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A fantastic day already! First we have to tell you about where we are staying, The Coconut Grove Beach Hotel in Elmina, Ghana. We all have these cute little white villas and the resort is right on the ocean, as you can see from our Kakum Rainforest/ Coconut Grove Resort Pictures.
Our rooms are just fine, but who needs a really nice room when you can sit by the water and write your blog? I have found a quiet little hut on the beach and Geno is showering back at the room. Listening to the water crash over all of the rocks on the coast is so peaceful.
There are locals walking on the beach, you can still see the women with their goods on their heads walking into town and there is a man with some local goods like handmade dresses and shirts and necklaces.
This is truly an incredible experience and today we feel especially blessed to be here in Ghana. This coast, the Gold Coast has seen so much. Many slaves have come through these waters. Tomorrow ,we will see the castles and slave dungeons, but let us tell you about what we did today.
Today we visited the Kakum Rainforest - when we say rainforest we mean it! First, we hiked up a small mountain and then climbed a platform where we traversed our first of seven rope bridges. These bridges were way above the treetops of the rainforest. The bridges are tied by wire from tree to tree and around each tree they have built a small platform where you can take a breath before venturing on to your next bridge. The bridges are about 6 inches wide at the bottom where your feet are. Then they open up in a "V" shape towards the top. We had several students that were afraid of heights. Some of our big basketball player guys were basically crawling, but they were brave and they made it.
Now it sounds beautiful right?... YES! Lush and green and the freshest air EVER. Well, on top of all that, it was raining... I mean pouring BUCKETS the whole time. Under the canopy of the trees we were fine, but when we went on the bridges we were totally exposed. A few people had umbrellas, but the umbrellas didn't fit on the rope bridges. We had ponchos thanks to Nancy's mom and dad and we just happened to have them in our "essentials" travel bag. So our upper ½ stayed dry and our lower ½ dried eventually. Everyone else was SOAKED but no one complained, after all, we are in the rainforest in Ghana.
After that we all ate at the Hans Cottage Botel. It is a small hotel and restaurant and we ate in the midst of crocodiles. The food was delicious: we had fried plantains with spicy rice and chili sauce. There was also fish, chicken, potato salad and pineapple.
Well that puts us at our hotel, which we have already told you about... enjoy the pictures of the rainforest and the hotel.
Fun Facts:
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu is receiving a very big award while we are in Ghana. There were lots of police and dignitaries gathering at the ship when we left today
-We are wearing DEET all the time... avoiding malaria!
-We had Bunku and Tilapia which is a doughy mixture that you dip in a hot sauce and eat it with your fingers. The Tilapia was delicious, it is a whole fish and you pick out the bones
- comments
Pat Davis You are brave. I am afraid of heights & elected not to go on the canopy walk. Bill & Jeff went. They loved the walk & I got some great pictures from below. My friend Daniel sometimes paints at Kakum when they have work for him. It is probably good that I didn't know you would be a Cape Coast. I would have been tempted to beg a favor to take something to my two friends there. I found Cape Coast slave castle terribly depressing & chose not to go to Elmina. Glad you are having such a wonderful time. Isn't Ghana a peaceful & secure sort of place? I mean I never felt threatened there.