Travel

So I really have no idea what things people want to hear about from Ghana, so feel free to comment on this blog and let me know.  That being said one of the most common questions I get is if I am traveling a lot while I am here.  The answer is both yes and no.  I am traveling but trying to space out my travels so that I do not spend too much time away from Helekpe.  I am really trying to get used to living in the village and traveling every weekend would obviously take away from that.  Some of the times I have really been able to discover the most about the village have been on the weekends.

That being said I have traveled for two long weekends (Thursday to Monday) with the other volunteers that I am working with.  The first time a group of seven of us traveled to a remote resort called Meet Me There.  It was an absolutely beautiful resort right on the water.  It is so remote that in fact we were the only guests staying there.  It was a great trip and offered the first real opportunity to get know each other outside of simply spending two days a week together in the office.  Meet Me There was mostly just a relaxing weekend and I do not think we left the resort the whole weekend we were there.

The second long weekend we traveled was to Cape Coast which is may be the most popular tourist town in Ghana.  Cape Coast is, as the name would suggest, right on the coast as well.  It is also a significant city in Ghanaian history as it was were the slave trade here used to be based.  The castle which housed both British royalty and Ghanaian slaves is still open today for tours and was by far one of the most chilling things I have ever been to.  You can literally walk through the dungeons which housed hundreds of slaves for months at a time and almost imagine the horror they must have seen.  Aside from the castle the weekend have also a good time.  It was a bigger group this time with nine of us going, but still just as much fun.

As I said earlier I have traveled both time with the other volunteers that I am working with.  Perhaps one of my next blogs will be on them but I will say that I have really enjoyed my time with all of them so far.  They are from all over the world and offer different perspectives.  Considering they are the only people I can really have an easy conversation with it is great that I get along so well with them.  Furthermore, it is also great to be able to bounce different ideas off of them and learn from their ideas.  It is also makes the travels fun!  I will be traveling more soon so I will keep you posted.