Obama Posters in Ghana

They were ubiquitous. I was completely remiss in capturing them until my ride to the airport, where I got two shots from the car.

If I had one dollar for every Obama poster I saw it would have paid for my week in Ghana. No, seriously. EVERYWHERE. Mostly of Obama and President Mills, but also of the entire Obama family. What an overwhelming welcome that must have been!

I'm told they will still be there a year from now.

And no, they did not do the same for W when he came to visit during his presidency.

Ghana: Cape Coast

What I was really in the mood for in Ghana was just to get to the beach and relax. I was tired, I wanted to process Liberia, and I wanted to get on my yoga mat. Jacob and I stayed in Accra a few days waiting for Brian to arrive instead of going north because of said exhaustion.

On our way down to the beach we stopped by Cape Coast Castle, the largest of the castles on this Western coast of Africa where the majority of slaves left African soil for the New World. As with the fort in Dakar, we stood in the dark rooms and did our best to imagine the horrors that had occurred between the walls. But of course, no imagination could have recreated it.

President Obama had visited the same castle exactly one month before us on his trip to Ghana, also the first stop in Africa of his presidency. In addition to a shiny new plaque commemorating the visit, we found a pile of gifts collecting dust in the corner of the dungeon, which provided one of my favorite shots of the day.


On the other side of the door of no return, we found fishing nets. To my delight, I found a fisherman asleep on his net and got this shot.


We continued on to the town of Elmina, a bursting at the seams fishing port. We stayed at the resort heralded in the two days prior New York Times article on Ghana, which was a nice spot but pretty secluded. Unfortunately, it was cold and overcast the two days we spent there. So much for beach time. It was so cold I was uncomfortable outside even in my sweatshirt and rain jacket.


One morning we went to the rainforest and went on a canopy walk, a system of rope bridges above the tree tops. Kinda cool, but there was no wildlife to be seen.



I arrived back in Accra rested, and ready to go home.

Counting the hours. 18.5 to go.

Gh(yaw)na: Accra

Well that was pretty lame, but anyway. I’m underwhelmed by Ghana. To start, I’m definitely grateful for a week to transition from Liberia to San Francisco: to process the summer and prepare for what lies ahead (Max I’m looking at you). Beyond that though, I’m not sure I’ll be sending anyone this way soon.

Compared to Liberia it’s a modern marvel: electricity, paved roads, ATM machines, hot water, fresh squeezed juice! Still the signs of Ghana’s development challenges are equally abundant: the incessant wafts of raw sewage that fill your nostrils thanks to the open trenches along the streets, piles of burning trash thanks to the lack of proper garbage collection, and the shacks that the vast majority of Ghanaians live in. It’s a little disheartening to realize how far ahead of Liberia they are, yet most people live in pretty brutal poverty.

Jacob and I wandered around our first day and stumbled upon the single most disgusting beach I’ve ever encountered in my life. Little trash mounds reminiscent of the seaweed ones we have back home were everywhere; exposed pipes pumping raw sewage into the already brown waters; plastic bags blowing in the wind; men peeing in plain air. The Lonely Planet put it well when they said that Accra had turned its back on its coastline.


By far the best things about Accra are And1, Dotty, Cyrus, and Mohammed. Four “brothers” who moved from the north, in their mid to late-twenties, getting by selling drums, t-shirts, necklaces, and masks to tourists. We didn’t realize we were walking up on the art center tourist trap when And1 intersected us and asked to show up his shop. We wound up hanging out for hours, getting a drum lesson, and learning about the antique artwork their uncle sells.


We’ve gone out with them three times since. They call me their sister and I promise to send everyone their way for goods from Ghana. So go there!! Off to meet up with them now :).