coast bound
this weekend was the stuff that short stories are made of. christina and i spent the weekend in cape coast, which with the slave prisons and beaches is ghana's primary tourist destination. as with most things in ghana, it took some doing just to get there. after trying unsuccessfully to flag down a tro tro from pokuase we jumped in a taxi to get to the kaneshi market in accra to find a bus. tro tros are ghana's version of mass transit, and therefore are specificially ghanian. a tro tro is a minibus that makes regular *and sometimes irregular* stops, with a mate who yells out the last destination. the mate practically hangs outside of the moving vehicle in order to attract riders. tro tros are chaotic but authentic and safe means of traveling around the country. i take a tro tro every morning either to amassaman or fise, which are both just about a 15 minute ride. it is possible to take tro tros for longer rides as well, and it is typically how we get to accra. the road to accra has been in the process of being redone for the past four years, and is essentially a ten mile stretch of dirt mountains and construction that cars, tro tros and buses navigate through. it makes for an incredibly bumpy ride. it is estimated to take another four years to fix the road. so, getting from here to accra is always a bit of an adventure, and the closest thing to a truck derby that i am likely to experience!
we reached the kaneshi market, which is a huge market selling every possible item, from produce and food to styrafoam and pig hoofs. the women carry everything on their heads here. last week cynthia's daugher rita asked me if we also carried items on our heads in the u.s. and offered to teach me how, even when i pointed out how uncoordinated and unbalanced i am! chrstina and i wandered aimlessly around kaneshi, ducking hoards of people, looking for an orange 'kefor' bus. we circled the market twice, called hayford for help once, sweated our body weight under our backpacks and talked to about ten ghanians who were happy to help us find the bus, but never did get us to the right spot. hayford told us to abandon our search for a kefor bus and to instead look for american fort buses. this circled us around the market once again. we finally managed to find an air conditioned minibus heading to the coast, and were rewarded for our troubles with the most comfortable ride i have had in ghana. after talking to hayford last night, we realized that we had indeed found the american FORD bus and that the kefor buses were the same big mass transit ones that we were convinced were the wrong ones.
upon arriving on the coast, two hours and a wonderfully sweatfree ride later, we jumped in one of the ubiqitous taxis and headed to our first choice for lodging, a hotel made up of huts on the beach. they were full for the night, so we followed the guides directions to another hotel that was just a short walk away. the guide and i differ signifiantly on what constitutes a short walk, however, and it took some doing to find the mighty victory hotel. and what a victory it was, as it had hot water. we returned to the oasis to drink under thatched roof by the sea. we immediately found the ghanians on the coast to be much more persistent and in our faces than in other parts of ghana. some ask for money, but the majority want attention. we made many friends throughout the weekend, mostly ghanian men who would not leave us alone. apparently some scout for obruni girlfriends and others are networking for business purposes. we met three men on friday night who coincidentally ended up working in the shops surrounding the slave castle, where they remind you of their friendship and offer a friend's discount.
we visited two slave castles, one in the cape and the other in a neighboring town called elmina. i will save the entry about visiting these prisons until next time. the experience was so overwhelming and intense that it deserves more time than i can give to it now. stay tuned for part 2!
we reached the kaneshi market, which is a huge market selling every possible item, from produce and food to styrafoam and pig hoofs. the women carry everything on their heads here. last week cynthia's daugher rita asked me if we also carried items on our heads in the u.s. and offered to teach me how, even when i pointed out how uncoordinated and unbalanced i am! chrstina and i wandered aimlessly around kaneshi, ducking hoards of people, looking for an orange 'kefor' bus. we circled the market twice, called hayford for help once, sweated our body weight under our backpacks and talked to about ten ghanians who were happy to help us find the bus, but never did get us to the right spot. hayford told us to abandon our search for a kefor bus and to instead look for american fort buses. this circled us around the market once again. we finally managed to find an air conditioned minibus heading to the coast, and were rewarded for our troubles with the most comfortable ride i have had in ghana. after talking to hayford last night, we realized that we had indeed found the american FORD bus and that the kefor buses were the same big mass transit ones that we were convinced were the wrong ones.
upon arriving on the coast, two hours and a wonderfully sweatfree ride later, we jumped in one of the ubiqitous taxis and headed to our first choice for lodging, a hotel made up of huts on the beach. they were full for the night, so we followed the guides directions to another hotel that was just a short walk away. the guide and i differ signifiantly on what constitutes a short walk, however, and it took some doing to find the mighty victory hotel. and what a victory it was, as it had hot water. we returned to the oasis to drink under thatched roof by the sea. we immediately found the ghanians on the coast to be much more persistent and in our faces than in other parts of ghana. some ask for money, but the majority want attention. we made many friends throughout the weekend, mostly ghanian men who would not leave us alone. apparently some scout for obruni girlfriends and others are networking for business purposes. we met three men on friday night who coincidentally ended up working in the shops surrounding the slave castle, where they remind you of their friendship and offer a friend's discount.
we visited two slave castles, one in the cape and the other in a neighboring town called elmina. i will save the entry about visiting these prisons until next time. the experience was so overwhelming and intense that it deserves more time than i can give to it now. stay tuned for part 2!