by Ryan Trinidad (written on August 6)
Manhyia Palace Museum
We all wake up at 4:00 am and prepare to go to Kumasi. Kumasi is home of the Ashanti people. Until this day the Ashanti people are headed by royalty, and have a King. We visit the Manhyia Palace museum and learn more about their culture. One thing that stood out to me was the tradition that has been held throughout the years. Not many nations in the world still have Kings and Queens. Gold is heavily emphasized with the Ashanti people. Looking at solid gold artifacts from past royalty was crazy. Pure gold shines very uniquely, it is so bright. The Palace Museum didn’t allow any photo to be taking inside, I apologize…
A ficus tree in front of the Manhyia Palace Museum
We go into town to get some lunch. The town is crowded, more crowded than any street I’ve ever been on. We walk into a very dark alley, there are people sleeping in the alley. It definitely wasn’t the safest looking alley. It seemed as if we were walking through someone’s house. Then, we walked up these dark stairs and next thing you know a random door opens up to a nice restaurant. I felt like I was in a movie, and I was walking into some mafia meeting. Please refer to the photo below to see what this whole experience looked like. Aside from the fact of feeling creepy from the walk in, I loved the food!
The alley and stairwell on the way to the restaurant
Lakeisha Davis, Gigi White, Chelsea Adams, Selam Tilahun and Keisha Credit waiting for a meal
The group goes to the local arena to watch a national track meet. It was very interesting to see sports in a different country. People were cheering and yelling, it was really cool to see. The USA girl represented and won the 100 meter!
At the track meet: (front row) Ashley Lipford, Chelsea Adams, Cathea Carey, Julianna Tesfu, Erica Lane, Lisa Schrade, Selam Tilahun; (back row) Sierra Stewart, Lakeisha Davis, KB Burns, and Ryan Trinidad
We arrive at the Knust Medical School to check into where we will be staying for the night. What we saw next was very interesting to say the least. We first enter the women’s building since there are more women attending this trip. It was a pretty nice facility. All the necessities were there plus some. Warm water, clean bathrooms, it was well furnished. Then, the rest of the guys and I go across the complex to where we will be staying. What we saw next was funny to me. In comparison to what the girl’s facility, ours was pretty bad. KB and I walk into our room and are so surprised. I open the door to the bathroom and the entire floor is wet from the toilet. There was no seat on the toilet. The shower has no curtain, oh and hot water wasn’t an option. There are two beds next to each other, but there was only one bed sheet. Like I said, it was real funny! I couldn’t stop laughing. Like the museum didn’t allow photos to be taken, I took it upon myself to not take any photos of our guesthouse, it was just too funny and something that I’m going to try and not remember. Thankfully we were only there for one night. Don’t worry guys, I’m still smiling! You’ll never change that…
