Cape Town Day 1: Ashley's day

Our first day in Cape Town Jason had a field lab for his Public Health class, so I decided to climb Table Mountain with a group of women. Jason will later post about his day, but here's my first day in Cape Town.

The trail we took to the top is called Platteklip Gorge, and it's three kilometers of steps straight up the mountain and through a gorge to the top. It's not easy, but it's definitely doable.

From the very beginning, there are beautiful views of Cape Town and the harbor. At this point we were excited and taking pictures, and the guide was just laughing because she knew how much more amazing it would be at the top.

Table Mountain is very very old. There are all sorts of crazy rock formations, some straight up and down cliffs, and lots of beautiful vegetation.

After we had hiked for just a bit the clouds started to roll in. At times, we couldn't see the top of the mountain OR town at all. All we could see was right in front of us. The wind also picked up and we got blown about a bit.

We finally reached the top and headed towards the view points. It was still pretty cloudy but had started to clear.

Luckily over by the viewpoints was totally clear. We were able to look out over Lions Head mountain, the bay on both sides, and all of Cape Town. Look closely in the picture below and you'll see a dassie hanging out on the rock. Dassies are small mammals whose closest relative is the elephant!!

His close up:

We took lots of pictures of the beautiful views, and the clouds just made everything look even cooler.

Just to the right of the T-shaped docks you can see our ship, the M/V Explorere!

All in all it was a wonderful day, although even today (4 days later) my quads are pretty sore! Going back down was definitely the most painful part.

Neptune Day!

It is customary on ships to celebrate crossing the equator. The celebration includes initiating those who have never crossed the equator by sea before (pollywogs) and helping them become shellbacks. We had the chance to become emerald shellbacks, as we were crossing the equator at the prime meridian!

Everyone was woken up at 8am by the crew parading though the hallways in costumes, blowing whistles and banging on drums. We gathered on the 7th deck for the festivities. Basically, in order to become a shellback you have to get "fish guts" poured on your head (they used to actually be guts, but they don't do that on the M/V Explorer anymore), you jump in the pool, get out and kiss a fish, kiss the rings of King Neptune (our captain) and Queen Minerva (the dean of students in drag), then kneel down to be knighted a shellback. The last, optional, step is to shave your head. We had a great time doing this celebration with all the students, staff/faculty, and crew, and are proud to be emerald shellbacks!!

Waiting for their kisses.

King Neptune and Queen Minerva arrive

It wasn't actually fish guts, but it did smell TERRIBLE.

The crew parades in.

The beginnings of the process

We go in the pool

Hanging out near 0 latitude, 0 longitude.

Jason did decide to take the optional step of shaving his head. We were pretty nervous about how it would come out!

Just getting started

Almost there

Bald!

Can you see the equator behind me?

Bald head + equator = recipe for sunburn

Ghana: The Rest

For most of the rest of our time in Ghana, we took a Semester at Sea trip to Winneba, Charlottesville's sister city. On the coast, Winneba is also a university town of approximately the same size. The purpose of the trip was to build good will and understanding between the citizens of the two towns, and also to bring some books to donate.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. When we first arrived, we were treated to a welcome ceremony by the village elders.

This involved everyone shaking everyone else's hand repeatedly, going around and around in circles.

Jason looks just like a local, doesn't he?

Later that evening we went to the University of Education in Winneba to meet some students, listen to more welcome speeches, and watch local musical groups perform. The most interesting part was when the President of the Student Council stood up to welcome us, but instead railed against the administration and walked out.

The next morning we divided into small groups and went to several local schools to meet the children and donate books. The school I went to had all the students participate in an elaborate welcome ceremony including dance, songs, poetry recitals, speeches, and a display of the crafts they learn to make in school.

The little girl in the front was 9 years old.

One of the other professor's daughters was swarmed by kids.

We had a great time reading to the children and learning about the school. Afterwards we went to the market to meet the women that control it. Ghana is a very female-centric society, so it was a lot of fun to talk to them and hear about how they are in charge. I also loved seeing the market.

Box on the head, baby on the back. I am very untalented by comparison.

We then went to see the chief fisherman and the fishing village. Again, the boats are so colorful and beautiful. At this beach there were lots of little kids in the water too.

The last day Jason had a field lab and I went to Accra, the nearby big city. It takes forever to get anywhere in Ghana because the infrastructure is so bad. It's the worst traffic I've ever seen in my life. Accra was nothing special, although I did find a fun store selling batik fabric.

Overall we loved Ghana, although it was a lot harder than a lot of our ports due to the heat, lack of infrastructure, and fear of mosquito-borne diseases. But it a beautiful country with incredibly friendly people.

Prisons and Palm Trees

 The day we arrived in Ghana, Jason and I were eating breakfast on the outside deck when we heard drumming. I ran to the rail, looked over, and saw an African dance and drumming group performing just outside. The ship hadn't yet been cleared and we couldn't get off, but they were welcoming us all to Takoradi. It was a wonderful surprise.

More rhythm than I will ever have.

 That day I was supposed to help out with a field lab (class trip) to the castles and dungeons where British and Dutch traders had storehoused slaves for months before shipping them to the New World. Jason was scheduled to go to the same place on a separate trip, so we were going to have the same experience, but separately.

We had been warned that traffic in Ghana was absolutely terribly, but it was doubly so our first day because it was Eid. Eid is a Muslim holiday, and quite a bit of Ghana is Muslim. Everyone was out pilgrimaging through the streets, singing and chanting. They didn't seem to care that they were actually in the street and backing up traffic. The bus driver didn't seem too perturbed either. It was wonderful to observe everyone dressed up and to start to understand this holiday.

The guy under the beach umbrella is the tribal chief.

 One of the slave castles, used by the British, was called Cape Coast. It was absolutely gorgeous, right on the water and lined with palm trees, but incredibly depressing. Thousands of slaves lived in tiny, unventilated dungeons for months before being shipped to the Americas. An incredible percentage of them died before getting on the ships, mostly as the result of living in close and incredibly unsanitary quarters. Others were beaten to death or starved as punishment. The contrast between the beautiful scenery and what happen there was hard to stomach. I don't have pictures of the inside as you had to buy a photo permit, but I do have some of the surroundings.

The outside of the Cape Coast Castle

The fishing village right outside the castle. The blue-green stuff is their nets.

 The fishing village located right outside the "Door of No Return," where the slaves exited to board the ships, was beautiful to see as well. None of the fishermen were out fishing as it was a Tuesday and the sea gods rest on Tuesdays so it isn't a good idea to go out. All of the boats were dugout canoes with outboard motors and flags from around the world, including the US! The people don't have any particular affiliation with those countries, they just like the colors or something about the country they pick.

After the first castle we headed to the Coconut Grove Resort for lunch. After seeing the poverty of the fishing village and hearing about the slave trade, it was kind of shocking to go to a beautiful, upscale beach resort. The food was pretty good (Ghanian food isn't really my thing though) and the views were incredible. Unbeknownst to us, Jason's trip was eating at the same place, so we were able to enjoy a few minutes on the beach together. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Coconut Grove

It was so incredibly hot and humid in Ghana that we were very excited to wade a bit in the ocean.

 After lunch my group went to the Dutch castle, Elmina. Jason's had gone to Elmina in the morning and then headed to Cape Coast. Elmina was much the same as Cape Coast, although here we learned a bit more about the awful treatment of women. We also saw the cell where prisoners who tried to escape were chained together and left to starve to death. When one died, their body was left in the cell with the still-alive prisoners. It was horrible.

Punishment cell

Cannons for defense against pirates

 Near Elmina was another fishing village, this one much larger. We didn't get to go in, but it was a riot of colors and tons and tons of boats.

Fishing village of Elmina

The slave castles were a very powerful experience and we're so glad we had the chance to see them.