Tuesday, February 1, 2011

1/28/2011: Cape Coast

We got up extremely early today and left for an overnight in Cape Coast, a town on the coast about three hours from Accra. The last girl to arrive in Ghana showed up last night, just in time for the trip! Unfortunately though, she took her malaria pills without eating first and ended up just like I did, sick. After half an hour she was feeling better and we took off for the weekend! We had to drive all the way though Accra’s crazy traffic, which in itself is a completely different story, before we could start heading in the right direction. It was fun to see places we were starting to recognize and buy foods and little things from vendors out the window. People walk up and down the aisles of cars trying to sell anything from posters or food to handkerchiefs and gum. We all got plantain chips and fried doughnut things for the trip. As we creeped out of the city, we saw more and more houses surrounded by huge walls. All of the walls were topped with barbed wire or shards of glass! Many families had planted vine plants to cover the awkwardness of the barbed wire so many times the thorns from roses or other flowering plants were made of metal…

We passed a ridiculously huge shanty town/suburb named Nima. The tour guide that was with us for our city tour came with as well and he said that that part of town was mainly Muslims from all over Ghana. As soon as we passed the last few houses in Accra, we drove past a HUGE lake, Weija, which supplies most of the city’s water. We also saw a bunch of really weird things. A man was sleeping in an overturned wheelbarrow in the median of the giant highway we were on. A lady was selling Pringles on the roadside; she held two in her hand and fifty cans on her head! We also drove past a refugee camp set up during the Liberian war. Some of the inhabitants have already gone back to Liberia, but many stayed because Ghana grants asylum to those who want it. What was really interesting was the conversation we had about Cote d’Ivoire. If they start a civil war because of all that’s going on over there now, that camp and many others will fill up with refugees again. Ghana prides itself in being called a haven but a lot of people that come don’t spend much money and move on quickly.

We finally got to Cape Coast, had lunch, and then toured our first castle. Cape Coast castle was primarily used for holding and transporting slaves. We toured the holding cells first, which were completely dark. The guide said that when a few archaeologists from the university came in, they excavated through about 6 inches of human waste before finally hitting the actual floor. Thank goodness it didn’t smell like it. The castle butts right up to the beach for easy boat loading through the ‘door of no return’. Overall, it was a sad tour, but very educational!

We drove down the coast a little more to another slave castle, Elmina. We didn’t tour but we were allowed to run around for a few minutes to take pictures and stretch our legs on the beach. Each castle sat right on the sand and they were beautiful beaches! Too bad the history was so ugly. After Elmina we got back on the bus and headed toward our hotel. It sat almost on top of a lagoon that had a family of ‘friendly’ crocodiles. I’m sure if they were hungry enough any crocodile could become friendly… we only saw one anyway, and he was swimming away from us. The best part of the hotel was the water heaters! Not that they would turn on…

1 comment:

  1. Roulette casino site
    Roulette casino site. Roulette casino luckyclub site. 1. No deposit bonus, free spins, no deposit free spins. Play online roulette. 1. No deposit bonus,

    ReplyDelete