We did not know what to expect when arriving in the port of Accra, Ghana.  It was hot, of course, as we had rounded the bottom of Africa and had traveled up the atlantic coast slightly past the equator and into the Ivory Coast where Ghana is.  We were informed that in order to get to the nation’s capital, Accra, from the town where we were docked (Tema) it would be about a 45 minute drive. This drive was not long because it was far, as the towns really are quite close together, but rather the quality of the roads are so poor that it takes extremely long to get anywhere. We had decided with our friends Jose and Melinda that we would all stay the first night in a hotel in Accra so that we could relax and not have to worry about making our way to and from the port, plus we were planning on a long day trip out to the rainforest for the following day together so we figured this would be the best way to do it.  We joined with some other friends, Thomas from Kansas but he goes to UVA, Julianne from Ithaca, and Lindsay from Gonzaga and we all got a van to take us all the way to our hotel in Accra. The ride was really fun, as I asked the driver and his friend up front to put in a tape of their favorite Ghanaian music, to which we all started dancing to the whole ride over. The night before port we always have this cultural pre-port where they basically get us ready for port.. at pre-port the night before one of the inter-port students from Ghana taught us a couple Ghanaian dance moves which we definitely used many times throughout our four days in Ghana! One move that they all do is called the kangaroo- where you move your hands in kind of an Egyptian dance kind of way and hop from side to side.. the other one is the “old man boogie” which is also very funny.. 

We arrived at our hotel (the Golden Tulip) about a half hour later and didn’t see much else around. Call us naïve, but we did think that there would be some sort of city center or downtown area, or something. Needless to say, our hotel was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. At least not near anything you could walk to. They looked at us like we were crazy when we asked if there was anything within walking distance and they told us we could get a cab anywhere but there’s nothing to walk to. Our hotel, however, despite not being around anything seemingly, was really great. There was this beautiful huge giraffe in the lobby, it was pretty newly remodeled, with African décor, a delicious restaurant, and, the most important part in all of the boys’ minds—the casino.  We checked in and decided we would head for some shopping.. half of our group went to a flea market while jose Melinda trev and I decided we would head over to a shopping mall (once again, in the middle of nowhere, but surprisingly really nice). The mall was called Accra mall and we had a great time shopping around in their shops. Melinda and I got some adorable giraffe earings, while trev and jose found some soccer jerseys (of course). We’ve come to find that grocery shopping in all of these different countries is one of the most fun things to do—they have such different things and its so interesting.. It was also fun to go through their version of target! As we were walking we all kind of realized our plans to ‘go out on the town’ that night wouldn’t exactly work out—mainly because there wasn’t really anywhere to go! So we decided we would have all of our friends over to our hotel for an awesome night of casino-ing! We went into a wine shop and got some African bottles of wine for the night, and then went into the grocery store and stocked up on all sorts of Ghanaian snacks, fruits, crackers, chips, cookies, et cetera. While the boys watched ghana’s national soccer team on TV, Melinda and I had fun setting up for our cocktail party and soon enough like 10 of our friends show up at our hotel, we watched soccer and hung out and then got some dinner at the restaurant and then headed to the casino for the rest of the night. It was so funny to see the Ghanaian high roller locals eyeing these alien American boys, who, for the most part ended up all losing their money (except for graham who won 120$!!!) It was a great night.. granted, not the first night in Ghana we expected haha but a great night nonetheless.

The next morning we all got up and got some delicious breakfast and rented a van for the day to take us all the way to the rainforest, where we planned on (AHH) walking on these rope bridges high above the tops of the trees!!! The rainforest was about three hours away (like we said, everything is very far away from eachother in Ghana) but it was well worth it. We arrived in the Kukum National Rainforest in perfect time to make the 2pm tour of the canopies (those scary rope bridges) so we headed up! It was soooo hot there and we were sweating like crazy, especially because we were hiking up these huge hills to get to the top of the bridge.. then we climbed up the little entrance to the bridge and I seriously thought I would have to walk all the way back down—it was VERY HIGH UP THERE! Literally we were above ALL of the trees… it was crazy, but we climbed across the SEVEN bridges through the rainforest and it was very fun.   We were told there were many animals who live in that rainforest, such as elephants, lots of monkeys, and even black mambas (one of the most dangerous hugest snakes ever) but we didn’t see any—but then again how many elephants do you expect to see when youre way above the trees!

Day 2 as continued by Trevor-- After the canopy walk, we told our driver Kofi that since we were on the Cape Coast maybe we could go and visit the slave dungeons on the Cape Castle. Unfortunately, the castle was closed off so we couldn’t see the slave quarters but the castle was really cool, big and white. This is where the slaves were brought from all throughout Africa when they were captured. The traders would then load them onto the ship and send them off to Salvador, strategically our next port. The triangular trade of slaves was centered in Ghana and has a terrible history ridden with slavery and oppression. As soon as we got out of the van, a huge group of children and people crowded us like celebrities. There were children all around with huge bowls balanced on their head selling fruit and water bags. There was a large bar and restaurant next to the castle right on the beach. There was a huge drum circle and dancing circle of all the locals. We played with the kids and Christina danced with them, using the dances we learned in Global studies from the interport student. The dance is called the kangaroo, which is what the Ghanaians do after they score in soccer, so the kids loved it when we did it. We took turns balancing their bowls on our heads, which is so hard to do and they do it with ease. Christina almost dropped it a couple times and the kids would go scream when she would get off balance and then laugh. One of the kids had a little ball so we played around with him. One of the older guys was named Lucky and he wanted Christina to marry him, so that was interesting but once he realized that I was her boyfriend he got the clue and started talking to me about life and what not. We got some little trinkets and bracelets from them and then we had to head out because it was 5 and it was a three hour drive back to Accra. We headed back for a long while through the roads of Ghana, avoiding potholes and everything got so dark around us, seeing as most of Ghana does not have electricity. People are walking on the highways all night long, and at random times along the road there are huge centers of markets with hundreds of people and hills are randomly on fire all the time but I’m not sure why. We got back really late that night, and decided to take it easy and relax.

Day 3- The next day we had no plans so we head out on the gangway and got off ready to explore Accra. While waiting for the shuttle to the city center we hung out with the Port Authority security guard who called himself Rambo. He was a 6’4 huge guy who was so funny, we talked about Ghana, where to go, what it’s like, how the people are, and the education of Ghana. He told us that unlike popular thought, people from Africa do not have tails and that they do not live in trees. The shuttle came in and we took it to the city where we walked around and shopped for soccer jerseys from Ghana national team. Ghana is going to be pretty good in the world cup this year, their under 18 team just beat Brazil in the under 18 world cup, so if they don’t do well this year, they are definitely on the rise. We grabbed a taxi to one of the main markets of the city and it was huge! We have seen so many markets on our trip, but this one was by far the biggest, everyone in Ghana is a vendor of some sort. The market spanned a square of 4 by 4 blocks, both outside and inside with the cement buildings having 4 levels. They sold everything from food, to shoes and clothes, beads, and dishware. Christina got a bunch of shoes, and a traditional Ghanaian head dress made out of their famous kente cloth, which is a bright fabric made in Africa since the start of man. We encountered so many nice people, we talked to anyone and everyone, Ghanaians are some of the nicest people we have ever met. They loved to hear about where we were from and just excited that we were in their country. Coming up on one of the food stands was a platform of huge snails. These things were the size of volleyballs with huge shells and they were all alive just crawling around. Ghana has a delicacy of large snails, and they cook them in garlic, and everyone loves them except one of the tribes. We unfortunately didn’t get to try them, there are practically no restaurants in Ghana. The ladies would hoop and holler in excitement when we told them that we are boyfriend and girlfriend. And they also asked us if we were Christian. Sidenote: Africa is the most Christian continent on Earth right now, they are the most devout Christians. The Vatican recognizes Africa as the most prominent Christian leaders of the future, and indeed we might see a black pope in the future. They are mostly Pentacostal which is the one that Americans all think is funny with the charismatic leader and healing and letting the devil out of people then they faint kind of theatrics. But they range from all different types of Christians and churches are everywhere, but they are usually a plain dilapidated cement building, nothing fancy but sure enough everyone comes on Sunday. When we were done with the market we were walking along when we started to talk to a lady who had lived in Georgia for a year. She was happy to see Americans and told us stories from when she lived there, she was leaving the market and we followed just talking. Upon her departure she found two guys who would take us to something she wanted us to see. We were introduced to two Ghanaians named Will and Peter with a handshake and a snap. They were from the North and had the signature scars under their eyes as it is customary practice for men entering adulthood. They asked us if we wanted to play drums and of course we eagerly accepted. Leading us down to the beach there were a row of shops where drums were being made by the locals and all of the guys came up and were so happy to see us greeting us with the handshake. Will and Peter gave us a drum each, big drums with a hide membrane, and wood carvings on each side. He taught us to slap the side of the top with our hands relaxed and the middles of our fingers making contact. Also we did a big hit in the middle of the membrane with the palm as the bass beat. He taught us an easy beat with two hits alternating hands on the edge, then a big bass hit in the middle. After we got the hang of it, he gradually would mix it up, alternating hits and length of each sequence. Will was teaching me, while Peter was teaching Christina a different beat. Once we got good, we started off and the beats interlocked, and Will and Peter got out their own drums and started doing more complicated beats that sounded so good with our back beat. It was really cool to be part of this musical group of Ghanaian drums, and I enjoyed it, sweating profusely in their shed in the middle of the Ghana sun while flailing my hands and smacking the song of my experience. Before they could even start with their sale pitch, I said “how much to buy one?” They were so excited and started showing me different varieties, talking drums, the normal types that I was playing, and really deep sounding ones. Due to the fact I had to take this drum on the ship and all the way home, I had to stop their frantic showing me of huge drums and ask for a really small one. I got one of the small ones with a tough membrane with a higher sound, interwoven ropes on the side and a black nice wood finish. Christina got a small one with a really bright kente cloth covering the circumference on the membrane. When I was about to pay for the drums, Will was like “wait, would you like it engraved?” and of course I wanted that. He took it down to the guy who carves the drums and I wrote down my name and had it carved on to the side. He also carved on the side a large fern symbol which means “afraid of nothing” which I thought was pretty cool to have on my drum from Africa. Christina got one with “impossible is nothing” and her name as well. Satisfied with our awesome purchase and musical experience we said bye to our friends Will and Peter and walked further down the beach.

We heard some drums down the beach and found another little shed with a bunch of guys with drums calling us over. We at first started to tell them that we had already bought drums assuming that they were selling, but all they wanted to do was talk to us. The main guys name was Daniel and he was happy to see us because he went to the Berklee College of Music (in Boston) on a program and loves Americans. We went inside and he had banners of Berklee and pictures of his performances, it was so cool that we randomly found this guy in Ghana. He didn’t want to sell us anything or hassle but had us sit down in his shop. He went in the back and down the way and got about 5 of his friends, and told us that he had been teaching them how to play. They were going to perform next month, when a group of students from Berklee comes into Ghana for their study abroad drumming sequence. It was awesome, the main guy Daniel had a worn down drum, one guy sat on top of a cube drum and hit it with a stick, one guy had two with one bass and one normal, and there was one more guy who kept a simple beat. It was so cool to see this legitimate West African drumming ensemble before us, and locals walking down the way stopped by and started nodding their heads. There was one old guy, who came and started singing in their language some tribal sounding song while they continued drumming, and they kind of made a space for his voice with their beat and then he continued on his way. They were smiling big smiles just slapping away at the music, Daniel was extremely skilled and with his laidback Rastafarian-look made it seem like we were in a movie. I was so happy, these events and times are so rare, with random, great individuals performing and it was truly rewarding to the audience…Christina and I.

Day Four: Torgorme Village Experience

So it was our last day in Ghana and we were so excited because we were on our way to the Torgorme Village! We were on the S.A.S sponsored trip and four of my best friends from the ship were on it with us (see picture—from the left: Toree, Becca, me, Sally, Cara) and we all sat together on the long (and rough) bus ride out to the village.  We finally arrived at the Torgorme Village and there were about a hundred of smiling villagers just waiting to greet us. I immediately started playing with some of the kids, but we were being wrangled over to a big circle where they would perform some ceremonial welcome ceremonies for us.  One of the most exciting things was that we each got to shake hands with the chief of the tribe, who was holding a large staff that denoted his chief status, as well as the elders of the tribe who were likewise decadently dressed and esteemed.  The village did a bunch of amazing African dances (think awesome paints all over them and crazy dance moves that we westerners could never master!) and drumming was a staple to the whole ceremony of course! Then the naming ritual began. One by one, we each were called and given a hand-picked African name. The first part of an African name in this tribe is based on the day that you were born, for example, if you were born on a Saturday your name would be Kofi (for a boy) and then the second part of your name is given to you as a typical African name. So, Trevor was named Kwabla Agbe, meaning he was born on a Tuesday and “Agbe” means life!  I was named Akos Nunana meaning “gift” and Monday!  We referred to eachother as agbe and nunana for the rest of the day!  During our personal ceremony, where they brought each of us one by one up to the front of everyone, they also presented us with a handmade beautiful beaded bracelet and a personalized ceramic pot—which had our new African names painted on them!  After the naming ceremony, they played us some African music on their instruments and we all danced along, the girls and I had a group of kids crowding around us and we were dancing with them… but then I realized that they were more just following along with every movement that we did.. so of course I had to teach them an American dance… I started doing the Macarena and told everyone to join in—I was super impressed because all of these African children (who had no idea what the heck one moca- two moca- three mocarena meant!!) were following exactly.. and everytime I would clap, jump up and do the HI-I they would get so excited and that was their favorite part of the dance.. They were so awesome and we tried to do some of their african dances as well (they all are such good dancers) I ended up giving this one girl (see picture) a san Francisco 49ers shirt and tried to explain to her that that was where I was from.. she was soooo happy to have the shirt (which fit her like a dress but nonetheless was soo cute) and she went and showed off to her mother and all of their friends.. It was a great feeling, especially because she was a very quiet girl who really liked to dance and who sally and I kept looking at because she’d be dancing along with the drum beats during the ceremony while no one was watching her—sooo cute.  After that, a bunch of kids took us around their village and two young girls grabbed me by both arms and showed me around…  The houses were basically huts and there was a water well and a place where the mothers made beautiful clay pottery.  The huts were small and the ground was dirty of course (it was all outside) but the villagers were so proud of their little tribe, they are all so happy. I liked coming to this village a lot because it wasn’t like we were there on a service visit or we were visiting misfortunate people- we were just seeing their life, they aren’t misfortunate at all- they just live a completely different way than we do, and I loved being able to see it and experience their life- even if only for a day.  All of the village kids wanted us to take their pictures and they LOVED looking at the pictures that we would take.. so of course we took tons and a lot of videos… I had them all saying things in English in the videos like “wasssupp” and “Christina! Christina!” it was so much fun and they loved watching the videos on my camera.  Few of them spoke English, but its amazing how much fun you can have just by laughing and communicating without words.. kids are kids everywhere, after all.  We played around for a while before having to say our goodbyes and head back to the bus.

On our way back to the ship the driver took us offroading on what seemed like an impromptu safari—we watched as these beautiful elk-like animals pranced along the beautiful African plains and I couldn’t believe I was in the plains of Africa—it felt very lion king-esque .. then we saw some huge baboons and strayed far away from them (remember from cape town—those baboons are naughty!) then the driver took us to a little mountain where we followed him to these nondescript caves.. we climbed up all these rocks and there were tons of vines that Trevor swore he could swing from but I convinced him out of it (helloooo it could have easily been a snake disguised as a vine!)  we made our way up and up and finally got to where we were going—bat caves!  We had to squeeze through these huge rocks and make our way to the bat cave but we did (yes—even me!) and it was SO SCARY.. there were MILLIONS! Disgusting.. but cool at the same time—Trevor (batman) was in his element—he liked it a lot.

That was about the end of our day, getting back to the ship right on time and grabbing dinner with all our friends discussing the Ghanaian adventures we had all had!

Miss you all, keep checking the blog because we cannot WAIT to tell you all about brazil!!!!

Xoxo,

Akos Nunana and Kwabla Agbe