Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cape Coast

If our goal this weekend was to be as touristy as possible, we did well.

For one, we stayed in a nice hotel while we were in Cape Coast (a city about two hours west of Winneba). It's much more a tourist town than anywhere we've been so far... there were Obrunis all over the place. Our first day there we visited a school for deaf and blind students. That was a very unique experience, it was interesting to see everyone gesturing animatedly and smiling but not hear a word. The school sells artwork and raises animals for food- it's nice to see an institution taking steps to be sustainable.

Our second day we went to Kakum National Park for their canopy walk. I think all the hundreds of times I've crossed the Little Mac bridge at school have desensitized me to walking through the tree tops. While all the other tourists were gasping and pointing, I was thinking about how nice it was to be doing this without two tons of textbooks on my back.

Our next stop was the Cape Coast Slave Trade Castle. We went on a tour there and learned about the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The dungeons we went through were about a step and a half short of triggering claustrophobia, I would not want to spent any more time down there than I had to- and people used to spend months down there with minimal food, water, and light. It was a grisly but eye-opening experience. Definitely worth checking out if you ever happen to be in the neighborhood.

That's all I really have to say about the weekend. Funny how there's a lot less to say about the tourist things people purposely travel to see than there is about day-to-day life. This may or may not be my last update. We've got three days left and we'll be spending them winding down in Winneba. See you in T minus 96 hours!!

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