It is Monday, 12:55pm and I am in an internet cafe with my friend Nana, while we change $US to Cedi's so we can get on with our day! This morning--- wow, we went to see and experience the African Rain Forest, and it was an EXPEREINCE!!! Pictures to come once I can download them, but let me paint a picture--- a canopy walk that is supported by one steel cable, and then rope, ladders and boards!!! The canopy walk was precarious, no way to do it if you are afraid of heights; I'm not afraid of heights, and it was scary to say the least. We walked through the canopy above the rainforest floor, looking down on the kind of vegetation, trees, vines, and bushes so thick you cannot readily see the ground, or the rainforest floor in technical terms. We heard sounds of monkeys, but did not see any, and many many birds, and insect sounds. And lots and lots of ants--- ants so thick they made a "highway" of sorts for themselves. We saw a tree that, when cut, sheds fresh water, fresher than any spring. Kind of strange coincidence about ants, when I traveled to Austrailia in 2002, I was told by an Aboriginal man that ants are my animal totem. What that means I have no idea, but the fact that we saw them in such abundance, here in Africa, while I am on such a personal mission spoke volumes to me!!!
Nana (I'm going to post some information about him later today or tomorrow) also took me to the Cape Coast Castle, a slave castle on the Atlantic coast, from which Africans were taken and sold into slavery for 400 years +. The dungeons where male and female slaves were held--- haunting. The smells and signs of the kinds of business and commerce that took place on those grounds and within those walls still palpable. The dread and grief felt as millions left their homeland and kin still imaginable--- devastating to be in the same space. Again, I will post some pictures when time allows.
Also was able to catch up with the marathon folks, so I will be going to stay in Accra on Thursday, that is where the marathon will be run. And here is how small the world is here in Ghana--- the lady "in charge" of the marathon, Anna Bannerman-Richter, her father is best friends with Nana's cousin who runs the hotel I am staying in. Can you beat that? Feels a little like how everyone knows everyone else in Richmond!!! ;>)) More to come, XOX, Cheryl
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