Ghana, Togo and Benin

This blog is fairly late because frankly, I don't have much to say about Ghana, Togo or Benin.

I didn't really like Ghana all that much. I only spent one day there, so perhaps I didn't really give it a chance, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. The one day I spent in Ghana was on a sunday, so he city was mostly quiet. I went around with my parents for the day, so of course we went to the museums and monuments, etc. We ended the day by going to the only market we could find open. It was absolutely crazy. Everyone wanted to sell us things, they swarmed! (Almost worse than China because they would follow you around as they shopped) I didn't have any interest to buy things at this particular market so I waited on the outskirts for the parents to take a "quick" look around. They took over an hour... and left me there. What a bad decision. most people think Ghanaians are friendly people, and for the most part, I would agree with that statement. But for me, the men got a little too friendly. As I waited outside the market I was approached by numerous men who would kiss my hand, and touch me in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable. In an hour I received 3 proposals, too many "I love you"s to count, and one man asked me to take him back to America with me. I have maybe 4 emails of all these people, but one in particular sticks out in my mind. This guy (a man really) named "Prince" gave me his email, and called me his Queen. He asked me to email him (which I haven't done yet, and am skeptical about doing at all). He never asked me to marry him... but rather just claimed me as his wife. He told other people this, and gave me a Ghanaian flag and a free keychain as a pre-wedding present. Apparently I'm supposed to put the keychain on my keys, so that every time I turn on the car I will think of him. I'm pretty sure that will be true, but probably not in the way he wants me to think of him. Sorry Prince!

While other people spent their last 3 days in Ghana, I went on a Semester at Sea sponsored trip to 2 extra African countries, Togo and Benin. Both are french speaking countries, so I was excited to use my language skills, but I didn't really get to as much as I expected. Out of the 56 hours or so of the trip, over 24 hours was spent in a small mini bus. It was hot, cramped, and in general not very fun. The places we visited while there mostly small museums... and they weren't that great.

But I don't want this blog to be a complete downer. I did have a few interesting experiences on the Togo and Benin trip. We went to a Python temple and I had a python wrapped around my neck and shoulders, and the second day we were there we visited a village completely on stilts in the middle of a very large lake (river?)

So all in all, my West African experience unfortunately did not meet my expectations, so I'm not necessarily itching to go back anytime soon- yet I feel like I owe it another chance, so I'm sure I'll be back sometime.

Shark Diving

My alarm went off at 4:45am and I immediately jumped out of bed. I showered, grabbed my backpack and raced out to the front of the ship where I met 8 other students waiting for a van- ready to take us 2 hours away to what may be our last afternoon. Shark diving. That's what I was going to today. I honestly don't know what possessed me to sign up for such an "adventure." Although I've learned in Marine Bio that sharks are more afraid of me than I of them, I am still deathly afraid of them. Don't get me wrong, my favorite week of the summer is "shark week" on the Discovery Channel, but that's watching them from afar, in the comfort of my own home from behind a big glass box.

The drive was relaxing; I slept the entire way there, trying hard to dream of anything but my impending doom. When we arrived they served us breakfast and sent us out. It was a fairly grey day. But when we stepped onto the boat and sailed out a little ways we were engulfed in a blanket of fog. Crap! As if I wasn't nervous enough, now the element of blindness made it that much worse. A few people were cracking jokes about open water and the black pearl was coming to hijack our boat... but they weren't really funny. And to top it off, the swells of the boat were making me seasick. 80 some days on the ship and I barely got sick once, and then I get on a little dinky boat that holds maybe 3% of the people our big ship holds and I feel like I'm going to hurl.

An hour later we reached our destination, open water near a "island" where seals liked to hang out- the perfect meal for great white sharks. We were about get in the world with great whites, right at their peak time to migrate through South Africa. Awesome... They lowered the cage into the water and a group of six people bravely dawned wet suits. They crew of the ship through out a tuna head on a line to lure a shark and within 10 minutes one came slowly and gracefully before it thrashed to bite the bait. ...... I was seriously reconsidering whether I'd be getting in that water.

I watched each group slide in the cage and come out smiling, but I was still unconvinced this would be a pleasant experience. My friends joked (I hoped) that if I didn't get in the cage, they were just going to throw me overboard. I think I would prefer to be in the cage than free diving, so when the crew called for the last group to put on their wetsuits I went down to pick mine up. I was hoping they wouldn't have one in my size, then I would have a perfect excuse not to get in, but they did. It took me ages to get on, I had to have someone help me stuff me in the suit. I was given a mask and shuffled over to where one enters the cage. I stepped on the ledge of the boat, swung on the rope they gave me to get into the cage and HOLY SHIT! THE WATER IS SO COLD! I was not expecting the water to be that cold! It was 55 degrees and I was shivering in a cage, trying to keep my hands and feet inside the cage so I didn't become some shark's midmorning snack. Of course because I weigh about as much as a feather, my wet suit kept me buoyant and my feet would float out through the holes of the "safe" cage. (I would like to say however, I have gained weight on this trip! Success!) So far, this excursion was taking a significant down turn.

I smelt the chum before it came splashing over my head to attract the shark. How that could even be remotely appetizing is beyond me, but the shark seemed to like it because minutes later one came swimming by. I ducked my head underneath just soon enough to catch the tail end of it and oh my gosh, the fish was huge! Most likely three times my size. We waited shivering for a bit more until it came around again. I dipped under the water, careful to keep my body as closed in as possible. I felt the nose of my mask fill up with water and slowly my vision fogged up, but not before I got a good look as the shark's head went by. I swear it looked right at me and grinned. That was it, I got out of the water after that. I had seen a shark, I was cold, and ready to get out. I was glad I did, right afterward a new shark (the biggest one yet) came barreling into the cage as it took the tuna bait.

As we sailed back to shore, I felt a little more at ease with sharks. I'm still a bit scared of them, but they were surprisinly docile creatures. They didn't seem that interested in eating me. They are endangered, so I really hope we can work on saving them. I think I would like to go back and dive with them again, now that I know a litle bit more about them. I just hope there are enough of them left the next time I go out.

Bacchanalian Adventures

I’m certainly not a wine expert, but after touring vineyards in South Africa, I have found my favorite wine. The third day was spent hopping around in Stellenbach. After our cab driver got lost, our first stop was Warwick Vineyard. It was so cute! We arrived around lunchtime so we got four picnic baskets and 3 bottles of wine for six of us and sat out under an umbrella on the green. As we reclined on pillows, we snacked on baguettes with humus, assorted meats, cheese, brownies, meatballs- perfect for a sunny day. We even got to play botchy ball. The wine was my favorite part though. Warwick wine was delicious, my favorite being the pinotage and the three ladies. Mmm, delicious!

The next vineyard was a little stranger. First off, the guy who was serving us looked like he was 12. I think he heard us talking about it too, because when he came back for the 3rd tasting he seemed highly disgruntled. Oops! Secondly, the wine itself was very strange. We tried 6 wines, 2 ports, and 1 brandy. My favorite was the first chardonnay, but the others were weird, most notably the honey walnut wine. Its after taste was a little too nutty for my taste. Obviously I know next to nothing about describing wines, but after the vineyard tours I think I want to learn more about it. I enjoyed learning how wine is made, stored, shipped etc. I was hoping we would get to mash up grapes with our feet, but sadly most vineyards don’t do that anymore. It’s probably for the best though… I wouldn’t want to reenact the grape lady from youtube. (I miss watching that all the time with you Ashley! Haha)

On our way home we had quite an adventure with our van driver. Originally we had arranged with the company to have the driver for the day, until 6:00. But it seems we had a misunderstanding when the driver jerked and pulled off to the side of the road. He started yelling at us because he thought we were only going to one winery, not two, and then he would take us back. He demanded more money, but we said we weren’t going to pay more since it had already been arranged that we have him for the day. Oh boy, he didn’t like this! He threw the van back into gear and barreled off on the highway. I was gripping my seat, already a little tipsy from the wine extravaganza, and hoped we would get back to the wharf safely. One of the guys in our group held out some money and said we’ll give you half. He pulled over and started yelling at us again because he thought we were only going to pay him half total (but really we just were going to give him half now and the other part later because we didn’t want to get stranded on our way back.) Again- this driver must have had road rage- he tore off down the road. He didn’t speak or stop until we got back to the wharf, thank goodness. And he was visibly heated when we gave him the rest of the money… Glad we got back… It might be time for another glass of wine to calm the nerves.

The wine drinking didn’t just stop at the vineyards. We dined at a great restaurant, City Grill, where we ordered a few more bottles of wine and continued our adventure by exploring the African meats. Our table ordered a skewer that included all sorts of game meat- ostrich, kudu, warthog, crocodile, sausage (who knows what kind)- it was all absolutely delicious! I don’t even think I could pick my favorites, but the kudu was pretty good. Of course when I went back and looked up exactly what a kudu looked like I felt a little bad, because they’re actually sort of cute, in a billy goat gruff kind of way… but mmmm, they were tasty! After we topped off the last of the wine, I was ready to go back to the ship and relax. I had to get up early for the next day anyways. Ahh, another successful day in Africa.

Table Mountain with a little bit of Jazz

Day 2 of South Africa... with only about 4 hours of sleep, I awoke to start my day with one goal in mind. Hike Table Mountain. It is about 3500 ft and flat on the top like a table (hence the name.) Whatever possessed me and the group of friends I went with to hike it is beyond me. it would have been much easier to have ridden the cable car up the mountain, but at the time it seemed necessary we get a taste of Africa's landscape the old fashion way. We wanted to feel it with our hands. Oh, and did we at that... TIA- This Is Africa.

The "hike" took us about 3 hours. Our group had a bit of a rough night before, so we took it at a slow, steady pace. It was hot, and the hike was more of a strugglingly climb/boulder. There had been rocks strategically placed as steps for us to maneuver around, but some of them seemed to grow. They looked normal in size, but when the time came to actually scale them, they were significantly larger than my legs, so I had to use my hands every once in a while to hoist myself up. The heat was pretty strong though. We were informed on our way up that this was the hottest day in multiple weeks... awesome. What a day to pick to hike a mountain exhausted from the day before. It was worth it though. As we neared the top and I was practically crawling on my hands and needs (I got to know Africa quite intimately after that hike) the view from the top was unreal. I could see everything, Cape Town, the valley and the water was gorgeous! I contemplated hiking it again, but next time bringing a tent up to spend the night, but they said it can get windy. I didn't need to be blown off the mountain. We ate a light snack and chose to take the cable car back down the mountain to save our energy for the rest of the day, but I think our whole group would agree that despite the rigor of the climb, it was totally worth it!

Because Table Mountain ended up being a whole day event, we got back into town in the late afternoon where we lazily walked around the wharf. We restaurant hopped, buying appetizers and drinks from each one. Tasting local beers, wines or cheeses while listening to smooth jazz in the background. We were lucky, the jazz festival was going on while we were there and many local and international jazz musicians were in town, playing at restaurants and bars. I had an absolute blast! More and more I want to move to Cape Town for a bit. It seems like a perfect place to live.

Cape Town, South Africa

I will admit, Cape Town was the port I was least looking forward to. I have already been to South Africa once, and although I really enjoyed it 6 years ago, I was looking forward much more to the asian countries. However, my expectations of the port were extremely surpassed and Cape Town quickly became my favorite port we have visited yet.

The first day I chose to do participate on a Habitat for Humanity trip. At 9am we drove out to the townships in a van of about 15-20 of us, dressed in jeans and t-shirts ready to get our hands dirty. The crew met us with warm smiles and prayed with us before we got to work on adding a roof on to a house they had already been building for 4 days. We were split into two groups- those who want to go on the roof, and those who preferred the solid ground. As much fun as the roof sounded, I chose to keep my feet on the floor, so I was assigned to clean up the surrounding area of large rocks... what a job! I felt more useless than ever. My skills were hardly up to par, since I don't have the largest arms to carry things in, I tried to use my other talents of interacting with kids. There were maybe 20-30 young neighborhood children watching eagerly as the roof was being erected just before their eyes. They seemed fascinated by everything we did.

The minute I stepped off the work site i was bombarded by children. They played with my hair, took my camera, and a good handful attached themselves to my legs and back. I felt like I was a celebrity, though I certainly had nothing to be famous for. they crawled on me like monkeys while I tried to teach them new dances and songs. They were genuinely happy just to have someone to play with. On our lunch break many of us shared our extra dessert that we had in our boxed lunch. It was clear they were hungary as they grasped at the left over cake. It was hard to look them in the eyes, and I could only hope that my one day of playing and sharing with them would give them comfort that they needed. I knew it wasn't much though.

Habitat for Humanity was a great time- they actually got the entire roof up! Skye was a big part of that, he was one of only about 4 people other than crew that were allowed up. I was so proud of him! The night was just as eventful as the day, however it was a stark contrast to the townships. In the evening I stripped off the grimy jeans and dawned a fancy dress to go to the opera with my dad. They were showing Grease, so naturally I was ridiculously excited. We were given a backstage tour and got to meet some of the actors because one of the interport lecturers was the owner of the opera house. He had even set up a nice spread of orderves and wine before the show started. The show was amazing! It was put on by all South African actors, but they used an American accent flawlessly. What a way to be introduced to Cape Town! Working in the day and then going to the theater at night. And it was only the first day... who knew what the others had in store for me.