because I was offline so long, I journaled a more elaborate entry from yesterday. Here it is:
August 31st Journal entry
Yesterday we hired Kennedy and his car to take us to Cape Coast, which is north along the coastline from Accra. Both Pastor Markwei and Andy felt it would be good for us to see some of the Ghanaian history up close. First we visited Kakum Rain forest, which was amazing! As soon as we turned the corner into this place, it was instantly misty and very humid. We went on a long uphill hike to the “canopy” of tall jungle like trees. We totally felt like we were in a Tarzan movie with vines hanging down and birds chirping. We saw no wildlife (bummer) but were told that elephants, monkeys and other wildlife roam the rain forest at night. Once we got to the top of the canopy, they had built 7 interconnecting rope bridges going from one tree to the next. We were 200-300 feet up in the air on these things and it was freaky! It was the first time we had seen so many Anglos in one place, because it was such a tourist destination. We chatted with a few, mostly Europeans, and then met an American who happened to be from Port Townsend, Washington which is just down the road from my hometown. Freaky. She and I had a mutual teacher who transferred to her school. What a strange world we live in.
From there we visited two “castles” called Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle. These were built as forts on the coast by the Dutch and the Portugese in the 1500’s, and became slave trade avenues for many years. It was sad and eerie as we walked through the dungeons were 1000’s and 1000’s of human beings were “stored” before being shipped off to other worlds for sale. The castles were kept up very nicely so it really felt as if not much had changed in 500 years.
Driving in Ghana. Wow. Speed limits really mean nothing when it comes to getting places. Our driver would toot his horn and cars would slide to the shoulder, then he would pass them going 120 KPH (which I believe is about 70 MPH). We were so scared, and on more than one occasion asked him to slow down and stop passing cars so quickly. At night this is particularly scary.
Today was good for us to chill a bit. We have been busting it out, and Andy and I dozed off and on during the 4-5 hour round trip. Karen and I slept about 9 hours, which tells us we were very tired.
Yesterday we hired Kennedy and his car to take us to Cape Coast, which is north along the coastline from Accra. Both Pastor Markwei and Andy felt it would be good for us to see some of the Ghanaian history up close. First we visited Kakum Rain forest, which was amazing! As soon as we turned the corner into this place, it was instantly misty and very humid. We went on a long uphill hike to the “canopy” of tall jungle like trees. We totally felt like we were in a Tarzan movie with vines hanging down and birds chirping. We saw no wildlife (bummer) but were told that elephants, monkeys and other wildlife roam the rain forest at night. Once we got to the top of the canopy, they had built 7 interconnecting rope bridges going from one tree to the next. We were 200-300 feet up in the air on these things and it was freaky! It was the first time we had seen so many Anglos in one place, because it was such a tourist destination. We chatted with a few, mostly Europeans, and then met an American who happened to be from Port Townsend, Washington which is just down the road from my hometown. Freaky. She and I had a mutual teacher who transferred to her school. What a strange world we live in.
From there we visited two “castles” called Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle. These were built as forts on the coast by the Dutch and the Portugese in the 1500’s, and became slave trade avenues for many years. It was sad and eerie as we walked through the dungeons were 1000’s and 1000’s of human beings were “stored” before being shipped off to other worlds for sale. The castles were kept up very nicely so it really felt as if not much had changed in 500 years.
Driving in Ghana. Wow. Speed limits really mean nothing when it comes to getting places. Our driver would toot his horn and cars would slide to the shoulder, then he would pass them going 120 KPH (which I believe is about 70 MPH). We were so scared, and on more than one occasion asked him to slow down and stop passing cars so quickly. At night this is particularly scary.
Today was good for us to chill a bit. We have been busting it out, and Andy and I dozed off and on during the 4-5 hour round trip. Karen and I slept about 9 hours, which tells us we were very tired.
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