don't let us cook, but we want to come up with a very simple recipe to make them dinner sometime. They do let us bake so any easy desert recipes would be great as well.
So far we have tried no-bake cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies (all of which we had to improvise in some way but they turned out pretty good.)
We really love it here and are excited to be here for two more months. I wanted to say another Thank You to all those that made it possible for me to join Joey here in Ghana. We have been reminded on a daily basis how important it is for us to be together and how blessed we have been by being able to spend our summer here in Ghana. It has definitely been a life changing experience that will help us better our lives. Thank You again.
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