Northern Trip, Part two

Hey everyone!
Below is what happened on the rest of the Northern trip, but first a thought on the Manhiya Palace Museum tour- I just wanted to note that the idea of preserving physical artifacts simply for the fact of having them is a very Western way to approach things. So, in a way it made sense that the majority of things preserved were from imported cultures. The Ashanti have a strong tradition of oral history, and that is much more difficult to encapsulate in a museum. Though it would be interesting to try! Anywho, just wanted to put that out there for contemplation. Moving on!

Gwollu con't:
Gwollu is a village in the northern most part of Ghana. There are remains of walls there that were built to protect Gwollu and surrounding communities from slave raids. Our group met with the chief and elders of the village first before being taken around to the ruins. We were welcomed in the traditional way, with "water" (or, rather, pito- a drink brewed from millet) served in kalabash cups. We visited the wall remnants, crocodile ponds, and then ran across the border into Burkina Faso for about 2 minutes. The change in countries was only marked by a change in the material used to make electiricty poles- wood in Ghana, and cement in BF. It is always interesting to notice how arbitrary country boundaries can be, particularly because the etnic group that resides in Gwollu, the Sisallah, are found all over Burkina Faso and hardly at all in Ghana. A strange thing that occured during this trip was discovering a tall, scandinavian looking man from Vermont named Adam who accompanied us throughout the day. He is a peacecorps volunteer, there as a business advisor for Gwollu's less than a decade old tourism development project. If anyone is interested I have more to say about our interactions with Adam, but will not go into it here.

Day Four- Visit to Sankana
Sankana is another place where there is physical evidence of resistance to slave raids. There are caves very near the town, and during the time when raids were prominent lookouts were posted at the highest points to watch for dust. Dust clouds in the distance meant the raiders were coming (they used horses to get around), and when they were spotted a horn was blown to warn the residents of Sankana and surrounding towns that the raiders were very near and to seek shelter. There was enough space in the caves for everyone, and most able men would stay out to fight the raiders while women would run between the caves and homes to bring food and water for those hidden in the rocks. Sankana does not advertise as a place for tourists to visit, so the whole atmosphere of this trip was entirely different from the one at Gwollu. After being taken around the rocks to look at the caves and hearing about the history of the place, our group had a meeting with the Sankana Chief and elders. We were again welcomed with kalabash cups full of pito, and then had a very interesting an moving question and answer session with the large group of people assembled there. At one point Sara asked them how the people of Sankana were affected when the slave raiders were successful, and the response was that they were affected in every way imaginable. It was a very powerful moment.

Day Five and Six were when we went to Mole National park. In a later blog, when I have time, I want to write a very detailed Elephant encounter experience, so later on look for that.

Day Seven- We chilled in Tamale and planned for our Independent Study Projects, or ISPs.

Day Eight- Tamale to Kumasi, visit to Kintampo Falls
More traveling- this time with a stop at Kintampo Falls. They were beautiful to see, and a few people took a dip (I was not among them) at the base of the largest fall. It was an interesting place to be because there were about 20 to 30 slightly inebriated Ghanaian and Indian young men sliding down the rocks, splashing in the river, and randomly bursting out into song. Our group of Americans made quite an impression, and were drawn into pictures/had our pictures taken with/by random people for a good 15 minutes. Then we had to grab lunch and get on the bus for Kumasi, some of us lamenting not being able to stay in the water for longer and some of us relieved to be out of the chaos.

Day Nine- Kumasi- 2 lectures and CNC
We had two lectures this day on Art in Ghana and visited the Center for National Culture in Kumasi... not a whole lot to say about this day.

Day Ten- Kumasi- Day ten entailed a visit to a Carving "Village"- basically there were a cornicopia of stalls filled with carvings of all shapes and sizes. With each vender promising you a good price and commiserating with your student status, it is difficult to not be overwhlemed and make some poor decisions. I walked away with a small museum collection's worth of carvings. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I wish I could say that I imagined purchasing a 2 1/2 foot long mahogany crocodile shaped mancala board named Jafar, but I can't. Dear friends and family- if you don't know how to play mancala, learn fast: I see a Ghanaian themed mancala party/tournament in your future. You have been warned. Also, it was pretty apparent that I got ripped off incredibly at a few places. Imagine my disappointment when, thinking I had just bargained my way to a sweet deal, the merchant I'd been interacting with tells me I've "done well", offers me a free bracelet, and proceeds to carry my small treasure trove to the bus for me. Oh, well. You win some, you accidently vastly overpay for others. Thus is the world of bargaining, at least for me. Leigh is the most ruthless bargainer I have ever met- the sellers would grumble as they handed over her purchases and were always happy to see her leave the shop. No one offered to carry her things to the bus for her, though, so... conclude what you will about how both of our tactics are fostering Ghanaian-American relations. (I must mention, however, that Leigh's bargaining skills were a valuable asset during the purchasing of Jafar, so I am indebted to her and her savvy ways.)

Day Eleven- We returned to Cape Coast.

Ta daaaa!

My next blog will be about my trip to Benin and will be up later in the week. Today is the official start of our ISP time. For the next four weeks we are all on our own academically. We are in charge of conducting a research project that will culminate in a 20-40 page paper. My project is investigating enslavement as tourism and will focus on the transition of various sites from community places to tourist attractions. That's about as far as I am, so I have a long way to go. I'll be in Cape Coast for the first two weeks of my ISP time, and Accra for the last two weeks. Here goes nothing!

Time update: 5 weeks from tomorrow I head back to America. I'm determined to make the most of the time I have left.

Love and miss you all!