Ghana 2

The ship docked in Tema, a city 45 minutes from Accra, because it was cheaper for us to dock there. This made getting around Ghana kind of difficult because everything was sooo far away from the ship. They did provide a shuttle that went from the ship to Accra every hour, which was nice because we didn't have to pay for a cab.

Our first day in Ghana we took the shuttle to Accra. The shuttle dropped us off at the downtown area where there are lots markets and restaurants. We walked around the markets and then went to lunch at a restaurant called Frankies. After lunch we went to the beach area, called Labode. We walked around there and found a go kart place, so we decided to go to it. I never thought that i would go go-karting in Ghana, but it was pretty fun. At the go kart place I met a guy who had gone to community college in Oregon and had been to Bend. I was sooo excited. There are people on the ship who don't even know where Oregon is and to meet a guy in Ghana who went to school there was very exciting to me!

After go-karting, we headed back to the area where we catch the shuttle back to the ship. We walked around there a little longer and did some shopping. At about 5pm we headed back to the ship for dinner and an early night since we were getting up early for our trip the next morning.

The second day we woke up early had some breakfast and then loaded the buses for our 4 hour drive to the Wli Waterfall. The drive was very bouncy because we were driving on unpaved roads most of the time through little villages. When we finally made it to the Wli village we had a 45 minute hike from the village to the waterfall. It was a beautiful hike through the jungle to get there. By the time we got to the waterfall i was soooo hot and sweaty from the humidity that we jumped right in the water. We swam under the waterfall and the water was coming down sooo hard on us it hurt! Once we got out and dried off we headed back to the village where the bus was waiting.

Our next stop was to the mona monkeys sanctuary. We arrived at the sanctuary and a guide took us on a walk to find the monkeys. Our guide was making some funny sound with his mouth to call the monkeys and all of a sudden a ton of monkeys showed up above us in the trees. We got to feed them bananas and we were able to get so close to them that they would grab our hands. Our visit with the monkeys was pretty short because we had to get back on the bus to head back since we had a 4 hour drive to get back.

The third day we planned to get up early to go to cape coast, but since the drive there took at least 3 hours we didn’t want to spend the whole day in a car again. I kind of regret this decision because cape coast is supposed to be really cool with the castles and jungle walk. Instead we went to the beach in Accra and hungout and swam all day.

The last day we went to the OSU childrens home in Accra. When we first arrived there the kids were all in school. The head lady at the orphanage told us all about the facility and what they do there. Then we went on a tour. After the tour we got to play with the kids because they were on there break time. I spent most of the time with some 5 year olds coloring. Once they discovered my camera though, they forgot all about coloring and just wanted to take pictures of each other. They were all sooo cute, I wanted to take one home with me. I felt like the kids at the orphanage were not really taken care of that well and the people that cared for them did not seem very qualified. Overall, I Just felt like the conditions at the orphanage were not great and there were definite improvements that could be made.

Now we are headed to Brazil and we will arrive there in a week. Brazil is our last port which means that the end of my trip is near. It has been an amazing experience that I will never forget, but I wish I could keep sailing around the world. This trip has only made me want to travel more and I look forward to doing so in the near future!