We Beat President Obama to Cape Coast! And Did Michael Jackson Die???

Apparently, President Obama is visiting Cape Coast on July 11th. Well, not to brag, but we beat him there! So...yay!

We had a great time in Cape Coast. We visited the Cape Coast Castle, from which a lot of the Triangle Trade took place. The Americas sent raw materials to Europe, Europe processed those materials and sent them to Ghana, and Ghana sent slaves to the Americas to produce the raw materials--in a nutshell. It was so interesting! I feel like I have so much to tell everybody about it. We met a senior missionary couple on our tour of the castle. They were a piece of work. The man asked the tour guide, a Ghanaian, if he thought that slavery was a good thing. Really? You're asking an African if slavery was good? Also, a couple of men were fishing off the coast. The man asked our tour guide if those were the slave ships coming to get the Africans. I was ashamed to be American at that moment. I really wonder what impression tourists give off in the various places they visit. I wonder if our tour guide will someday go to America and ask a tour guide at, say, Monticello if he thinks slavery was a good thing. Ugh. Some people. We also learned in the castle that Michael Jackson died. They had been playing his music all day, and we were all curious as to why they were doing that. Then, a man in the museum said that he died, and we were all distraught and talked about our favorite Thriller dance memories. Is it true? Someone give me an update.

Anyway, it was so rainy in Cape Coast! We got there in flood conditions. Cars were half-submerged in muddy water. I was glad to be on a big huge bus. However, we were lucky that whenever we went out it really wasn't raining too bad. We even went to the beach for a little bit. We ran around in the water and got some fun pictures. Two little boys were playing with us and wanted to be in all of our pictures. It was pretty cute.

We also went on the Kakum Canopy Walk. I think anyone who reads this should try looking it up online. It was incredible. Basically, we were suspended hundreds of feet above the jungle by a walkway and a rope bridge. It was so beautiful. Sadly, my memory card ran out in the middle, so I had to delete some pictures (don't worry, they're already saved on my computer at school). It was so incredible, though. We didn't get to see any animals, but we didn't really expect to. Lots of bugs though. Exotic, tiny, creepy bugs. Imagine my delight.

We stayed at a really nice hotel with a toilet that flushed! The high life. We also ate at some really great restaurants. I had some banana pancakes that pretty much changed my life. We also got to look in lots of fun little shops. We saw a textile mill that printed a fabric with Obama's face on it that said "Akwaaba (welcome) Obama." Ghanaians are really happy that he's visiting soon.

I wish I could write everything that happened in Cape Coast because it was SO FUN, but I only have a couple minutes left, so I have to go. I'll email/blog again this Friday, and then I won't have a chance to come to Kumasi for the next two weeks. So send love now or for two weeks hold your peace!

Love you all. Have a great week.