visit to the chief's palace

yesterday we went forty-five minutes east to the volta region to visit a more traditional style village. because of the rain (and our guides being late) we arrived two hours after we should have. luckily, the chief forgave us and allowed us into his village. we were met at the tro-tro by his spokesperson, a man draped in colored cloth and holding a golden staff with a sankofa on top. the sankofa is a bird looking backwards (i'm sure you can google it to see) and it represents a return to your beginning, to your roots. he led us into the palace (essentially just a bigger house, nothing dramatic) to meet with the chief and his elders. the chief spoke to us through his spokesman: he forgave us for our tardiness and told us that if he hadn't understood why we were so late we would have had to make a sacrifice of a ram to appease the ancestors. good thing he understood because i couldn't see us killing a mouse, let alone a ram. he then gave us water, which is customary when any visitors enter any house. he asked us the reason for our coming and we told him then gave him gifts. we brought shnapps for the ancestors and school supplies for the village school. the spokesman then performed a ritual of giving the ancestors the gift we brought for them. it was really cool to see such traditional village life in action.

we were then allowed to go see the school and children, while our lunch was being prepared. none of the students spoke very good english, but we found ways to communicate. i played soccer with a bunch of the boys and i think i surprised them with the fact that i could actually play. it was crazzyyy to play soccer on the top of a mountain, with beautiful views all around, on a grass field, aiming for bamboo stick goals. one of the teachers reffed the game, and he called penalty kicks to end it. i scored mine and my team when crazy. the boys i was playing with asked for my email and address so they could write to me. we only got to play for about half an hour; i wish i could've stayed for weeks. the students then sang a prayer for us and performed a dance. the little kids (four and five year olds) are so funny because they can DANCE. they swing their hips like nothing i've ever seen. it is really cool to see a culture that is so involved with dancing and singing. everyday i see people dancing, wherever we go.

we got back to the palace to eat lunch and there was dancing and music being played. the first few dances were reserved for the elders, which was hilarious. one man was very very old but he could still move! his wife came up to him while he was dancing and wrapped her third cloth (they keep it around their waist) around him. this is a signal that she approves of his dancing and thinks he is doing a good job. we had just learned about traditional dancing in class a few days before, so it was awesome to see it happen in person. we danced after we ate for about an hour, then asked the chief for permission to leave. our professor said that the way ghanaians term leave is that they ask if it is okay to just step out side for a moment, until they return again.

on the way back to accra, we hit traffic. traffic in ghana is like nothing i've ever seen. there are barely any lights, and people don't exactly adhere to lanes or normal driving rules. it took us over two hours to get back to our hotel, and i swear an hour and a half of it our tro-tro was completely still, stuck in the worst traffic we've seen yet. it's worse because the rains have been particularly bad, and the roads are a mess. there are HUGE holes everywere. we're lucky if we get a smooth road. for an hour or so after we returned, i still felt like i was being jostled around in the back of the tro-tro.

today we're heading up to kumasi to see the Wli waterfalls and then a monkey sanctuary. we won't be back until sunday night so i don't think i'll be able to update until then. it's a five hour bus ride (and five hours is obviously relative depending on the traffic that we hit).