Ghana, Africa 2012: Jamie comes to Ghana

I picked Jamie up from the airport around noon on Friday. I think he was pretty astonished by everything- the hawkers, the driving, the heat, all the trash, the small shacks along every road.

We had lunch and just relaxed for the rest of day on Friday. He didn’t get any sleep on the plane and was really tired. Saturday we had a Ghanaian wedding to go to. Susan, our resident assistant through ISEP, got married. It was really interesting to see a Ghanaian wedding.... and hot!

Sunday we set off on our trip. We went to Cape Coast and it started with a trotro ride. Jamie didn’t fit very well, and needless to say we only took two trotros the entire time he was here.

We had lunch on the beach in Cape Coast. Jamie made some friends—there were these boys on the beach that put a little show on for us. They were learning acrobatics and were pretty great to watch.

After lunch we went to Elmina Castle, it has a lot of history and a gorgeous view.

We then had dinner at Hans Cottage Botel and ate with crocodiles. We even got to touch one!

We spent the night at Kakum National Park and got up early in the morning on Monday to do the canopy walk. It was incredible—Jamie’s favorite part of the trip.

After Kakum, we stopped at a Monkey Sanctuary. It was owned by this amusing Dutch couple. There we lots of exotic animals there; white spotted noise monkey, rock python, and other animals that I wish I could remember the names of.

We then went to Kokrobite beach on our way back to Accra. We spent two nights there. We ate delectable pizza made by an Italian couple, got caught in a rain storm, and searched for sea shells. It was really relaxing and exactly what we needed.

We then came back to Accra on Wednesday morning. We took a taxi to the Arts Centre to buy souvenirs. Jamie got to experience the intense salesmen in the markets, and did a little bargaining. It was quite the experience.

Thursday we made it to Mawuvio’s. We took all the donations that Jamie brought with; thanks everyone! The kids loved them. They were really excited about the soccer balls and Jurassic Park, which we watched with them. The kids asked Jamie lots of questions, and Jamie got to experience just how great these kids are.