Here is my first actual post from Ghana...

First off, I'd like to give a brief description of our trip thus far. The night we were suppose to leave, July 5th, I left my house at 5:30 pm to go stay with Casey Key for the night. In the morning we drove to the Detroit air port at 6:15 am and met up with Janaan, Amanda, Ben, and Annie. We were able to get all of our bags checked in without incident. I was only allowed to bring a 35 lb bag with me, and I was worried I might be overweight, but I was right on. After check in we found our gate and the last member of our team, Zoe.

Our flight left at 10:00 am from Detroit to New York JFK. I briefly dozed off on the hour long flight and woke up before we landed. In New York, we were supposed to have a 6 hour layover, but due to maintenance problems, our flight was pushed back to 8:15 pm. On this layover, we met some very cool people who were traveling to Ghana as well. One such person was Jen, I forgot her last name. She had a carry on guitar, so for entertainment on our layover, we got into a circle and started playing songs. Apparently I'm the only person on this trip who can't play the guitar.... This is something I shall have to remedy.

We had waited for 9 hours in the terminal and changed gates 3 times before we finally took off. On the plane each seat had its own small touch screen that could play music and movies in the headrest of the chair ahead of them. I was very impressed with the selection they had for us. On the 11.5 hour flight over to Accra, I watched the movies Taken, Watchmen, and Monsters Vs. Aliens. The entire flight I couldn't sleep. The coach seat I was in, as always, is too small to get comfortable, and in order to straighten my legs into a somewhat comfortable position I had to wedge it between my armrest and the frame of the seat in front of me. All in all, the flight had its kinks, but it wasn't a horrible experience.

When we landed in Accra, we unloaded the plane on the runway and went straight into customs. We passed through cleanly and found all of our luggage at luggage claim. Thank god they didn't loose our luggage in New York when we had to change gates so many times. It would be horrible if they did, and I don't think I would see my bag again if it got lost going to Ghana. We got out of the airport and met with our driver Alfonso, or as we call him "Big Man." From Accra we drove to the Baptist Guest House where we left some of our luggage. After this we went and had some lunch. I had fried rice and grilled chicken with a bottle of Guinness beer. The beer costs 2 CDs, which is about $1.50 US dollars.

After lunch, we drove to Cape Coast. I was exhausted from the flight and really wanted to sleep, but due to the bumps in the road and the trunk of the truck I was sitting in, I was not able to get any. The drive from Accra to Cape Coast took about 2.5 hours, then we arrived to Anomabo Beach Resort where we stayed. This place is really cool. We stay in a guest house with 2 bedrooms and a living area. The women sleep in one bedroom while the men sleep in the other. Each room is only supplied with large bed, so all the 3 guys have to bunk up really close. The resort is very cool, it is all located on the beach in front of the Atlantic Ocean. The waves are huge. We tried to go swimming, but we got kicked out by the supervisor of Anomabo because it was past swimming hours and there was no lifeguard on duty. In the evening we ate dinner at the resort. Half of us had barracuda and the other half had rice with either chicken or beef. In the meal I had made some comments about eating strange things before on other trips. I was then dared to eat the fish's eyeball, which I did. If you care to know, it was very chewy and tasteless. We later found out that the fisherman caught our fish using large insects, and they cooked the fish with the insect still inside. Ben Garlets was then dared to eat the insect. He manned up and not just ate 1, but 2 insects. Mad props Ben

This morning, we got up at 6:15 and ate breakfast. The pineapple here is delicious. Today it rained. I mean it really RAINED!! It was pouring until around noon. In the rain we went and visited the Slave Trade Castle. This was a very enlightening and depressing tour. There was a little irony in the castle because there was a protestant church located over the dungeon where they kept over 1000 slaves.

After the tour of the castle, we had lunch at the University of Cape Coast and met some of Janaan's friends. During lunch I found out the the money I had wired from my bank to pay for my plane ticket to Tamale didn't go through, and now I have to pay for the flight in cash down here in Ghana. It will work out, so I'm not overly angry at the situation. In the university we met Samuel, a local that Janaan had befriended on her prior trip. He took us into the city and showed us around while teaching us a little of the language. We went through the residential parts of town and saw all of the houses, then we went to the main street where all the shops were. The girls all bought fabric and were measured because they are paying a seamstress to make an outfit for them. When we were walking through the town, school had just ended and we were able to see and talk with some of the children. It is really nice that every one at least knows a tiny bit of English, so the conversation doesn't always completely come to a halt. We all had a great time walking around the city greeting people with the little vocabulary we know. It is very difficult to keep our words straight because in Ghana they speak so many different languages. They have the official languages Tree and Ashanti, but there are so many other different languages all mixed in. We ended up saying "Hello how are you?" in 3 different languages.

That brings you up to date. I am having a great time over here and am looking forward to tomorrow.