Rise 'n Shine

This weekend was fantastic.

I've been resisting blogging about it, even though I wanted to write out everything that I got to do. Yet again, so much in a short amount of time makes for a laborious post (both for me writing and you reading). But enjoyable! Let's see.

First things first: I was up at 5:30am on Saturday. I think that was the earliest time I had set my alarm for since high school (and actually gotten up). I had already showered and packed my (fancy-shmancy) North Face backpack for the overnight to Cape Coast the night before, but I wanted enough time to do my full morning routine before getting onto a bus for 3 hours. My "morning routine" has developed into a yoga salute to the sun, stretching, 30 forward crunches, 30 side crunches, 10 leg lifts, 100 bicycles (laying on my back, legs cycling in the air) 10 push-ups, more stretching, and a short meditation. I have been doing this every morning for 2 weeks. This is certainly not to brag, but more to give you an idea why I needed an extra half an hour in my morning (even if that means 5:30-6:00am), especially before sitting on a bus for hours. So I was up and at 'em bright and early, and on the bus right around 6:15am. I felt too awake to sleep on the bus (I sat next to Meghan, but I still have a hard time falling asleep in public places, especially public moving places), so I listened to my iPod and journaled to Eliza and Nick for almost the whole ride, often staring out the window at the Africa going by. We got to Cape Coast a little late and had to report directly to the breakfast buffet before it closed (an easy command to obey). I had a delicious and filling breakfast (an omelette, pinapple, fresh orange juice, and a croissant) and discovered that the roommate I was assigned (we were mixed up between the two dorms to encourage more "getting to know you" time) had gotten sick and didn't come on the trip, so I basically had a default single. I was a little disappointed since I liked the girl I was set to room with, but who am I to complain about a single at Coconut Grove Resort for a night? Then we were off to the Elmina Slave Castle, about ten minutes drive on the bus from the hotel.

It was very surreal at the castle. I don't know how exactly to blog about it, really. We got a full tour by one of the castle guides, who took us into the women's and men's slave dungeons, the governor's quarters, the two small punishment cells, the kitchen, the church, and through "the door of no return," which was the final door the slaves walked through to get onto the slave ships. Although they are working to preserve the castle, it obviously has some wear and tear after 200 years of weather and...well...use. Many people in my group were moved to tears during the tour, and I understand why. We learn about the Transatlantic Slave Trade in history classes, and I intellectually know what happened and how horrendous it was, but to be there in the very rooms that these people were imprisoned and "exported" from...it was difficult to even fathom. I kept trying to take the place where I was standing and superimpose what would have been there 200 years ago, and I just couldn't do it. The stench in the female dungeons, even centuries later, is just a little indication of how wretched the conditions were in this place. It was particularly jarring to walk into the Dutch church, a room located directly over the female slave dungeon, and fathom how these people could sit up there and pray. I just couldn't believe it. I didn't take many pictures in the castle itself. Not only out of reverence (we were allowed to), but also because I would just be taking pictures of empty rooms and cells. It wouldn't be for some sort of attractive picture, but for documentation, and I decided I would rather just be there and experience it than try to prove I did.

Next, we drove out to Kakum National Park with a short break on the bus for everyone to diffuse their emotions a little. By the time we got to the park, everyone was in higher spirits and ready to hike (for the most part). It started raining, so I disappointedly left my camera on the bus. It ended up clearing up into beautiful sunshine by the time we got to the top of our hike, but I was glad I hadn't brought my camera. Enough of my friends had brought theirs that I was able to get some pictures of me on the canopy walk, without having to panic about handling one myself. Before we went up, one of the guides informed us that one of the bridges had been knocked down in the last storm (really reassuring) and they were still in the process of fixing it. Therefore, we could go on either side of the canopy walk, getting a few bridges out, but could not do the whole thing in one straight go. The upshot to this was that Christa, our program director, negotiated (strong-armed) the park into giving us another canopy walk experience for free if we came back ourselves once the bridge was fixed. (Go Christa!) I'm definitely planning on going back, but this trip was more than incredible even with one bridge down. It took a lot longer, since we had to wait in line, walk out, walk BACK (which you wouldn't have to do if the bridge was complete) and then let another part of the group go. A bunch of people went back to the bus after doing the first two bridges, but a few of us waited to go on the other half, and I am SO glad I did. It took a while, but the second half of the bridges went farther out into the canopy and with the nicer weather, you could see into the whole forest, listening to birds and animals around you. I felt like I was in a Planet Earth episode (in a way, I was) and it was another truly African experience. When we had all completed the walk, we made our way down the hillside back to the bus.

We stopped briefly at a restaurant on our way back to the resort. It was a restaurant/bar built on stilts over a crocodile pond (see the warning sign in my Flickr photos) and the NYU program bought us all one soda since we are "such a great group." Then we were back to the resort to clean up a little, take a break, and meet for a buffet dinner at 7:30pm. I took a quick shower to, as Dad says, "blow the stink off me," after a day of hiking and walking under both the hot African sun and rain. I met up with my friends Ashley and Kara at the bar down by the beach and we each had a drink and decompressed a little about everything we had been through during the day. Dinner was delicious, accompanied by a long and winding talk about Judaism with our friend Matt who is no longer a practicing Jew, but lived in Israel for a year and defines himself as "culturally Jewish." Ashley claimed to know nothing about the Jewish faith, and took this as an opportunity to ask questions, which proved for an interesting dinner conversation. Afterwards, we sampled palm wine (an acquired taste...) and my table veered our conversation into Ghanaian dating and the expectations of the genders (as explained and discussed by Naa, one of my wonderful CRAs). The resort started a bonfire on the beach, and we all segued into bonfire chats and walking along the beach (me drawing more Infinity Angels) and dipping our feet in the ocean (it's a lot warmer than in Maine). I stayed up talking until about midnight with various groups of people, and finally went to bed, setting both my intention and my alarm for 4:30am in order to see the sun rise. I feel like some higher power rewarded my diligence with my morning routine by getting me the single so I could wake up THAT early to do my routine AND see the sunrise (an ungodly hour even EARLIER than I ever set my alarm for in high school). I almost skipped out on the sunrise when my alarm blared at me at 4:30, but I was determined not to miss this opportunity, and made my way cautiously onto the beach by 5am in the pitch black morning. I took my camera and my phone with me, consciously wondering if this was stupid of me to walk out onto the beach by myself at this hour, playing through my mind how Christa would have to artfully explain my poor decision to future NYU groups and caution them against sunrises forever more. To be safe, I stayed right by where the bonfire had been the night before, where a large streetlight hung over the beach to illuminate this one area, probably so people could do exactly what I had set out to do. I plopped down and meditated for a few minutes, enjoying how quiet and temperate it was, the ocean right in front of me and tiny lamped fishing boats out all along the horizon. A man walked by and I seized up at first, only to get a "Good morning" and a smile as he walked by. (Sometimes I wonder if I am neglecting the inherent African friendliness by assuming the worst, but I always compare whatever I am doing to if I would do the same thing in the U.S., and specifically NYC. This early morning isolation would have warranted a raised awareness no matter where I was, but I was relieved to find be alone for the next 15 minutes or so.) I called Nick around 5:15am to wish him a happy 21st birthday. He was just getting in from the bar with our friends Bill, Katie, and Angela, and it was still so funny to think that he was ending his night when I was beginning mine (even though he was probably awake for the full next day celebrating). I was so happy he picked up. He didn't recognize my voice/certainly didn't expect it, so when I said, "It's me!" I got a, "'Me' who?" in response. When he finally realized that it was ME, we squealed for about a minute and got to have a brief conversation about his night and my wishes for a happy day to come. I hadn't spoken with him on the phone since I got here, so it was great just to hear his voice, and I wished I got a chance to talk to Bill and Katie, but I don't know what I would have said, except "Hi! I'm in Africa calling you! Have a great night!" (So Bill and Katie, consider it said.) We got off the phone just as my friend Sophie joined me on the beach (to my relief). Sophie is one of those people who is content to just sit on the beach and not talk, which was nice. We chatted about a few things as we waited for the sun to make an appearance, and then we both took out our cameras as the sky started to brighten. We both got our photoshoots in, including a few local people who were walking by on their way to the market. It was so beautiful. I am really proud of the pictures I took (also on Flickr) but there is no way that they can compare to just how beautiful it was. I realized that I have only seen about 3 sunrises in my life, if that, and I decided that I want to do that more often. (Although, it's a little more difficult to view in Accra.) I was so beat from my 4 hours of sleep that I decided to stay at the resort for the day instead of venturing into town (a decision that many other people also made). Since I'm planning on going back to do the canopy walk again, I assume that I will get a chance to explore on my own if I do make the time. And as James said, weekends are so important. If I wanted to lay out on a beach (for the first time since I've been here) then I should do it. (James is a smart boy.) So I spent my afternoon laying by the pool and walking the beach, collecting shells and talking with Ashley and a few others. Pretty unbelievable.

After lunch, we were back on the bus and on our way back to Accra. Despite my intense fatigue, I nodded off (literally) for only about 15 minutes before doing some crossword puzzles and journaling some more. I had a 3-page paper due on Monday that I had not begun writing, but my mind was having a difficult time discerning the difference between vacation and school, all within a 48-hour period of time. I fell asleep around 10pm on Sunday night and still managed to finish my paper with time to spare between classes on Monday (score!). Overall, the day didn't turn out to be nearly as difficult as I had anticipated with my lack of sleep, and I would say that by today (with a nice 10 hours of sleep last night) I am mostly caught up. All in all, it was worth it.

Love,
Molly