No Water or Internet

It's been awhile since I've been able to post, first because of travel and then because of technical issues. The internet is back -- for now. My water still isn't.

On Saturday, the whole program somehow rolled out of bed at 6am to board the bus headed to Elmina, the coastal town with the oldest European slave castle in West Africa. We arrived at our (beautiful) hotel on the beach, ate breakfast, and had a tour of the castle. I'm not really going to try and describe it here; suffice to say it is a poignant place. I added some pictures so you can get an idea of what it's like. It was built by the Portuguese in the 15th century, then taken over by the Dutch during the 18th, and finally the British during the 19th. It was returned to African hands when Ghana gained independence in 1957 and now it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Afterwards we headed to Kakum National Park, a rainforest reserve where we were treated to a hike up to a canopy walk. I've been on a tram over the rainforest canopy before but this was a lot more terrifying. I understood that it was held together with some really thick, tight wires and whatever, but the thing still shook all over the place while we were walking. On the way up a lot of the girls were making a big deal out of it and I was scoffing in the back. By the time it was over I was the asshole. But I did get some great pictures out of it.

We spent the night relaxing at the hotel, having dinner, and then drank palm wine on the beach. It was like a completely unnecessary vacation. On Sunday morning Liz was even able to come to my hotel for a few hours (she was staying about an hour away at Cape Coast) before we left, which was great.

Class on Monday and Tuesday as usual. I had a story due on Tuesday morning which I characteristically started on Monday afternoon. I only freaked out a little bit and ended up doing a story on a very strange hotel I found in Accra. I'm working on a few other stories now. Some are assigned and some are just out of interest. Next week I'm going back to Cape Coast to meet an African rabbi who offers "alternative" slave castle tours. He explained that his "narrative" is a bit different than conventional tours; I think that means he cuts the shit and tries to tell it like it was. I'm hoping to stay for at least a night or two and figure out just what a rabbi is doing in Cape Coast, if there is a Jewish community there, and if so, hopefully I can get a good story out of it.

Today, on assignment for a story about economic development, I wandered into the Accra Brewery where they brew a lot of the beer that's popular here. It was cool because I didn't have an appointment and the facility was a lot larger and more well-run than I had been expecting, but they still took me right in, sat me down with a guy from marketing, and I had a great interview. I learned about a program in development to encourage Ghanaian farmers to grow raw materials for the brewery so that they don't have to important malt and other grains from South Africa and Europe, and about experimenting they're doing to use the indigenous grain sorghum rather than regular malt.

Finished up the day sitting on a rock at that quirky hotel with a few friends listening to some new Ghanaian friends freestyle for us. Tonight we'll drink whiskey and play soccer in the courtyard until we pass out, and tomorrow I'll be up first thing, headed back to the brewery for a more interviews. Africa is awesome.

Pictures:

1) Canopy walk

2) Cannon at Elmina Castle

3) ...

4) The unbelievably macabre decorations the Europeans made over the dungeon where they threw dying or unruly slaves.