Ghana

GHANA – Coming to you from somewhere off the African coast heading south to Cape Town, this past week was a unique experience getting a chance to explore Ghana and interact with the people. Yesterday, the ship crossed a point of geographic significance; point 0,0 where the Prime Meridian and Equator meet. This may be hard to believe but there actually is a floating marker out there. I have pictures to prove it! Crossing this point you join a unique fraternity of the sailing community. In this case, you become Emerald Shellback and Royal Diamond Shellback depending which navy. We have four more days of class/at sea before we arrive in South Africa on Friday, Feb. 24.

            The West Africa region is a very interesting place to travel to and especially Ghanaitself. Ghana was the first African nation to claim its independence and is a rapidly growing nation today which after being there for a week makes you pounder just what the conditions are like in these other African countries.Ghana considers itself to be the hope of the region.

            First off the traffic in Ghana especially around Accra is awful. It takes forever to get around to places and the only real means of transportation is by car. And to add to that, the roads are really small and inadequate to accommodate how many cars they have on the road. One evening on a ride back from Accra to the ship, we were stuck in a jam for over an hour and a half barely moving. I also wanted to mention the concept of “Africa Time”. Everything is a little bit slower, not only just with the traffic but its evident when you get meals. It takes a bit to just sit back and relax a little bit when you’re so used to being on-the-go all the time. So it’s really hard to get around the area quickly. Finally, my theme for the five days was sweaty. It was just really hot out there. No matter what when you walked outside, it was guaranteed the sweat would be pouring down your face.

The first order of business once we docked in Tema was to head to Accra and make a visit to the Indian Consulate. There are (or I should say were) 66 people who did not have Indian Visas including myself and it was still in question whether I would be able to get into India when we arrived there. Semester at Sea had been working through various plans to get us Visas and the plan in which we would go to the Consulate in Ghana and give them 5 days to process the Visas seemed like the most logical choice. We were the first ones off the ship and had a police escort to the India High Commission. Note on police escort: In Ghana, traffic is so bad that they offer escorts to tourists now so tourists can arrive at locations on time. I didn’t realize it at first but then I saw that we were moving through all this traffic pretty steadily. Everybody on the streets were stopping what they were doing to stare at us as well. By noon, we had all turned in our applications and would have to wait until Friday to find out if they would be able to do all 66. To make a long story short, we got the Visas and we all will be heading to India. Special thanks to the people who worked at Semester at Sea to get it done, I know they worked very hard to get this done for us for something that wasn’t our fault under a situation they hadn’t seen before.  

            My first three days in Ghana were to myself to just go out and explore. I mainly stuck around Accra and saw what the capital city had to offer. There was a shuttle that ran from our ship to the city each day because even though it is closeit’s actually a long drive because of traffic sometimes taking two hours to go just 17 miles. The first afternoon I explored around the Osu area of the city where the bus dropped us off after the visit to the India Consulate. I really was unprepared for stepping off the bus because for some reason I had an idea that because Ghana was more developed that people selling items wouldn’t harass us. However, immediately I remembered my last visit to Africa and I knew that this wasn’t exactly going to be a fun part. The site of many Americans getting off a bus made the day for these people and people swarm you wanting to sell you so many stupid things. They try to pull you in by asking your name and shaking your hand. Of course wanting to be a polite American you do it. Over time you just learn to say hello put your head down and keep moving. The first day was a real adjustment day though learning to deal with these guys. After walking around for a couple hours in the very hot sun, drenched in sweat, Ineeded a break. So I spent the last few hours of the afternoon at a nice African restaurant trying a local dish and rehydrating. Exhausted, I was ready to head back to the ship and regroup for the next couple of days.

            On Days 2 and 3, I went back to Accra deciding I would get to see everything in Accrabefore moving on to something different. On Day 2, I headed to a store called Global Mamas where they sell local crafts made by Ghanaian women. The storeprovides a nice break from the madness you have outside and is the shoppingenvironment we are more accustomed to. In the afternoon, we headed to an older part of town called Jamestown where we walked around and could see the coastal part of the city. Around this part of the city it turns into more of a shantytown area and it really is an unbelievable sight. While we were walking around school was beginning to be let out for the day. African children absolutely love saying hello to Americans and wanting their picture taken. So we would be walking down the sidewalk meanwhile everyone wanting to come up and say hello almost like you are a celebrity. I noticed that people in Ghana are truly happy to have you visit their country. One common saying that I heardquite often is that we are all brothers and sisters no matter where you come from. Escaping the onslaught of people, we stopped at Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. This was essentially Ghana’s national mall. This is the location where Nkrumah declared independence and is buried.

            Day 3 I wanted to make it to the Center for Culture and the Makola Market. The Center for Culture is an area where they sell local art like drums, masks, and other indigenous crafts. It is a very cool spot because you can see people makingsome of the items but once again it is not the easiest place to go into because people are so interested in getting your business. The best way to describe it is that when they see Americans they see you as a walking dollar sign whichafter a while gets just plain bizarre. They say things like, “Oh you’re American, you have money.” In the covered areas of the market people will grab your arm and try to pull you into their stalls. At times it’s hard because you want to see what they have but you also don’t want to be stuck in this persons stall for the next 15 minutes. Actually while I was in there I got to see the Ghanaian presidential motorcade go by which was pretty cool. Next I headed to Makola Market, the largest market in the city and it’s an amazing site. It’s just pure humanity for as far as you can see selling every single item you can think of. This is more of the place where locals come to buy their everydayitems. For dinner, I ate at a local chop bar, which basically means it is an authentic African restaurant that locals usually go to. This place called Asanka Locals was actually attended by Anthony Bourdain and I wanted to try the dish that he enjoyed. Unfortunately, that dish is only made on Sundays. Instead I tried a dish called Fufu with tilapia, a dish that you eat with your right hand only. It’s almost like a soup with a massive dumpling in it. The dumpling is made from a local crop that I’m not sure the name of and when you pull off a piece from the bowl you are supposed to swallow it whole. It was pretty spicy but I liked it, definitely a different eating experience. Just to offer another example of how kids love Americans, this little three-year-old kid just came up and sat at our table to sit with us.

            Day 4 I headed to Cape Coast a city west of Accra and about a three-hour trip down the coast. Once again we had a police escort to help us get out of Accra on time. The trip down the coast provided awesome sites of coastal towns and the countryside. Cape Coast and Elmina is where you can see the slave castles and dungeons where slaves started their journey across the Atlantic to the Americas. We visited both Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle, which are similar in terms of what you see but designed differently.  I honestly can say as a white American I felt a little uncomfortable being there witnessing the darkness where slaves were kept, and the smells in the dungeons that still are lasting to this day. Then there’s The Door of No Return (pictured) where slaves would say good-bye to their home for the final time and most likely lead to their death across the Atlantic. Forlunch though, we went to a hotel and ate lunch at a great spot just feet from the ocean. Massive palm trees swaying in the wind along with crushing sound of waves hitting the shore provided a nice afternoon break. In Elmina, they have nice coastal areas, which is something you don’t necessarily think of when Africa comes to mind.

            On the final day, I had an obligation for one of my classes to go to Friends for Earth headquarters in Accra. They gave us a presentation on environmental issues in Ghana and a little bit on how they function. They are working real hard to raise awareness to their people on issues such as global warming and help lobby for more green ways to industrialize and develop. Unfortunately, the U.S.A.could be much more helpful but have refused to get involved with any globalagreements in relation to reducing carbon emissions. For my final afternoon, I walked around the Tema area. A lot of what you see is just lots and lots ofpeople selling things.

            One of the best experiences of being in Ghana was meeting the people. I was amazed just how friendly these people are and they are so proud of their country. They want us so badly to come back to the U.S.A. and say great things about their country. There is a sense of community there that you just don’t have in the U.S.A. As I mentioned before, countless times I heard the saying we are allbrothers and sisters. It shows in how they act that people take care of oneanother and generally people were happy to see Americans.

            Even though there are a lot of great things about Ghana it still is very poor and lacking in many areas. Getting a chance to see the region is a real eye opening experience and the southern coastal areas where we were are actually the better parts of the country. People live in structures that we can’t even imagine, sewage running down centers of villages, and trash thrown everywhere. And there’s dirt everywhere from the roads to just being on the streets. Coming back each day you could wipe the dirt right off your arm. Ghana has a lot of things going for them but at the same time they are nowhere close to where they need to be or what we would consider to be acceptable. Water issues and electricity still remain problems for some. For a lot of people on the ship, it was a real emotional experience seeing the poverty that many are not used to. It has been great hearing the stories from different peoples travels the last day or so and how they felt about Ghana. I think what made it so hard for us Americans is that we are so used to our way of life and we just can’t quite grasp why these people are so upbeat, cheerful, and helpful. Yes you can gohelp, visit children, have a great conversation with a local family, but at the end of the day we’re still going back to this ship and living our lives. It almost doesn’t seem fair. I’ve heard a lot of people say Ghana is awesome the past few days. I cringe when I hear that. I like to say it’s an interesting place with lots of different contrasts because its not awesome that people have to live that way but that poverty is actually the majority and we’re the minority.

 

 

Food ~ Bean stew with fish and fried plantains. Fried chicken and African rice. Fufu with tilapia. Goat meat on a stick (very tough and spicy). Piece of meat pie.

 

Drinks ~ Star Beer. Club Beer, both Ghanaian beers. Local Moonshine.

Atlantic Crossing

After 9 long days of crossing the Atlantic Ocean the ship has reached Africa although we can't quite see any land yet. The crossing has made it more real that we are circumnavigating the globe. Today we've been passing Ivory Coast but it's really hazy out so its hard to see anything, apparently wind from the Sahara helps create the haze. The 9 days have been long including 8 days of classes in 9 days, which is our longest stretch of classes on the voyage. So that was definitely a unique experience. The one day off was Neptune Day. It is a sailing tradition that you pay tribute to Neptune when you cross the equator. So one morning they woke us up early and the ritual includes getting dumped on with fish guts, kissing a fish, and getting your head shaved (I did not get my head shaved, it was optional). It was a pretty fun morning to have a break from a long stretch of classes. For these 9 days, we have had a port lecturer (Someone from the country we're going to that helps us learn about the country) Sheriff Ghale, who is a Ghanaian musician. It has been awesome listening to Sheriff's music and learning about Ghana. One night Sheriff had a Bob Marley tribute night that was great especially when we were desperate for entertainment. Sheriff has me really looking forward to exploring Ghana. You can check out Sheriff's music here: www.itunes.com/sheriffghale 

The ship will be docked in Tema, Ghana at 2 a.m. EST (7 a.m. in Ghana) Monday Feb. 13. Tema is 17 miles east of Accra, Ghana's large capital city. We will be there for 5 days and I have the first 3 days to myself to explore, I'm looking forward to going with the flow and seeing where my travels take me over the next week. I'll be updating you all what happened in Western Africa as we head south on Friday evening.

 

Brazil

After spending a little over a week’s time in Brazil traveling up and down the Amazon River and flying down to Rio de Janiero, we’ve headed out of the country and are beginning the over 3,000 nautical mile straight shot across the Atlantic Ocean to the African continent and Ghana. The seas have started to get rougher as we head further out into the Atlantic Ocean. The ship is currently at a location where oceanic gyres come together that makes for rough seas and some pretty large waves. I’m have not been seasick so I have been enjoying the ship’s bouncing which I think makes it more fun but some people are struggling. From the Amazon rainforest to Rio’s famous beaches, I’ve seen a lot of Brazil over the past week we spent there. Both locations are unique characteristics to the country that make it understandable why this is an up and coming nation in the world today.

            When I left you off last we were sitting in Macapa before moving up the river. The two-day trip to Manaus was very interesting because U.S. diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Brasilia joined our trip. It was a great experience listening tothem speak about Brazil and about their jobs in the foreign service. Some interesting facts I learned was that the U.S.A. is becoming a very popular destination for Brazilians with an over 100-day wait to get a Visa currently. On average, Brazilians spend around $4,000 on things in the U.S.A. when they come to the country. Brazil has a women president who did not hold public office prior to the presidency. The middle class is improving and becoming more self-sustaining as they are able to buy more modern things, which is one of the main reasons why rapid development is occurring in Brazil today.    

The ship arrived in the city of Manaus on Tuesday Jan. 31, a bustling port city on the Rio Negro just off the Amazon River. Manaus is essentially an island to the rest of Brazil because it is really only accessible by plane and boat. Infrastructure is one of Brazil’s biggest struggles at the moment and will be over the next 10 years. Majority of roads and secondary roads outside of the major cities need work and it’s not easy to travel within the country by car. Manaus was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. The city has over 2 million people and is not something you would expect in the middle of the Amazon.

My four days on land in Brazil were packed with rigorous travel plans down to Rio de Janiero and back again to Manaus to meet the ship. We were first off the ship at 8 a.m. and immediately boarded a river boat to get a small taste of what the Amazon River and surrounding rainforest areas had to offer. The boat cruised down the Rio Negro, which runs into the Amazon River and is the second largest river by volume in the world behind the Amazon. It gets the name Rio Negro because the water actually appears to be black. The boat took us back to small river villageswhere people live right on the water. At this spot, we boarded smaller canoes to explore the area closer and quicker. The motorized canoes took us around the river areas and back into rainforest river areas to view the beauty off therainforest. We also took a small hike to view a swamp area where we saw huge plants, flowers, trees, and unique birds. The soothing sound of the rainforest is just as you would expect it to be. Back on the riverboat, we continued back out to the Rio Negro where we went to go see the meeting of the waters. This is the location where the Amazon and Rio Negro meet. The meeting of the waters is a unique experience because it is clearly visible where the rivers meet. The Amazon has a muddy brownish color and the Rio Negro has a blackish tint andit’s very clear where they meet because the rivers are divided visibly. This is due to different PH levels in the water. As we headed back to the dock, we were able to see great views of Manaus. Our flight to Rio was in the afternoon so we immediately boarded a bus to go to the airport for our 3.5-hour direct flight to “The Marvelous City.”

We arrived in Rio at 10:30 p.m. so there wasn’t much of a chance to admire the city’s beauty right away; that would have to wait until morning. The group headed to our hotel where we threw our bags in the hotel rooms and headed out to find some dinner. We finally found a small café where we choose to finally sit and relax. In Brazil, lunch is dinner and that is when they eat their main meal. Dinnertime is actually meant to be like our lunch so small things like sandwiches are what the locals eat for dinner. (I’m starting a section at the bottom of food and drinks that I tried at each spot)

Our first day in Rio was packed with exploring the city from the Christ the Redeemer statue to sitting out on Rio’s world famous beaches. First thing we jumped in open-air jeeps that would take us up to the Tijuca National Forest and the statue. From the jeep, it was an awesome way to finally see what the city of Rio had to offer. We turned down to the beach area and immediately saw Copacabana beach and the marvelous waterfront. Beachgoers already at 9 a.m. were setting up for the day in the sun ahead. Since we were further in the Southern Hemisphere, it is currently summer in Rio. So it was very hot outside. I also immediately realized just how crazy the driving in Brazil is. Let’s just say that they like to be really close to each other on the road always. The jeep took the winding roads up Corcovadomountain where the statue is located. The drive offers spectacular views of the city and I began to realize just how unique Rio actually is. At the statue, I opted for the 250-step walk up to the top. From the city, the statue appears to be not too big however; at the top it’s truly amazing how big and high up you are over the city. From the top, the peak offered breathtaking views from the lush green rolling mountains of the rainforest to the dense city buildings out to the glimmering ocean waters. Our jeeps then took us on an exploration of the rainforest area, which is another unique part about Rio. In just 10 minutes you can be out of the bustling city to a dense rainforest. In the afternoon, I was excited to hit Rio’s beaches. The two most popular beaches are Copacabana and Ipanema. We headed to lifeguard post # 9 on Ipanema, which is a world famous area for tourists to visit. As we headed out to the beach it was amazing to see the mass humanity on the beach, just thousands and thousands of people for the entire stretch of the beach.  On the beach, vendors come around selling you various items from drinks to clothing, and crafts. The weather was perfect, hot and not a cloud in the sky. The ocean water is very cold actually because the ocean currents come from the south but it was very refreshing. One very cool moment while we were on the beach was seeing a bunch of Brazilians playing soccer on the beach. As you glanced down the beach, you could see tons of balls in the air for hundreds of feet as they all gathered to start juggling games with one another. I think it would be an awesome idea for a World Cup commercial. In the evening, we headed out to Lapa, the bustling nightlife area of the city with a lot of different Samba clubs, restaurants, and bars. As part of our tour we were actually given a Samba lesson, which was a lot of fun and you’ll have to ask me to show you when I get back. We were then able to hit the town and know how the locals dance. For a Wednesday night, the area was very busy. Actually on weekends they have to close the streets in the area because there are so many people. But Rio is one of those cities where you can go out any night of the week. Exhausted, I headed back to the hotelhoping to get a small amount of rest for another busy day ahead.

The next day we had the unique chance to go into a favela, a shantytown where the poor population lives. Most of the time these areas are too dangerous to enter because they are known for crime and unsafe conditions. This favela is unique because it was acceptable for tourists to enter and it is one of a kind in the world. They have essentially made it into a real life museum that people actually live in. The favela is built on the side of a hill with winding paths, and staircases providing for an astonishing site. They do have electricity, sewage, and water so even favela’s have moved into the modern world. I actually even saw people with flat screen televisions inside their homes. The government does not recognize these homes though. If you were to look at a map of this location, it wouldreveal that there is nothing located at that spot. At the museum center, they let our group graffiti the walls. Graffiti is an important aspect of the favela community and expression. Children in the community were also eager to look at our cameras and play games with us. It was great getting to interact with them even if we didn’t speak their language. After the favela, we headed to Old Rio and the more urban downtown center. Quite the contrast from where we just were. I ate lunch at this old Portuguese restaurant and continued to walk around the city center. The city was bustling at this time of day and I was amazed just how many people were out at this time. Rio is a city of over 6 million people and it showed. The last stop of the day was at Sugarloaf mountain where you can take cable cars to the top of a mountain at the entrance to Rio’s bay. The peak offers breathtaking views of the city from a perspective of looking toward the city from the coast. It is really hard to describe just how great these views were, only pictures can really do it justice. For our final evening, I headed out to a Brazilian steakhouse called, Carretao. This was an awesome eating experience because they come out and serve any meat you can imagine right on to your plate, freshly cut, and all-you-can-eat. This was the perfect for the situation because I was really hungry. The next morning we had an early wake up in order to head back to Manaus so it would be another night with little sleep.

The final day I’m pretty sure I was running on about 12 hours over our three night stay in Rio so the trip back was rough. Our flight out of the city offered more stunning views of the city just as the sun was coming up. We had one connection in Sau Paulo, which is actually the largest city in Brazil. Even though a brief stay, it was cool to at least get an aerial view of the city. We made it back to the ship at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. The ship finally departed at 7 p.m. after a slight delay because our fuel was late in arriving for the long trek across the Atlantic. This part of the trip crossing the ocean is going to be interesting and long, we’ll see how it goes.

 

Food ~ Grilled cheese with banana. Acai – Amazon fruit that is very healthy and served chilled with granola/banana. Very tasty snack that is pure fruit. Rare beef dish that had olive oil and cheese, which you then put on bread. Brazilian steakhouse – Any meat you can imagine served right on your plate.

 

Drinks ~ Skol – Brazilian beer. Carpionella – Not sure how to spell it but a vodka drink mixed with limes or other things like watermelon, also very strong. I had one that had chunks of watermelon in it, which was very tasty.

 

I am extremely happy that I made the choice to travel down to Rio. I still can’t really believe that I made it down there; Rio is a city that I have always wanted to go to. It’s easy to see why the World Cup will be here in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. People are going to be able to learn more about this city and country thanks to these two major events. It was made clear to me by the locals that they are very concerned with winning the Cup in 2014, it’s something that they desperately want to happen. I also must mention about Rio’s reputation as a crime haven. Not once did I feel unsafe or threatened while in the city. It may have been that I was overly cautious and aware of my surroundings but I came away impressed. I’d come back to Rio the first time I get the chance and I’d recommend to anyone coming to this part of the world that they make a stop in this magnificent city. There’s a local saying that once you come to Rio you always leave part of your heart there to come back to.

 

 A note on ship life ~ Last night they shut down everyone’s Internet usage and used all the bandwidth to watch the Super Bowl. It was a lot of fun because everyone was so into watching this major American event.