Travelling to Ghana Essay

Welcome to Ghana

There is always a first time for everything; now this was my first time to Africa. This day was the start of an excellent experience. In my mind, I had this picture of Africa as an impoverished continent with black residents. My curiosity made me want to travel to this new continent. I have to say that the experience was beyond expectations, I had the best times on travel than I have ever had on any of the trips I made earlier. Ghana has magnificent landscapes, the place was so green and most of all, the people were so welcoming. The experience bowed my mind.

Ghana changed my mental picture of Africa. Earlier on I used to view Africa as one vast continent, the people from Ghana explained the history of Africa that’s where I came to know that the people from different countries do not even speak the same language. The people also had different cultures and beliefs which they have maintained until now. I couldn’t wait to see their traditional music and dances. Their culture was so fascinating; I had to learn.

Hotels and restaurants

Almost about everything in Ghana was beyond my expectations; I spotted this restaurant in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Buka restaurant had this great finishing; the outlook just made your mouth watery. The food was also great that I had to come back for dinner at the same restaurant. I just had to take a photo in this hotel.

Meals in Ghana

Earlier in the hotel, I had taken Chinese food, so I was yet to know what type of food they eat in Ghana. The only familiar meal I found was potatoes and rice and still how the cooked it was different but sweet at the same time. I got to learn how to prepare food their way. My first meal o prepare was mashed potatoes which had some green vegetables and some boiled maize. They called this dish “mukimo.” I also prepared some meat soup which they added some traditional spices. They also cooked some veggies and some peanut topping. One of my host friends said, in Ghana, they value a balanced diet that is why their traditional food had to have at least four combinations, this amused me, and the food was excellent.

Bike riding

Now, what do people do for leisure in Ghana? I asked about bike riding, just like in Colorado, people went for bike riding for recreation. We went for bike riding. The roads in Ghana were so clear, there was not much traffic, and this was just the perfect place to go for bike riding. The residents showed us the different places they visited when they went for leisure, we climbed some hills and came back, this was already enough exercises for me, but we were still going further. I got lucky that on the way, we used a different path which was slopping such that I did have to use much energy to cycle.

Tradition and culture

I was very much interested in their tradition and culture. Around my time of travel, farmers were harvesting their crops; they had planted maize which had to be collected manually. To make the exercise more exciting and less tiring, they had songs to create a better mood. Everyone on the farm was singing. My host told me that they had such songs for every exercise, in the planting season, they have songs too and in other activities too. I have to say I envied their togetherness and harmony.

Language

Ghana’s national language is English; however, in Ghana, you might almost think they do not speak English unless, on official business, people use the Akan languages, the most popular are Asante Twi, Fante and Akuapem Twi. I learned some of it from the residents. They are very friendly and eager to teach me their languages, I enjoyed the lessons I got. Now I know greetings and some few words of the Akan languages.

What’s for dinner today?

Well, dinner was lovely. I ranked this food as my best meal. I had to learn to make this meal. There was this sweet nuts paste, some veggies, rice and big chunks of meat. The combination was so great that I ate two plates.

It just got better

Then we visited kakum national park. There were very many wild animals. Most of the people were not afraid of the wild animals like I was. People were friendly to the animals. When we went to the snake park, I almost ran away; I find the snakes scary. There were nearly all types of snakes in the snake park, the smallest to the biggest. We saw some lions, cheetahs, tigers, elephants, crocodiles among others. This park has almost all types of animals.

What about your culture Danny?

I know so much about Ghana, but they barely know anything about my country. Originally am from China, but I live in Colorado. I made them the most popular meal in China that is pasta and noodles. Most of them knew this, but they did not know how to make it. I have to say, people from Ghana learn so fast, they learned how to make noodles in just one trial. This kind of impressed me.

Time to leave

Now it was time to go back home. My one week stay in Ghana was great. The people were so welcoming and kind-hearted. I gained a lot from this experience that I am yearning to go back to Ghana. I got some gifts from the friends I made from there. They gave me some traditional baskets and mats which were cute. I am looking to revisiting Africa very soon.