What are we "Ghana" do?

Well....today started poorily and ended fantastically so that's all that matters right?!

 

At 7:30AM I met my friends in Tymitz Square (The lobby area on the ship) where the rest of the kids were waiting. Except when we got there....Andrew Briggs wasn't there and the majority of the kids were from Students of Service, a student organization on the boat. Because Andrew wasn't there (he was already in Accra), everything was very disorganized. We finally swiped our cards and exited the gangway. We began walking to town where we would catch taxis. I originally thought this would be a small project but we ended up being a group of about 30 kids. So as we're getting taxis there are all these people shoving clothes into our faces telling us to buy! buy! buy! It was very hectic and no one knew what was going on. Finally a guy shouted "Go to Cape Coast Station. Find a taxi and get there" So that's exactly what Hannah, Brittany and I did. I haggled the price down from 10 cedis to 5 cedis and we were on our way. Except when we get to the station which indeed was the correct station....no one was there. Awesome. And we felt so out of place being absolutely stark white compared to the tons of people around us. After 15 minutes we decide we need to get out and go back to the ship. So we catch another taxi who rips us off at 10 cedis and we get back to the ship frustrated, hot, annoyed, and smelly. We couldn't believe that we didn't make it with the rest of the kids to the correct bus station. It just didnt make sense! But being back to the cold air conditioned bus was nice. We were asking ourselves what are we going to do now? The service trip was supposed to be an overnight and take up the next two days that we now have wide open.

 

We decided that we needed to do SOMETHING! Takoradi is very small and has about 5 stores to offer....all selling beads, bowls, masks and drums. So we asked the hospitality desk who suggested African Beach. I hadn't been there before but Brittany had and said it was nice. So by this time it was about 9:30 and we had time to kill so we went upstairs to the pool deck where we put our feet in the wading pools which felt amazing!!! I had a huge urge to go swimming!

 

Finally around 11:30 we went to African Beach. Our cab driver there tried to charge us 20 cedis and it should have been 5! So Brittany told the taxi driver he was ripping us off because we're American. This made the driver feel bad so he brought it down to 10....why am I telling you guys about taxi fares? Anyways.....

 

Africa Beach was AMAZING. The water is about 75 degrees and perfect. So Hannah, Brittany and I swam and tanned. This guy Alec was also with us but he's kind of bizzare, annoying, and immature....But what a great contrast to our disappointing morning! By noon we were hungry and there was a nice resort right on the beach. We wandered in and sat down for lunch. And whaddya know they have a pool that we just might have to use later....Of course we did the most American thing you could ever do and ordered cheeseburgers and chips (aka French Fries) and hummus as an appetizer. With "Ghana's favorite" Star Beer to drink! The burger was interesting....it had a ton of spices in it.

 

Hannah and Alec wanted to go back to the ship but Brittany and I stayed at the beach and went swimming again. We talked all about why we wanted to go on SAS, the people on the ship, people we've met, etc etc...

And then we decided to hit up the pool. This resort was interesting...nothing super fancy but by ghanian standards it was sooo nice. The pool was a perfect round circle and VERY deep. There were so many white people there, that it was really bizarre. Most of them were either British, German, or Spanish. It was just comforting to see white people...how sad is that?! The pool was refreshing and we sat on the chaise lounges for a long time. Took a taxi back to the ship...ate dinner...and here we are!

 

Totally not what I was expecting for today but it ended up being very relaxing and just what I needed. Tomorrow we are going to Kakum National Park which has a canopy walk and rope bridge across a canyon. It looks spectacular and everyone has been raving about it. I really hope this ends up working out....it should be a blast! But you never know...maybe we'll end up somewhere unxpected!