Kakum National Park & Elmina Castle

Today we took a LONG drive along the coast of Ghana to Kakum National Park & Elmina Castle. Kakum National Park is a large rainforest with a canopy walk around the park. It was amazing! The views were fantastic and it was just a different aspect of Africa. The walk through the rainforest to the canopy was a brutal, uphill walk on uneven rocks, but it was so worth it once we got to the canopy. Afterwards, we ate lunch at the "Rainforest Cafe", where I had "red red", a popular native dish. It was beans in a sauce and fried plantains. Plantains go with everything here!

After Kakum, we went to Elmina Castle. Elmina was built by the Portugese and then captured by the Dutch. It was originally a trading post for gold and ivory, but then was used for slave trade. We went on a guided tour & it was so interesting to see everything. I took tons of pictures. The views from the castle were also amazing.

Something really interesting happened while we were in Elmina. There are many young adults who sell goods on the side of the road/at the entrance of tourist attractions. One of the young men at Elmina was wearing a Wildwood, New Jersey t-shirt. (In case you don't know, my family has visited Wildwood consistently for the past 20 years, and now we have a condo there.) We took a picture together and then he wrote down his e-mail address so I can send it to him. I told him I'd also send him photos of Wildwood so he could see where it was he was wearing the shirt from. One of his friends asked if he could have my pen for his schooling. I gave them the pens in my bag (I only had 2), and then they said they also needed books and t-shirts for their schooling. It really struck me because 1) we have been giving little toys to the kids, but I didn't think about giving necessities to the young adults, and 2) even though they were selling goods, they weren't trying to sell me anything, they just wanted to take pictures and exchange e-mail addresses. It was really eye-opening.

We went to Cape Coast after Elmina and ate dinner outside of 11:the Cape Coast Castle at the Castle Restaurant. We chose to tour the Elmina Castle instead of Cape Coast since there are less tourists, but Cape Coast is where Obama spoke when he was here over the summer. (Everyone in Ghana seems to love Obama!) I had grilled chicken and boiled plantains - boiled are not the same as fried!! Our restaurant was right on the beach and it was beautiful.

Tomorrow we have a free day until we leave for the airport around 7 pm. We are going to check out the campus bookstore and then ship everything we've purchased home. Our flight leaves around 11:30 tomorrow & then DUBAI!