Today, we did a tour of the highlights of the Takoradi
area in Ghana. This included a wide variety of experiences-everything from a
national park known for its series of suspension bridges over a rainforest to
touring two slave castles. You read that right. Slave castles.
Let’s start with the good news first, shall we? We drove
about two hours to Kakum National Park. It is a National Park chock full of
rainforest and suspension bridges. My friend Willard ended up behind a young
girl, who as it turns out, is deathly terrified of heights. There was a series
of 7 suspension bridges, each one slightly more terrifying than the next for
someone who is afraid of heights. At first, Willard was just offering words of
encouragement to help her across. Then she asked me to walk in front of her,
still keeping him behind her. We did our best to talk to her, in order to keep
her mind off of things. She was dressed in her Sunday best, complete with fancy
patent leather shoes, perfect for church or, you know, traversing rope bridges
over top of a rainforest. We learned her name was Benedict and it was her 12th
birthday. Some birthday gift for someone
who is afraid of heights, if you ask me. It went from, “Hey, let’s walk across
some rope bridges!” to a really sweet memory that I won’t soon forget.
Now for the not so fun, albeit important, part. We also
visited two slave castles, the Cape Coast Castle and the Elmina Castle. Both of
these were where poor, unsuspecting Africans await their fate as slaves to be
taken to Europe and America. Sure, you learn about slavery in school, but it
seems so far removed from life as we know it. To see where people, actual human
beings, were kept as slaves and sent off to an unknown fate in a faraway place
was sobering to say the least. Some of these people were captured by the
Europeans and some were even sold to the Europeans by their own people, tribes
who had lost in civil war to an opposing tribe or debtors who were paying off
their debts via indentured servitude. Sometimes the most impactful and
important parts of our history are hardest to comprehend.
On a less depressing note, we learned a fun fact about
the laws of attraction in Ghana. Our tour guide told us that the sound of
kissing is not a turn on in Ghana, but rather it’s the sound of women’s beads
clanking together that is a real turn on for men. So if you’re looking to hook
a hottie in Ghana, go for the beads.
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