Day 1: Sunday - 11 April 2010

I have such an intense respect for Africa in general, or for what I have learned of it since I began Semester at Sea. It is beautiful, welcoming, eye-opening, and doesn't involve face to face immigration or diplomatic briefings! I was up and at breakfast at 8am with Renae shoving my face full of French toast and happiness. I came back to the room, showered, and was told by the annoying lady on the speaker that the ship had been cleared - and I had done absolutely nothing. It was wonderful.

Carson, Michael, his friend Isaac and I headed out for Ghana. We devised a really rough plan and then left the ship. We wanted to go to a market and to the light house in James Town. We are docked in Tema, but most of the "attractions" of Ghana are located in Accra, about 1 hour from the ship. There is a shuttle that runs from the ship to the gate of the pier [about a 7 minute walk] then a bus that we thought ran from the front gate into Accra every hour - for free provided by SAS. We walked to the front of the gate to learn that the free bus leaves from the ship - what the purpose of the shuttle to the front gate is then, I am unsure. There was a man in a taxi - his name was Augustine - that said for 100$ [not Cedi - Dollars, but it was completely worth it by the end of the day] that he would take us all over the place and show us everything that we needed to see. Between the four of us we debated it, agreed, and rolled out.

We told him the only thing we knew we wanted to see - the lighthouse - and that's where we took us first. We drove by a coffin store and it was so cool. The coffins here are made based on career, so for example if you were a sailor you coffin looked like a ship. If you were a loser you got a regular coffin, I guess - but there was an awesome eagle coffin, a ship, and an elephant. I think it would be pretty cool to die in Ghana - or maybe just get a really sweet custom coffin; either way. We drove past the freedom arch which was built after Ghana gained its independence in 1958 [I believe]. We drove along the coast, which was borderline surfable assuming you have a surfboard, and then finally got to the lighthouse - disappointment. It was a little, stubby lighthouse on the corner of Sketchville - so instead of further investigating the light house we headed into Sketchville.

We were in a small fishing village surrounded by poverty and some of the happiest kids you could find, and everyone wanted to meet us and shake our hands. Before you freak out, I know there is H1N1 currently in Ghana, so after we shook hands I sanitized once I got back in the cab - such as Scar, we were prepared. We got out and walked around the area and out to the end of the pier, tripping over fishing nets along the way, until we saw the original lighthouse for the James Town fishing village. It was a thick metal pole flying a flag that I am pretty sure didn't even have a light on it, but what can you do? There were kids jumping off the pier and running around naked and swimming and playing and it was so much fun to see how happy people can be with next to nothing.

To say that not once throughout the day was I asked for money would be a lie - but to say not twice would be true. You could tell life was not the easiest for these people but they were willing to work for what they had and it really made me smile. I respect so much when people work for what they have and don't ask for more from people who do have it, hoping to get something for nothing. If you are lucky and come across what you want or need, awesome; if you work for it, even better.

One of the guys we met that had joined our group wanted to show us his house so we made in the right direction. We crossed over a sewage line and I saw a guy smoking a joint and playing with his puppy like nothing else mattered, another thing I added to my list that I would not have expected to make me smile. I passed another guy who asked "can I please kiss your mouth?" He kept on walking and I don't think he really expected me to say yes - and with around 2% of the population having AIDS I was obviously not that inclined - but it still stuck in my head. On our way up some stairs towards our new friend's house were almost stampeded by a group of kids who were fascinated by our cameras. Carson and I took their pictures for what seemed like an hour and even let them do some photographing of their own. One of the girls, Anita, asked what our names were and when Michael said his name she said "Oh! Michael Jackson!" and started to do a dance that no one but MJ will ever be able to pull off.

Eventually we had to leave the kids and by the time we got into his house we were out the other end - it was literally that small, but he was proud to let us go through it. I got three photos of the view of the ocean from his three different windows, one barred and the other two out of reach from below. When we left his house, which could have been a small hallway on the ship, we were met by another group of kids. Carson spent some time dancing with them to whatever obscene rap song came out of the giant speakers while I did some more picture taking. We dodged kids and goats to get back to the taxi and passed by a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, who was balancing a huge metal bowl on the top of her head while eating an orange. She was my favorite kid from the whole day, already a solid head like all of the other women in the village who still bring water to their families on their heads. We hoped in the taxi, dodged a few more goats, and headed towards our next spot.

We pulled into the mausoleum of Ghana's first president after independence. It was interesting to see and there were huge fountains everywhere of these bronze guys playing some funky instrument that I didn't recognize. There was a couple there getting their wedding pictures done who let Carson grab a picture of them while I snuck one as well. Her dress was really interesting and was kind of mermaid-ish with a bright turquoise ribbon around it and in her hair with flowers. We were not there long since it is a fairly small place so we made our way to the market.

This market had a lot of really awesome things in it that I wish I would have had more time and patience to look at; however, the people there swam you and it is so intrusive and there is so much pressure that I just got back in the taxi and waited until we left after I went to the ATM so I could get the few gifts I did want. One of the guys introduced himself to Carson & I as Jaguar which we cleverly figured out was not his real name. All of the people we met as soon as we got out of the car were very nice and wanted to know more about us and tell us about their lives, but they were the only ones for the most part. The guy who I bought my stuff from was really nice and not crazy or aggressive which I don't think he realized how much I appreciated. From there it was pressure and warfare and hands through the windows crazy - and I really just couldn't handle it so I waited in the car, which they slowly began to circle. One guy kept handing Carson these 2 horned masks trying to get her to buy them which lasted for about 10 or 15 minutes before our driver finally yelled at him enough for him to peace.

Finally, we turned up at Frankie's. When we left the market we told Augustine that we were hungry and needed to be somewhere with water and ice cream - the essentials for our survival. He took us to his favorite place to eat - Frankie's - which had everything under the sun on its menu. Carson & I got burgers and a milkshake, Isaac got soup and a sandwich, Michael got a San Francisco sub [no, I do not know the sexual orientation of his sandwich], and Augustine got something to go. From there Isaac had to be back on the ship by 5 for dock time so I went with him while Carson & Michael continued to explore. We took their stuff and made it back to the ship where I hung out by the pool with Mrs. Abel and was eventually found by Lydia - it probably had something to do with the note I left on the wipe-board outside of her room saying "if you are looking for love then I suggest looking for it by the pool." We made plans to have dinner with the Abel's and went our separate ways, mainly because I was going to take a shower and that would be awkward.

I had produced an impressive amount of sweat throughout the course of the day and swimming only countered that so much. I took my second shower of the day [not sustainable, but it was necessary both times] and then started working on my blog after putting away my purchases for the day. I read some of my most recent book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and then made my way to dinner [it is important to state that since my last blog I have finished Scar Tissue and The Dawn Patrol, both which were really good books]. Lucky for me I made it just as the last two pieces of chocolate dessert were laying there desperately begging to be eaten - and who was I not to oblige their wishes? I brought one for Lydia and happily ate the other one while being judged by the salad bar from afar. I would like to take this time to mention, because it seems to be on the minds of readers worldwide, that I have not gained any weight on this trip - or if I have it is not noticeable physically.

Dinner was fun and then I got a calling card in case anyone wanted to answer their phone [they did not apparently] and then went back to typing, reading, and bumming around in general since Carson & I have a trip tomorrow morning that leaves at 7AM.