Day 54

Cape Coast trip Day 2

This morning we had breakfast at a small restaurant named Baobobs. The dining area was about the size of a small porch and only could fit about 15 people. 100% of Baobobs profit goes towards a school where Ghanaians are taught a trade so it attracts a lot of tourists on humanitarian aid kind of trips. I ordered Banana pancakes with chocolate sauce and a pineapple mango smoothie. I was in heaven at the first bite. Another group of Americans was sitting across from us so we told them they should get the pancakes. We talked for a bit and found out that they had been there for almost 6 weeks, which really surprised us. Their food came and there was a small bug in it so they scooped out a huge chunk of oats and were still amazed at the women carrying things on their heads. We are very past that point now even though we’ve been in Ghana for the same amount of time. We are exposed to a lot of different things because of the region we live in. We finished our pancakes in record time and walked into Baobobs shop to look. We ran into a couple of girls that asked where we were from and one of them actually graduated from BYU a few years ago. What a small world. Erika graduated with a Psychology major and was now working in a Liberian refugee camp trying to get them all back to Libya. We exchanged numbers and told her about church on Sunday. Jackie even arranged for her to stay with them for a couple days before she leaves. We said goodbye and walked down the street to the Slave Castle. With our Student ID we only had to pay 7 cedi. Two other girls arrived around the same time and joined our group. We started talking about what we were doing in Ghana and she was doing something similar but in the Volta region. She quickly became annoying trying to one up us on how unique her experience was. She told us that she feels like a Disney Princess when all the kids wave to her. Never heard that one before. We were hoping to ditch her pretty soon. We first went into a big room with artifacts and paintings with descriptions by each of them. The first painting I saw was a picture of the slaves being traded into boats and being whipped. It was then that I realized how sobering this experience was going to be. We looked around at the shackles and whips used on the slaves and learned a lot about how the slaves were traded. We were only there for a few minutes but our tour guide was waiting for us so we had to leave. He explained that the slave trade was abolished in 1803 but wasn’t finished until 1833. There was a plaque outside the door that Michelle and Barack had unveiled because Michelle was able to trace her ancestors back to this castle. The first place we went was the men’s quarters. It had 5 rooms in total that kept around 150 men in each. The rooms couldn’t have been bigger than 15x40. The only source of light or ventilation came from a small hole in the wall. It made us pretty emotional when we tried to imagine the suffering and cruelty that happened within these walls. The 5^th room was where the hallway to the Door of No Return. It had been sealed off in 1833 to symbolize the official ending of the slave trade. We walked back on top of the hallway to get to the end of the door of no return. There was still areas where we could see the width and depth of the hallway. One of them was filled with clean water where the people can get water if there is ever a shortage. We then went to the women’s punishment quarters. The women who refused to sleep with the soldiers or being difficult were sent there for one week with only 2 small meals a day. They were put in there to be an example to the other women about what would happen if they resisted. Then we went into the women’s quarters. It was one big room with only a small hole for light and ventilation. There was no drainage system like in the men’s for them to use for the bathroom so they had to go wherever they could. When they went on the roof for feeding times the slaves that worked at the castle would wash out the floor. The children all stayed with the women despite their gender. Then we went into the men’s punishment quarters. There, only one man would be sent after being whipped half to death. The room was hot with no light or ventilation. The men were not fed any food the whole time so they only lasted a couple days. The whole time I was in the castle I just kept thinking if these walls could talk, the stories they would tell. The pain and suffering they had seen. The stories they had overheard. I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface at what actually went on there. The next stop was the Door of No Return. This was the door that once a slave came left he would never return again. On the outside of the door there was a new plaque that said “The Point of Return”. A few years ago they had some ancestors of slaves from that Castle return and go through the doors. The next stop was the captain’s quarters. It was just as big as the men’s quarters but was for only one man where below there were 150 in the same size room. We left that area with such a feeling of disgust and couldn’t believe how such acts could have taken place. After the tour was finished we returned back into the artifact room. The museum had a gift shop that had so many things in it. The craftsmen’s ability was stunning. We each bought a couple souvenirs then went across the street to Coast 2 Coast to get a drink. When we finished we went down to the beach to meet up with King. We took a lot of pictures and then sat down on a set of steps. We started talking to this really nice Rasta man that lived in DC and was only going to be in Washington state in a couple of months. We got pictures with him and went shopping. There were about 20 shops in a row that we got a ton of gifts for our friends and family. The place reeked of weed and was really targeted towards the stoners that come to Ghana. We ate dinner at the Castle Restaurant afterwards. I ordered the grossest chicken sandwich ever. We aren’t even sure what was in it but knew not to order that ever again. I reordered a chicken coconut curry plate that was much better. The restaurant overlooked the ocean and was so serene. We went back to our hotel and the water still wasn’t running so we went to fetch water to flush the toilet with. Lauren and I had a little shower party in the outside shower. We talked about everything that has changed within us over the past few weeks. I love talking and spending time with her. I got an overwhelming sense of excitement for the fall and everything that will happen. After our showers we went down into the Lobby to talk to Kofi about our taxi tomorrow and to get an extra sheet. We met a lady from Belgium in the Lobby that was also having problems with the running water and lack of sheets. Her name was Innica and she was traveling all alone. We invited her up on the rooftop to talk about our plans if she wanted to join us. She seemed very excited to spend time with us and helped us plan a good portion of the trip. We met another kid, King David, on the rooftop. After we ordered our breakfast for tomorrow and told them what time we wanted it. Another girl came up and asked if she and her group could join us for the canopy walk tomorrow. We told Esther the plans and she went down to bring the rest of the group up. She said it was 2 other girls and a guy. We had a nice conversation with the hotel workers and Innica then went back into our room. We must have had too much sugar or something because we were so hyper and had the funniest conversation. We all laughed so hard we were crying. The girls crack me up and I’m so glad we’re all here together. We all said our prayers and read scriptures before going to bed. We planned on going to bed a lot earlier but didn’t because of us talking too much. I’m sure we’ll all be exhausted tomorrow but totally worth it!

XOXO

Natalie