If I had to pick a few countries I was most excited to visit this semester, Ghana would definitely have been on the list. I'm happy to report that even in spite of getting so sick I couldn't get off the ship the first day (and missing my home stay in the process), Ghana did not disappoint. After traveling in Europe for such a long time, I was so ready to embrace all the differences this third world country would bring, which started as soon as I stepped off the gangway, enveloped in a wave of heavy and sticky heat. I lasted only about 3 minutes before having to shove my neatly straightened hair into what I hoped somewhat resembled a bun and hopping on the shuttle bus that would bring me out of the port area and into the town of Takoradi. Immediately after stopping in the town, our bus was swarmed with Ghanaian men, offering (more like shouting) to give us a taxi ride wherever we wanted to go. I climbed off the bus after my friend Liz and our arms were immediately grabbed by one of these men, trying to convince us that he would offer us the cheapest ride. The rest of my friends tentatively got off the bus and eventually, we were somehow able to break out of the circle of sweaty men that had formed around us and make a break for the town. Little did we know that some of these men would proceed to follow us, asking us our names and if we would like a tour guide for the day. After saying "no" in every possible way known to man, we were left alone, and made it to the town market.
We were told this town market would be a great place to shop for real, authentic African souvenirs, but we quickly realized that was not the case. All that was sold at this market was smelly fish, produce, and household items (I still don't understand why Ghanians thought I wanted to buy a rat trap; I mean, it was hard to ignore the white skin that marked me as a foreigner!) So, we found a taxi to take us to Busai Beach. After bartering with the taxi driver because there are no taxi meters in Ghana, we squeezed all 6 of us into the taxi, 2 in the front seat and 4 in the back. I ended up in the back, riding sideways on my friends' laps, with my head almost out the window. Although it was an uncomfortable, the long ride was definitely worth it after arriving at the beach and jumping in the refreshingly cold waves. Before not too long, the Frisbee that my friend Carl brought helped us make new Ghanaian friends, brothers around 4 and 6 years old. I spent a good amount of time throwing the Frisbee around with them, but eventually had to leave the beach before it got dark.
Upon our arrival back at the ship, I realized a Ghanaian souvenir market had been set up right outside the gangway. Although I was tired, I decided I would start my shopping. Let me say right now, shopping in Ghana was one of the most stressful experiences of my life. When I walked into the market, about 5 Ghanaian men immediately started shouting at me, trying to convince me to look at their stand first. Once I finally made it through the shouting stand owners and into a covered stand, there were no prices on anything, so if I wanted to know how much something cost, I had to ask the stand owner. He would then give me the "white person" price, a price almost three times too high, so I had to spend about 10 minutes bargaining until he brought the price down to a reasonable amount. Then I had to decide if the new price was worth it and since it wasn't most of the time, it was a wasted 10-15 minutes! It took me a good 2 hours to make it through just 8 stands! Although I was exhausted when I finally made it back on the ship, I was quite happy to finally be experiencing the first significant culture shock of my voyage.
The Do's and Don't s in Morocco
Do: Try the local cuisine, especially anything made in a tangine.
Don't: Drink the water, eat food from street vendors, and eat food rinsed/washed in water. Your body will not thank you.
Do: Get a Henna tattoo. Not only will you support a Moroccan woman, you will end up with the most beautiful Henna design. Just make sure you go to the women politely asking for customers.
Don't: Let a Henna tattoo artist grab your arm. She will immediately start drawing a Henna design whether you want it or not. And once she is done, she will charge you a ridiculous amount for the tattoo you didn't even want in the first place.
Do: Visit one of the many monkey sanctuaries along the roads in Morocco. Even if you decide not to feed the monkeys, you can watch others feed the monkeys bananas without risking contracting rabies yourself.
Don't: Visit a monkey sanctuary late at night. Your flashlights may scare the wild dogs, who will then proceed to chase you.
Do: Buy DVD's in the Casablanca market from a stand owner named Saad. Not only is Saad the coolest Moroccan ever, he will give you great deals.
Don't: Buy DVD's in Casablanca without having the seller show you they work (unless you buy them from Saad). You'll be disappointed.
Do: Have a local Moroccan show you around the markets to help you find what you are looking for.
Don't: Go alone with these men, and don't go up any stairs. That's just plain dumb.
Do: Know simple Arabic phrases you can use in conversation. You will make a much better impression if you try to speak their language.
Don't: Go to Morocco without knowing any Arabic or any French, assuming people will speak English. While many people do speak English, you will be thought of as rude if you do not at least try to speak their language.
Do: Bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer everywhere you go.
Don't: Go in a bathroom without any toilet paper. It doesn't exist in Morocco.
Do: Embrace the Moroccan culture, differences and all.
Don't: Get caught up in all the differences. If you focus on what's uncomfortable, you won't be able to enjoy your time in this beautiful country.
Well, I finally had it. I finally had that moment where I realized, "Oh my God, I'm on Semester at Sea." Before now, I was a little worried something was wrong with me, since I hadn't really felt the same awe and astonishment at my current life like all other SAS students. But, I finally had my moment in Morocco, a country so incredibly like India. (Coincidence? I think not.) So what did I do in Morocco to have this moment? Well...
I RODE A CAMEL THROUGH THE SAHARA DESERT. In case you couldn't tell from my use of all caps, it was the coolest experience EVER. My group drove for a straight 13 hours to reach the desert, getting us to the camels around 9:30pm. This meant I had to get on my camel in the pitch black. It was terrifying. I couldn't see my feet, I couldn't see my camel, and I couldn't even see where I was! It was so dark outside that I had no idea whether our guides had actually driven us to the desert or if they just dropped us off on the side of the road. While I was pondering whether or not I was making the smartest decision getting on a camel I couldn't see and being guided to God knows where by Muslim men I didn't know, I was also being hustled onto my camel, cutting my moment of worrying short. After sitting on my camel and hearing "Hold on, and lean back", I only had time to grab my camel handlebars before being thrown into the air by my camel's rump, almost falling headfirst off my camel in the process. I thought I was going to die. We then started moving, our camels being guided by a desert nomad in bare-feet. Somewhere along our trek to the nomad camp, listening to the desert's peaceful silence and looking up at the stars, I had the realization that I was actually studying abroad and my life would never be the same. This realization only strengthened after arriving at the nomad camp, eating a traditional Moroccan meal, participating in the nomad's drumming, dancing, and singing demonstration, and falling asleep on the Sahara sand under the stars.
Waking up the next morning was amazing. Since it was so dark the night
before, I wasn't able to see any of the desert on my camel trek to the camp. So, I literally woke up in the middle of the Sahara Desert, essentially not knowing how I got there. Once the nomads' drums woke everyone up, we all climbed up a huge sand dune to watch the sunrise. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life, sitting on top of a sand dune with desert nomads in Morocco watching the sunrise. It doesn't get much better than that.
Once the sun rose, we were all given the chance to sand-board (snowboarding on sand) back down to the nomad camp. After a couple people wiped out trying to stand and sand-board, I decided to sit on the board and sled back down the sand dune. It was a pretty crazy experience, since I was literally able to taste the sand while flying down the dune. Once everyone was down, we prepared for our trek back out of the desert. Since I was actually able to see my camel this time, I had a much more enjoyable trek, relaxing and looking at the sights from Chester's back (yes, I did name my camel). After the hour trek out of the desert and saying my goodbyes to Chester and the nomads, I headed back to the bus, ready for all the crazy and memorable experiences I will continue to have this semester.
With only 2 short days in Spain, you would think my time here wouldn't be too out of the ordinary. Wrong. I've come to the conclusion that for some reason, the weirdest things always seem to happen to me. Take my first day in Cadiz for instance. My friend Kacey and I were simply planning to have a relaxing, uneventful morning at a beautiful Spanish beach, Playa de la Caleta, recommended to us by a local. But when we got there, the "gorgeous" beach was basically deserted, if you don't count the old Spanish men in speedos who were having their early morning swim. Awkward. And, when we turned around to look at the old white building behind us on the sand, THERE WAS A DEAD MAN IN A BODY BAG. I'm not kidding. There was literally a human inside this white plastic bag underneath one of the awnings. Kacey swore she thinks the bag moved at one point, but I'm 100% certain the man was dead. It was the creepiest, scariest thing I have ever seen. Look closely at the picture for proof.
You would think we would have run away from this beach as fast as we could, but for some reason, I decided I really wanted to be able to say I swam at a beach in Spain, so we got in the water. The water looked nice from the outside, but little did we know we had to walk about 20 feet in the water through jagged, sharp, pointy rocks before we came to the actual sand bottom. Ouch. However, I'm glad to say that once we got used to the water, we had a nice couple hours just swimming around...if you don't count the old lady rocking the bikini and swim cap who swam right next to us even though she could have picked anywhere else to swim in the huge, deserted beach... yup.
We decided to get out about an hour and a half later, since the water was getting pretty cold and I really needed to use a bathroom. So, we found the beach entrance sign map and realized they had about 3 different W.C.'s that we could use. We headed in the direction of one, only to realize the map lied and there were no bathrooms to be found anywhere on the beach. What beach advertises their bathrooms when they actually don't have any?! And of course, since we were in Europe, there were no other bathrooms to be found in the city either. Let's just say as soon as I saw the ship again, I practically sprinted to the bathroom.
Our plan for the afternoon was to simply walk around and explore the city, while also finding a cafe with wifi. We found a cafe, but since all the outlets were being used, I left Kacey and went to another cafe practically next door. After ordering a hot chocolate, I sat down at a teeny tiny table in the corner by an old video game machine, and asked the owner for the wifi password. She entered the code into my computer and then proceeded to tell me that if someone else came in and ordered food, I would need to leave since I had only ordered a drink and was using the table for my computer. What?! There were about 10 other empty tables throughout the rest of the cafe! Who would want the little dingy table in the corner?! But anyway, I politely told her I was planning to order dinner in about an hour when it was closer to dinner, but I just wasn't hungry right then. She then proceeded to tell me that no, I couldn't order food. What?! First of all, I was really confused about why the owner would turn down business. Second, I really just wanted to tell her not to advertise wifi with a huge sign in front of her cafe if she didn't want people to come in and use it! I don't know if I missed some important fact about Spanish culture or what, but this was probably one of the weirdest, most confusing experiences of my trip so far!
After finishing what I needed to do on my computer, I headed back to the ship since I had to leave early in the morning to go on a whale watch with my Marine Biology class. It's pretty ironic that our whole life is basically a whale watch since we all live on a ship, and yet, my professor decided to get on another boat to look for whales and dolphins! Not only that, but the boat I got on was literally the smallest whale watching boat I have ever seen. It was the size of a small, individual fishing boat. No joke. And since I get very sea sick on the MV Explorer, a ship comparable in size to a cruise ship, I definitely got sea sick on this boat. I may have seen one or two dolphins before realizing that if I was going to survive the ride, I would have to lay down for the whole 2 hours. Fun stuff, I know. But after the whale watch, we went to tour Baelo Claudia, Roman ruins over 2,000 years old! This was by far the coolest experience I had in Spain. I included some pictures I took so you can hopefully see how picturesque the site was!
But overall, I had some pretty bizarre experiences in Spain. I don't know if all of Spain is like Cadiz, and I know I can't make judgments about a culture after only 2 days, but nevertheless, I honestly think that Spain is a pretty weird country!
Fun Fact: You have to pay for plastic shopping bags in some Spanish supermarkets!
If I had to pick a few countries I was most excited to visit this semester, Ghana would definitely have been on the list. I'm happy to report that even in spite of getting so sick I couldn't get off the ship the first day (and missing my home stay in the process), Ghana did not disappoint. After traveling in Europe for such a long time, I was so ready to embrace all the differences this third world country would bring, which started as soon as I stepped off the gangway, enveloped in a wave of heavy and sticky heat. I lasted only about 3 minutes before having to shove my neatly straightened hair into what I hoped somewhat resembled a bun and hopping on the shuttle bus that would bring me out of the port area and into the town of Takoradi. Immediately after stopping in the town, our bus was swarmed with Ghanaian men, offering (more like shouting) to give us a taxi ride wherever we wanted to go. I climbed off the bus after my friend Liz and our arms were immediately grabbed by one of these men, trying to convince us that he would offer us the cheapest ride. The rest of my friends tentatively got off the bus and eventually, we were somehow able to break out of the circle of sweaty men that had formed around us and make a break for the town. Little did we know that some of these men would proceed to follow us, asking us our names and if we would like a tour guide for the day. After saying "no" in every possible way known to man, we were left alone, and made it to the town market.
