Trip to Cape Coast

This weekend, my group took a trip to Cape Coast. Its probably the third largest city in Ghana and used to be its capital(back during the colonial era) because it was the country's center of commerce and (almost) in the middle of the country's coastline. During the trip we visited Slave River, Elmina Castle and Kakoom national park.

Slave river was the final resting place for captives of the Transatlantic slave trade before they were sold and boarded the ship that brought them to the Americas. The path that led down the river held so many foot prints that it was noticeably lower than the rest of the terrain. The grove made by their feet was probably about three feet deeper. We were given a tour of the area and told about how Ghana is trying to welcome back Africans in the diaspora. Some examples of this were the graves of people who had their families send their remains back to Africa and a wall the park constructed for diasporans to write their names on. I would have written mine, but the park was charging $100 for the honor of doing so. And that explains why the wall is empty.

The castle we went to is called Elmina. It is the oldest European structure outside of Europe. It was built by the Portuguese during the 1400's(i think). Since then, it has been owned by the Dutch, British and now Ghana. I can see why they chose to build it on that part of the coast. It is gorgeous. Right on the ocean line with a great view and the castle itself is beautiful. Inland, up the adjacent hill is a fort that was built to protect the castle. The castle was originally built as a trading post for ivory, gold and food stuffs that were needed to refill whips as they sailed on to southern Africa. Gold was so prevalent in Ghana that the colonial powers named it the 'Gold Coast'. Elmina actually earned its name because of the Portuguese term for 'the mine'.

Eventually the castle was converted into a center for the slave trade. They took out the inventory and converted the stores down below the castle into cells for slaves. Slaves were much more profitable then gold, so the trade of most other goods nearly collapsed and they turned their attention to trading people. Elmina, and the neighboring Cape Coast Castle, were home to Ghana's largest slave market. Or at least that's what people from the South will tell you. Northerners claim their Salaga market was the center of Ghana's slave trade.

We were given a guided tour of the castle. Our guides were very knowledgeably and we learned a lot. There were two parts of the trip that stood out to me. The first was the 'ripe' smell of the female dungeons. All the slaves in the castle had to relieve themselves inside their cells because no attention was paid to their sanitation. But for women, it was especially bad because they were given no way to clean up their menstruation and even 150-200 years after the last slave left the castle, it still holds a disgustingly pungent smell. The other notable was a view from the 'door of no return'. This was the door through which slaves were brought to ships waiting to transport them across the Atlantic. Today it is a cold dark cell with a broken steel gate. When you look out the gate, you see a picturesque beach and a bright beach umbrella. Looking out there, I just imagine what slaves would have thought if they were starving to death in there and looked out to find a family of tourist building a sand castle on the beach below.

After the castle we walked down the beach to the town's other castle, Cape Coast castle. Words really cannot do this beach justice, it is a beautiful sight to behold. and the sand is so soft, the water so warm. I kind of wish I lived there. I walked the beach with a few friends from my program, one of whom, had been visited my he farther. I talked to him because he's from Oregon(he grew up in Hood River) and everyone knows how much I love my Oregonians. MY camera was full so I don't have many pictures from this weekend, but I will upload the ones Rihana took with her camera.

The next day we went to Kakoom park for a canopy walk. I was afraid it would be as disappointing as the one we did in Costa Rica. I was afraid it would be a dinky little foot bridge connecting a few low trees. But that wasn't the case at all. We were really high up. I'm not all that afraid of heights(having gone bungee jumping and sky diving) but I did have trouble catching my breath at a few spots. At the highest, we were 150 ft up, looking over the forest. There was one guy, Micheal, who was mortified during the walk. He was shaking the entire time. It was a really good experience and our group, took a lot of pictures. Whenever I get my hands on them, I'll post them with the rest.

peace out - tamu