Sea Olympics and Ghana Thus far....

Greetings from 0° Lat. 0° Long. (pretty cool huh??)

 

Everyone is probably wondering where the heck I’ve been. Well since I last posted we have had the Sea Olympics and Ghana. Oh my oh my where do I start??

 

SEA OLYMPICS

How about with the Olympics (February 3^rd, 2011)

One of the biggest traditions here on the SAS ship is the Sea Olympics for two reasons; bragging rights for the rest of the entire voyage and disembarking the ship first when we arrive in San Diego. Disembarking first is such a huge deal because the process takes FOREVER; our entire rooms are already packed, suitcases are gone, just waiting to clear customs. Anyone who has traveled internationally knows how long it takes for just a few people to get through – imagine 700+. So getting off first is a HUGE plus. Now back to the Olympics. The entire shipboard community is split into a total of about 10 color coordinated Seas usually by floors; the old people have a separate sea and the staff/families have another Sea. Each Sea is named after an actual Sea that does exist somewhere; my floor happens to be Aegean (aka the best) which is located between Greece and Turkey. For about two days before the games begin, the seas just get pumped up, create cheers, make banners, get little sleep and practice for the upcoming events. We are judged on everything from spirit and creativity of banners to appropriateness and safety of synchronized swimming. There are tons of events that last all day; volleyball, crab soccer, synchronized swimming, SAS trivia, dressing our LLC (floor coordinator), and many more. Everyone is expected to participate so I joined the card stacking team and we placed 2^nd!!! The atmosphere that day was INTENSE. Everyone wanted to win so bad, the cheers were so loud you could feel the floors vibrate. The vibrant colored outfits were hilarious – anything that had your sea color was being worn by somebody. Our Aegean Sea color was navy blue – we were decked out from head to toe in navy blue face paints and anything else we could find. The biggest event of the day is usually synchronized swimming. I haven’t laughed as hard as I did watching some the seas perform in a LONG time. I can’t even explain – you’ll have to wait to see them yourselves on video. The overall day was awesome – participation was amazing and everyone’s spirits were great. Overall, as a team we placed 2^nd. We were all very pleased.

 

Over the next few days it was classes, homework and more classes. From Brazil to Ghana is one of the longest portions at Sea (9 days). And let me tell you, I couldn’t wait to get off the ship in Ghana.

 

GHANA

We arrived in Takoradi around 8am on February 6, 2011. We could all immediately feel the positive energy from locals as they greeted us with a drum ceremony; the vendors were waving and couldn’t wait for us to buy their stuff. The drummers were unbelievable; I bet they drummed and sang/chanted for at least an hour and a half straight taking NO breaks. They were barefoot on the heated blacktop – I know I couldn’t last 5 minutes. It was definitely the warmest welcoming we’ve received as Americans thus far. AND ENGLISH IS THEIR 1ST LANGUAGE 

 

Upon arrival, I had a trip booked right away to the slave dungeons of Cape Coast and Elmina. It was about an hour and a half drive to the site as I got my first taste of Ghana. We had a big tour bus so clearly we stood out in the first place and it was filled with us white people. I don’t know who was staring more, us on the bus or the Ghanaians. For the most part it was mutual happiness but a few of the locals didn’t look so pleased to have us there. It didn’t surprise some were upset because if I had a big ol bus full of foreigners driving through my village snapping pictures I would be really pissed too. But this didn’t happen too often. My first impression of the town was extreme poverty; many homes were simply 4 walls barely standing, children were running around everywhere, cooking and bathing outside, open sewers. But as we drove on, we saw a variety of different social classes; MANY kids in school uniforms (all are required in Ghana), larger cement homes, businesses. It’s like any city in America, there are poor parts and there are rich parts. They just adapt in different ways. The streets are extremely crowded with vendors and it gets sort of overwhelming to look at since there’s so much going on. The buildings are very old and some are still used from the Europeans first colonizing Africa. The Ghanaians are very talented because they can balance anything on their head. Even the little kids could carry stuff. I saw huge buckets of water, 20 foot bamboo shafts, TVs, platters of food and anything else you can think of. I guess carrying items this way is better on your back because it doesn’t strain it. They must be all about keeping their hands free to work because all the kids are strapped to their backs with cloth. The kids love it too most were sleeping.

 Like I was saying, the slave dungeons. The first one we went to was in Cape Coast which and belonged to the Dutch. When we first entered the ‘castle’ (I don’t like using the word castle because that reminds me of royalty – something this place was not) I could immediately feel how heavy the atmosphere was. Knowing millions of Africans had been treated as animals, raped, sold, starved, suffocated and every other inhumane way of death possible happened here. The numerous ironies about the castles have me thinking to this day. Some stuff we easily forget from World History in high school that we need to be reminded of -- like how it was the domestic slaves building the dungeons for the other slaves (Europeans kept their hands clean); elder Africans that were no use for the British were the ones gathering slaves for sale; one of the most beautiful coasts I have ever seen in my life was the location of one of our ancestor’s darkest periods of time; the door in which the traders/buyers would look and pick their desired slaves through was triangular, giving it the name Atlantic triangular trade. Maybe it’s not that I forgot these facts but until you actually experience a place like this, which has had such an ENORMOUS impact on society yet today, it will never compare to learning it in a classroom. You can’t smell the stench of death from over 500 years ago that still lingers in the dungeons; you can’t feel the 100 degree heat and sweat pouring because of more than 250 bodies in a single room for days with one hole for ventilation; you can’t stand on the feces still packed solid on the floors where they slept; you can’t walk the exact path as slaves did from beginning of capture to the door of no return. It’s just not the same which is why I don’t have much to express in words about the dungeons—one must experience it themselves.

 

After the first dungeon, we had lunch at a very nice nearby resort named Coconut Grove. It was buffet style on the beach. Will Smith, along with many other famous American celebrities, have stayed here over the years. It gave us a good opportunity to reflect on what we had just experienced earlier and relax on the beach before our next dungeon down the road. The dungeons were very similar for the most part except the British had established this one in Elmina. After the tour, we all headed back to the ship, showered and got ready for our first night in Ghana!!

 

I had met one of the local vendors after we got back to the ship and a bunch of both our friends decided to all go out to the nearby bar. Like every ‘hot spot’ in port, it was loaded with SASers!! (its always a comfort seeing fellow friends and shipmates) We all played pool, drank and danced until at least 2 am. After we got back to the ship that night, I ended up sitting outside with a few vendors and the security guard just talking talking talking. They were so interested in SAS, school and American life in general. Next thing we knew, the sun was coming up – thank God I didn’t have anything planned for the next day. I slept until noon then got up and ready for my one and only beach day!

 

On February 7th, 2011, we headed to Africa Beach Resort, sat under the palm trees and watched the ocean for hours. Around supper time we got in a cab and told them to take us to the closest eating place. We walk in and it’s fine dining – nicer than anything I’ve even been to in the USA. I just laughed because we’re all hot, smell like sunscreen and in our swimsuits. But we enjoyed and called it an early night.

 

KAKUM

The next morning I had a trip to go to Kakum National Park. The park offers a series of multiple activities throughout the park including overnight camping, animal spotting, nature tours and canopy walks. The canopy walk was built in the 70’s, I believe, by three Canadian guys (don’t quote me on that!). It is a series of seven bridges and 6 platforms spreading roughly 350 meters in length and 40 meters above the rainforest floor. To get to the canopy we had to walk 90 steep stairs in the humid African heat. It didn’t take us long but I give props to the old life-long learners. These 70+ year olds can still keep up with us younger ones. I was VERY impressed because I was definitely worn out. Once we got to the top we all got to begin walking the canopy. The walkway was extremely narrow (about 6 inches) and we had to walk one foot in front of the other. I was the third person to go and of course the two heaviest men on our entire trip were in front of me. All I could think was “oh shit, why didn’t I pay attention to who was ahead of me on the walkway at the same time” But actually, they helped stabilize the plank so we didn’t sway so much. Once we got to the end of the first walk and to the platform, I was so relieved and I could actually take in the scenery. I felt like Tarzan. I was over 100 feet above an African Rainforest and all I could see was trees for acres and acres. It was breathtaking and so peaceful – until I looked down. Then I headed to the next bridges to get the hell off this canopy and onto stable ground!!

 

To be continued.........