Ghana Day 1

So today was an experience to remember but a few cultural things to keep in mind as I continue to discuss this is that the left hand in Ghana is considered an insult because in Ghanaian culture, the left hand is impure so when you shake hands or wave, always use the right hand. The currency in Ghana is called Cedi and generally is 1.6 cedi to the US dollar. So our first experience happened in the morning when we were coming into port and saw the tug boats coming in. Ghanaians are very welcoming people and they will honk horns and wave to greet the incoming ships especially tourist ships.

When we got to port, we got there around 7:30am and didn't get off until 10am because of Ghanaian customs. During that time, we got to talk with the US embassy from Ghana who came on board to meet everyone and got a special performance that was just on the dock. I have the video on this but I will post it when I have better internet but these were the drummers and dancers for the performance which was really awesome.

When we got off the port, I didn't have cedi at the time because the ship hadn't gotten the order of cedi for exchanging yet so I went on the tour without cedi which was actually more fun to watch. Street vendors are everywhere in Ghana. It was more prevalent in Ghana than they were in Brazil! Many of the Ghanaians carried a lot of the merchandise on their heads. The reason this happens is because Ghanaians have amazingly good posture to the point that they never suffer from any back aches at all. Women could carry entire large metal buckets of water that can be up to twice their weight and they can handle it quite well. A really big thing about Ghana is their pride and their history. A really important figure is Kwame Nkrumah who essentially won Ghana's independence from Great Britain in 1957 making it the first African country that was decolonized. Nkrumah was elected as Ghana's first prime minister and was very educated as an individual. During the cold war he had sided with China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union (USSR) which at the time were deemed the communist countries and were enemies to the Western and democratic nations for a long time. Despite all that, Nkrumah not only brought independence but also brought many freedoms for Ghanaians as a whole to trade openly with other nations. He passed away in 1972 and here is where he is buried today. He is well regarded as the hero of the Ghanaian people.

This is the place of which he declared independence (below)

The first US president to visit Ghana after the Cold War was President Clinton! (Yes we love the Clinton Administration! Ha ha just joking) An important figure also came about to make Ghanaian history is W.E.B Dubois. He was an African American who brought about the idea and concept for Pan-Africanism which became an important landmark in history where he advanced the ideas of Africans coming together as one and he pushed to have all the nations in Africa united as one. He went to Ghana in 1961 at the ripe old age of 91 years old to help write the history of Ghana that was not Eurocentric. During his time in Ghana, he was honored by China, USSR and Czechoslovakia for his work for the colored peoples. He died in 1963 just shortly after his 93^rd birthday.

The biggest highlights of my tour that I thought were very awesome was that we had a police escort for our entire tour only for the purpose of not getting stuck in traffic J (Traffic can get so bad in Ghana sometimes that you could potentially be stuck in it for 4 hours. Not fun at all). The second one was GHANAIAN CHOCOLATE!!! YES! I know chocolate can be bad for you but Ghanaian chocolate is made from the cocoa right there in Ghana and the chocolate bar itself tastes fluffy and light as well as it tastes better than hersheys chocolate or any other US or Brazilian chocolates ever made. (Oh and it doesn't give you heart burn like US chocolates) Oh yes did I mention that Valentine's Day is February 14th and oh yeah Ghanaians celebrate Valentine's Day as National Chocolate Day! The United States should borrow this sometime!