Ghana Day 2 & 3

After the longest two days ever and more than 12 hours spent in a small cramped bus and some entertainment, the Kumasi Trip ended. The first day was spent going out about 5 to 6 hours to the city of Kumasi in the region known as the Ashanti Region named for the Ashanti Empire that ruled in Ghana before it was colonized. Kumasi was the Ashanti Empire capital and still remains as the capital of the Ashanti Region. It is the only region that still retains some of its power to a king. The Ghanaian government cannot make any improvements, projects or changes in the Ashanti region without the king and the queen mother's permission.  We had lunch at a local restaurant and to be frankly honest, I did not experiment too much with the food because I was afraid I would have the same issues that I had in Brazil (I got sick on the last day in Manaus Brazil and it took me 4 days to eat regular food again). We also headed to the cultural center where they spoke a lot about the succession of the kings and the matrilineal system that is practiced. When the king dies, his sons will never be able to become king because in the matrilineal system, the queen mother (She can be anything but the king's wife & daughters which includes his mother, sisters, nieces, aunts etc.) nominates an individual from her side of the family that is a male and they go through an entire system of checks and balances before the individual is allowed to rule the Ashanti region. That night we stayed at the hotel and had some dinner and I had a few sips of some hard cider before checking in for the night. The second day started about 7am and we checked out at 8am then went 2 hours out to artisan villages where I had to actually bargain for the first time and I can say one thing. OH MY GOD this is worse than the BAHAMAS! These people are so pushy and they swarm you like crazy! Then when you try to bargain with them, they jack up the price super high. It's ridiculous! I paid like 40 cedi and one of my SAS shirts for an antique cloth that I plan to give to the teacher for my vicarious voyage class. It does have an amazing history though so I bought it. I was irritated for a while though but I got over it and just moved on but note to all: You best be a good bargain hunter in Ghana, say no and be firm and also walk away if the deal sucks.

 It was an experience. That's all I have got to say about it. Moving on from that, I went to the palace of the very first king of the Ashanti Empire (no photographs were allowed at the museums so no pictures of the inside. Sorry!)

 I picked up some snacks though which they were pretty cheap. It was around 2-3 cedi and 5 cedi for the larger ones so a few US dollars at most. I bought Ghanaian chocolate!!! J Pretty much from that point we were practically taking so much time to get to places. Traffic really is not that great in Ghana and everything is so spread out that it takes us like an hour to get to places!