Cape Coast, Elmina & Kakum National Park

A few weeks back, I had the chance to visit Cape Coast for the weekend. Pretty much anywhere outside of Accra is far more relaxed, with a perceptible change in atmosphere as soon as you reach the city limits. It’s hard to put a finger on what exactly changes, because we’ve definitely been to urban centres outside the capital, but it seems to hold true no matter where we go.

Needless to say, it was a nice change to be outside of Accra for the weekend. So far, in our adventures, Cape Coast seems to be the most developed in terms of typical tourist routes. Elmina is a sort of sister town to Cape Coast, only 15 km further west. We stayed in a wonderful Eco Lodge on the beach, just outside of Elmina.

On Saturday morning we started off on a Canopy walk through the rainforest of Kakum National Park….designed by Vancouver engineers, I might add! Kakum doesn’t contain any of the large animals you might think of when you think of an African park, but it does host a population of monkeys. Unfortunately, we were part of a rather large group on the walk, that included a group of British secondary students – alas, we saw no monkeys in the park.

Luckily for us, on the road between Kakum and Cape Coast, there is a monkey sanctuary owned by a somewhat eccentric Dutch couple. We stopped in to see the various monkeys, snakes, and a few smaller mammals that had been rescued and brought in for rehabilitation.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that, for me, bordered on ‘tacky tourist’ status. It’s located on the bank of a river that is home to ….crocodiles! The staff throw bread in the water and the crocodiles appear, quite alarmingly, out of nowhere….I’m not really sure why, maybe they think it’s chicken? In any case, it didn’t seem to be the most ecologically ethical tactic, and perhaps a little fate-tempting…

Back in Cape Coast, our next stop was Cape Coast Castle. Actually, both Cape Coast and Elmina contain castles which played significant, and tragic, roles in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Cape Coast Castle has been converted into a museum, and we were able to tour the grounds, the slave dungeons, and the colonial quarters.

I’ve never really been exposed to the African perspective on the slave trade. I think our education focused mostly on the history of the slave trade once it was already established in the Americas. Or maybe it was just that I couldn’t comprehend or identify with such a faraway place and people at the time I was taught it in school. Whatever the case, it was a powerful experience to hear and see the terrible story of so many people from a West African point of view. Everyone knows it (or should), but especially belonging to a community here, I find the atrocity of what the colonial powers did during the slave trade truly incomprehensible. It’s not the first time I’ve been surprised at how astonishing and disgusting people can be.

At the end of the day, I think it’s a story that needs to be told and remembered, so I am glad to have had the opportunity to visit the Castle.

Meet Me in Ghana

It's hard to believe that 6 weeks have already passed. I find myself settled into a somewhat mundane daily routine that's strikingly similar to my life in Vancouver. Funny how that works. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, people eat, sleep, work, play and repeat.

I guess the difference is, on the whole, there's a much higher dose of 'uncomfortable' with a good sprinkling of adventure. I mean uncomfortable in the best possible way - I think it's one of the greatest aspects of travel. It's about pushing your boundaries and just immersing yourself in something with nothing certain except a bit of self-confidence and the common ground you will inevitably discover with the people around you. There are often moments in my day when I have no clue what is going on, how things work here, where the bus I'm on is going....but it's a beautiful thing when I figure it out. (or, depending on the situation, come to the realization that I never will) There are some days when I feel like every small task requires a ridiculous amount of effort. But there are also days when typically uninteresting activities become fabulous adventures!

Speaking of my daily adventures, here are a few pictures for you:


Home sweet home

This is the family compound. There are about 7 different buildings where different members of the family and boarders like us stay.










My room...

You can't see it but there is a very beloved fan on the ceiling =)







Oxford Street

An Accra neighborhood called Osu - it's very popular with Expats because there are lots of restaurants and shops around.

The white and blue vans you can see at the end of the traffic line are Tro-tros, the most common form of public buses. They are RIDICULOUS and awesome at the same time. You can pretty much catch a Tro-tro on the side of any road, and get dropped off any where you like along it's route. Rides within the city cost less than 1 cedi (~60 cents). BUT the doors are often secured with rope, sometimes you can see the road through holes in the floor and a working speedometer is a treat! Acceptable moves in terms of
sane driving are also very different...


Pretty fabrics!

Traditional Ghanaian fabrics are so beautiful and bright! Pre-made clothing (like we're used in shops) is very expensive here. As a more reasonable alternative, most women have their clothes sewn at tailors =Awesome! Basically, you just go to the market or fabric store and pick a fabric you like and you can get pretty much anything made. We've already put an order in!

First Impressions

It's been about a week and a half since I arrived in Ghana. I ended up meeting up with Aleia (another volunteer with Pro-Link, from Toronto) in Amsterdam before we both caught a flight to Accra. It's a good thing we were together, because the adventure began pretty much as soon as we touched down.

We landed at about 9:30pm on Friday night but the line up to get through immigration was basically a massive gong show, and because it's me, we were in the slowest possible line up. We finally get to the front of the queue, and the officer tells us to come up one at a time. I approach first, and after a brief glance at my immigration card, he asks for my address in Ghana. I don't know my address in Ghana....I don't even know the name of the family I'm staying with. Wrong answer. I explain that we're being picked up by our organization and taken to our host family and that we don't have any other information. (Really, we don't!) And he says that he can't let me through with out an address.

I've been traveling for about 24 hours at this point, and now having flashes of what being detained by Ghanaian immigration might entail running through my mind. Really, it wasn't as traumatic as it sounds, since everything was a bit fuzzy, but still overall not a happy situation.

After explaining that I didn't have a phone (or a phone number for that matter), I offered to retrieve the information from the people waiting to pick us up. He sent me to speak to another officer (with Aleia) who proceeded to write "Pro-Link Ghana" in the address box on our forms. I guess addresses weren't a universal requirement.

It gets better....

Remember how I told the immigration officer that people were waiting to pick us up and that I could get the info from them? Not so much - so it's a good thing he didn't take me up on that offer!

After looking over (and looking over again) the rows of signs being held up for various people being picked up, we perched ourselves and our luggage on a bench. We assumed that maybe our 'people' were stuck in traffic or delayed in some other way. After waiting a while (and rechecking the signs, AND requesting a P.A. announcement..) we looked at the time. It was almost midnight.

Oh dear.

We ended up making good friends with the security guards, managed to get out some cash (after a few stressful card rejections from various atms), sorted out a sim card (also, conveniently available), and placed a call to Crossroads' emergency line in Montreal. About 10 minutes later, we got a call from the director of Pro Link, and were sorted out with a cab, and eventually a ride to our host family. Phew!

And on to more settled times...

My host family is wonderful! Everyone is sooo friendly. (I'll post some pictures later, with formal introductions.) Aleia and I, along with an American exchange student, live in a separate dorm-like living space in a family compound, with a pool! We each have our own lovely rooms, and we're very comfortable here.

Despite the adventurous start, I've settled in quite well. We're getting to know the neighborhood better, and starting to brave the transport system too.

Things at work have been slow - but we're easing into it. The past two weeks have been mainly observation because everyone's been tied up in training sessions. The training is for Peer Educators - they are locals who live in various areas around the country who volunteer to educate people in their communities about HIV and STIs. The training is like sex-ed, but with a focus on HIV-Aids, and certain local stereotypes or misconceptions. It's been very interesting but I'm excited to start on my own projects too!

So overall, I'm settled and doing well, and looking forward to the many adventures to come!!

I'll leave you with that for now!


The picture above is of Aleia and I, drinking from fresh Coconuts! Normally you pay about $0.30 for one and the vendor chops off the top right there so you can drink the coconut water. AND once you're done, he'll chop it in half so you can eat the meat. Mmmm!

The picture below shows how to climb a coconut tree. CRAZINESS. He climbs like that all the way to the top then uses a machete-like device to chop and drop the coconuts. They're then loaded on to a cart and pushed through the streets to sell.

And she's off!

I'm not saying I couldn't be a little (maybe a lot) more organized, but take a few seconds to think about what you would pack into a manageable sized backpack to live and work for 5 months in a place you've never been = not so easy.

Right, moving on.

3 weeks of random-stuff-piling, 48 hours of more-specific-stuff-piling, about 3 hours of frantic last-minute-packing, and one very obnoxious prop. flight to Calgary.....I'm on my way to Accra!


So here's the deal...

While I'm in Accra, I'll be living with a Ghanaian host family and working at a local community development organization called Pro-Link. Their website is: http://prolinkghana.org/

The work on a variety of socioeconomic focused projects to support women and girls affected by HIV-Aids. Don't worry; there will be much more on this in the upcoming months!

The Canadian Organization that is facilitating my placement (with the generous support of you folks!) is called Crossroads International. Their website is: http://www.cintl.org/page.aspx?pid=1500

These are good websites if you're interested more generally in what this is all about. If you want to read a my personal take, or make a donation to support my placement, you can visit my personal page @ http://cci.akaraisin.com/Crossroaderfundraising/Julianne


OR....OF COURSE, you can continue to check out my blog. I'm not sure what kind of internet access I'll have, but I really do hope to post regular updates on my life & times in Ghana.

Philippino Adventures

This post is dedicated to Kathy :)

I'm just over a year late on this one, but for the sake of closure here it goes:

We originally planned to visit Cebu and Boracay in the Philippines (two beach destinations) but by the time that part of the trip rolled around, the thought of two segmented stays of 2-3 days + air travel to go along with each was quite unappealing.

We opted to stay on the island of Luzon (where Manila is located) and travel to the North for some rice-terrace-trekking. Flying into an airport just north of Manila, we caught a bus to Baguio. The Philippines has an incredibly unique vibe compared to the rest of S.E. Asia - in some ways, it's almost like being on a different continent. There wasn't too much to see in Baguio, but we sourced out some local food before moving on to Sagada.

Sagada is an amazing little town situated in the "mountainous" region of northish, central Luzon. By Canadian standards, the landscape is more like large rolling hills, but it sure didn't feel like it sometimes when twisting around and up and down the narrow mountain roads. There were rice terraces carved into the lush, green mountainside around every other corner and we had beautiful sunny skies.

At night, it got so cold! (Our packs were full of linens and cottons and breathable things - didn't quite do the trick.)

We met a Canadian friend in Sagada, he was a resident artist originally from the Yukon. Over a wonderfully hot chocolate one evening in the local bar, we spoke about our interest in trekking through the rice terraces, and equally strong disinterest in anything overwhelmingly tourist-oriented. Our friend told us of a hiking loop that passes through 4 local villages before returning to Sagada - it sounded perfect!

A couple of days later we set out. Being the silly tourists we were, we had some snacks, a couple of water bottles and a hand-drawn map that indicated some major landmarks to help point us in the right direction.

Our adventure started with a ride on the top of a Jeepney and ended with us being lost on a Philippino mountain for 6 hours. Oh dear.

Luckily, in between those two events, we had unknowingly stumbled upon the Christmas party for all the school teachers of the mountain region. There, we met the very lovely head teacher from the next (and would be last) village on our route, Dalican. Basically, he and his family saved our lives by taking us in for the night. Dalican is a tiny village in the mountainous region of Northern Luzon, with no road access. It was such a privilege and extraordinary experience to stay there with the Head teacher's family.

Slightly traumatized, and eternally grateful, we headed back to Sagada the next day.

From there we headed farther north to the best-preserved colonial town in the country, Vigan. Vigan's old quarter is lined with cobblestone streets and grand villas built by the Spanish colonialists. It's a lovely, if not a bit kitschy, little town with a historic centre, and outer edges that are reminiscent of Hollywood's wild west - hot, dusty, and forlorn.

Our last stop in the Philippines was a brief stint in Manila before flying to HK and then home. Honestly, I think Manila was the only city on our trip that I wouldn't go back to if I did it all over again -but maybe we just didn't give it enough of a chance. The city was sprawling and dirty and crowded. Over the previous 3.5 months, we had been exposed to the entire spectrum of poverty and wealth that characterizes the region of S.E. Asia, but the poverty in Manila was still shocking. With that in mind, I'm not sure that our visit to the country would have been the same overall, without this exposure to the capital city.

Well that's the Philippines.

Our last few days in Asia were spent with good friends in HK. Hong Kong is sensory overload - it's unlike anything I've ever experienced and I LOVED it. But the biggest experience for me was just in being there. In eating and shopping and exploring the streets and markets. It's truly and incredible place, and was a great way to end the trip.

What a whirlwind of 4 months. Looking back I still can't believe the ground we covered. Amazing times with AR and MW ....and of course, all the friends we made along the way! Thanks guys. :)

Coming Soon...

A long over due update on the end of my S.E. Asian adventure...

AND

I'm moving to Ghana! Details on the Next Adventure...

Borneo...

is SO expensive. (like, Canada expensive) But it has definitely been worth it!

Our adventures began in Indonesian Borneo in a city called Tarakan. We were mainly just there in transit (although, it didn't really seem like there was alot to see anyway). From there, we hopped on a boat with some crazy friendly Indonesians who were travelling in a massive group for a weekend holiday in Kota Kinabalu). They shared their food and water with us and some of the guys taught Andrew how to play a local card game! We arrived on the Malaysian side and caught a bus straight up to our first stop; Semporna.

Most people visit Semporna for the world-class diving on the islands just off its coast (particularly Sipadan)..and we were no different. (actually, we only wanted to snorkel -same same!) However, we arrived to discover that we were supposed to have booked snorkelling on Sipadan 2 weeks - 1 month in advance. Oops. The island is a national nature reserve and the government limits the number of people visiting the island to 120/day (and charges a heck of an entrance fee as well!) Luckily, there had been a cancellation and 2 spots opened up for 2 days after we got there. Unfortunately, because we're crazy, we didn't have 2 extra days to wait about Semporna so in the mean time we hopped on a bus (5 hrs) to Sepilok to see Orangutans, spent the night in Sandakan and hopped on another bus back to Semporna the following day. It was a lot of bus.

Sipadan was SO worth it. Since it's a protected area, the coral and fish are incredible! The water is crystal clear and the marine life is overwhelming. We swam alongside huge sea turtles and up to schools of hundreds of fish. (There were a few bazillion itsy bitsy jellyfish as well, to which I sacrificed my arms and legs). We also saw a shark or two. It was absolutely brilliant-if anyone has the chance to go, do it!

After snorkelling we jumped on a very squishy night bus to Kota Kinabalu (K.K.) It was a 9 hr ride with the bonus of a flat tire, but we arrived safely.

The original plan in K.K was to climb Mt. Kinabalu which looms an impressive 4000 metres above sea level. We only had 3 nights in K.K before flying into the jungle to go trekking. Since it takes two days/one night to climb I decided to spare my sanity (and likely Andrew's as well) and gave the mountain climbing a miss. Andrew went up -apparently it was absolutely spectacular up there. But he had to climb to the summit and all the way back down the day before we woke up at 4:30am to catch a flight into the jungle. I did enjoy a few lovely days of coffees on the seaside, meandering through local markets, and exploring different corners of the town. I'll have to come back one day to conquer Mt. K...maybe...

Ok, following K.K we flew to Gunung Mulu National Park (no leeches to report!). It's in the Southern province of Malaysian Borneo. (Sarawak) The only way to access the park is by airplane or a boat journey up river that takes a full day. For those of you who are familiar with the series Planet Earth, the park is featured in one of the episodes, primarily for the impressive caves found in the area. We, of course, visited several of the show caves. One of them, called Deer Cave, is the 2nd largest cave passage in the world (it was the first, until a larger one was discovered in Vietnam last year). In addition to being massively impressive, it is also home to about 3 million bats (and, I should add, a lot of bat poo). Craziness! Most days in the early evening (5-6ish) you can see an incredible Bat Exodus as thousands of the creatures fly out in spiralling wave formations to hunt for food....We saw them!!!!! It was SO cool! (Don't worry, I have about 500 pictures of the little black dots in the sky to show you when I get home :)

We visited about 6 different caves and they were all very different and impressive. The park offers adventure caving too but it must be booked in advance (no way around it this time :( There were also lots of creepy crawlies. I saw the largest beetle I've ever seen in my life. (I didn't even know there was such a thing) Seriously, this thing was HUGE. It had horns. It was in our dorm. Fun times.

There were also large flying things of sorts, huge centipedes/milipedes, geckos and lizards galore, giant snails, and nasty looking spiders. Everything is so big there that sometimes I felt like a character in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Slightly disturbing at times, we mostly had a series of wonderful adventures.

We're now back in K.K, getting ready to fly to the Philippines tomorrow! It should be good -I can't believe we have less than 3 weeks to go!