Kumasi!

Hello all! I am happy to say that my trip to the Asanti Region in Ghana was a success! It took us (CIEE students and staff) 5 hours by bus to get to the capital of this region, Kumasi. To give you an idea of our path, we went from Accra through the Eastern Region and then across to Kumasi. Once we were out of Accra the mountains started to appear and everything became more green and forest-like. Ghana truly has one of the most beautiful landscapes that I have seen. The Asanti Region is not mountainous however, even though it does maintain more greenery than the coast of Accra. Think tropical- the bananas grow everywhere here, including the side of roads.

Our first destination in the Asanti Region was the traditional homes of the kingdom of Asanti. The history of this group of people stretches far and wide. Before borders were drawn and British gained complete control over the area, the Asanti Kingdom reined over country borders into Burkina Faso, Togo, and Cote D'Ivoire. Today only 10 traditional homes remain out of the thousands that existed before. 

We then headed to Bonwire Kente Cloth Shop. Here, Kente cloth, a traditional and expensive luxury, is made. The fabric is woven by hand, and the best Kente comes from this shop in Kumasi. Everything in the shop was so beautiful! The only downside to this place was the extreme amount of outside vendors that wanted us to buy anything and everything from them. The hasting was quite overwhelming for most of us so we didn't spend as much quality time at Bonwire as I would have liked. I think the amount of us that showed up was the cause for such a commotion. Nevertheless, it was a one-in-a-lifetime experience.  

The next day we had the unique experience of listening to Adadam Agofomma and his drummers. They played Palm Wine Music, a Ghanaian genre of music that incorporates drums, guitar, vocals, and dancing. It was awesome!! If you have a moment to google it, I highly recommend it. Here are some of the drummers and dancers that we got to watch.

 We then went to the Palace House Museum. This is the old palace of the Asanti kings (the new one located a few meters away.) I definitely learned a lot of history about the Asanti kingdom in general and got to see some beautiful antiques. The last main stop on our trip in Kumasi was to the Central Market. This is the biggest market in West Africa...quite a sight to see, I must say. Another interesting thing to learn was that everything for the most part is less expensive in Kumasi than in Accra. So for instance, I bought a bunch of fabric. In Accra most cloth runs for 4ish cedi a yard however at the Central Market I was able to get most of my fabric for 1.5 cedi a yard. Bargain? Hell yes. 

My friend Jessalyn and I met a high school student named Emmanuel on a walk that we went on the morning before we left Kumasi. He shared a lot of facts about Kumasi with us and even brought up the cost of living. He said that Accra is by far more expensive than the Asanti region. I had no idea. I can also say that he is one of the nicest people that I have met on the streets of Ghana. Emmanuel's private tour of the little suburb in Kumasi was definitely a positive and light-hearted way to end the trip.

Today, Monday, has also been a wonderful start to the week and I have high hopes for the rest of it. Just to give some photo-credit to my friends, all of these photos were taken by someone other than me. In my defense, my camera needs to be charged...so until that happens you can see my experiences through the eyes of some of my friends :)

Hope everyone is doing well! I miss and think ya'll often.
With Love,
Anna