Day 1 in Accra

We've finally arrived in Ghana after spending almost an entire day in the Bluegrass Airport behind rain delays and thirteen hours of travel between NJ, London and Accra. It was raining last night when our flight landed signaling the presence of the rainy season. I had this sense that I'm somewhere familiar when I stepped off the plane. For my Trinidad & Tobago crew, think about our arrival at UWI's campus the first night - yeah that's the feeling.

We took advantage of the fact that our bodies are still ahead of Ghanaian time by waking up early this morning for breakfast and a walk around the Wangara Hotel area in Accra. Banana trees, pedestrians, mating frogs (seriously), taxis, and school kids carrying adult-sized bookbags filled the streets. The taxis are aggressive but the people are friendly. A young man working in the hotel spoke very highly of America during a brief chat following our hour long trek. He expressed his hope to "be there one day!" In my mind, I recalled thinking the same thing about my trip to the continent. hmmm...

Today, we will be traveling through Accra to see a few of the sights. Our flight to Tamale leaves Saturday so we have some time to see the sights. Eric, our guide in Accra, will be taking us to Cape Coast and to the Kwame Nkrumah home. Hopefully, we can extend the plan to include the Du Bois home and burial site and a visit to the Slave dungeons to walk back through the door of no return. For those that may need more info on the significance of this locale, see the movie Sankofa and this web site. Millions of Africans entering into the Atlantic Slave system ventured through these mis-named 'castles' on their way to the Americas. To walk back through the door of no return has been touted by friends who have visited the coasts dungeons as a spiritual rebirth.

I'll be getting my SIM card today with my local number. If you want to call, send me a message and I'll send you the number. You can keep up with my activity via Twitter by following CKHerm_Ghana. Wherever I go, I'm trying to bring my people with me!