Adventure No.2

Finally a keyboard that types normally! This weekend United Planet organized a trip for us to see the sights of the Central Region; we hit all the major points on the itinerary, with a few unexpected happenings to keep things interesting.

Our first stop was Kakum National Park for the canopy walk. Yes is was touristy, yes we did see more white people than expected, and yes we did have an entire secondary school class in our tour group. But Ben, who drove and accompanied us, wisely kept us at the front of the group and once on the walk it was easy to get lost in the "tropical semi-deciduous rain forest." The walk is 7 suspended walkways connecting trees that stoically stand tall above the canopy. More than one person on a walkway at a time brings back memories of the playground plank bridges we used to run across as kids. Peering down towards the ground yields an unexpectedly simple view of the forest: as overwhelmingly green, as diverse in shapes and forms, and as still as it appears while looking up towards the tree tops.

After departing, we briefly paused at the side of the road to buy Fan Ice, vanilla ice cream sold in pouches. It's the consistency of slowly melting soft serve, but the fact that there are frozen treats sold from carts along every major road is enough to leave me in awe. Sachets are big in Ghana; water is sold in expensive bottles as well as 500ml packets known as "pure water" for a few cents apiece. You can't walk more than a few feet in Cape Coast without hearing girls calling "Purewataaa."

Next stop was Elmina Castle, the largest castle used in the slave trade in sub-Saharan Africa. The tour was incredibly interesting: dungeons for the women and men connected separately to the same 'room of no return'; two churches; and the governor's expansive living quarters. His two-part living room is approximately the size of the largest cell used to house 100 women awaiting departure. Atop the castle, there were amazing views of the palm-lined beach, fishing boats lined up along the canal, and the small roofs of Elmina.

Our UP-sponsored weekend stopped unexpectedly once Ben helped us check into our hotel with the promise of a 1:00 pick up the following day. The hotel, housed in one of the colonial era buildings, Bridge House, was in an awesome location just across the canal from the Castle. Left with a free afternoon and access to the hotel's second branch on the beach, the three of us decided to wander toward the other Coconut Grove property. The walk was a little longer than anticipated, but made our drinks on the beach a little more enjoyable. It was strange to imagine spending an entire Ghanaian vacation at a resort, without meeting any of the people we've encountered in Putubiw or those who we greeted on the walk there. We startled quite a few women by replacing "how are you?" with "o tee den?" We can successfully count to 59, greet, inquire "how are you," and ask names. The kids that flock to the windows of the library every night find us even more amusing now.

After dinner on the porch looking directly at the Castle's formidable whitewashed walls, we called it an early night and enjoyed having a warm shower, AC, and a top sheet on our beds. This morning we walked around the fishing town at a less than strenuous stroll and saw a few of the posuban shrines that decorate the area. To the best of our understanding, historically each "company" in town decorates a site that may have been used as storage and/or a meeting place. They are bright, often with full size figures. We passed a sailing ship above one building, Adam and Eve and other various characters, and a more simply decorated but equally bright shrine with lions. All have multiple stories and balconies that allude to the colonial architecture still prevalent along the main road in town.

We spent quite a while pouring over our 3 identical copies of Bradt's Ghana guide, discussing which idiosyncrasies we would write to Philip Briggs about. Our next few weekends of travel (Accra, Green Turtle Lodge on the Western Coast, Biakpa in the Volta region) should be great.