Last stop in Ghana

I left the madness of Kumasi on Wednesday for the tranquility of Ada Foah. Kumasi was worth the trip. The giant Kejetia market (11,000 stalls within a few square city blocks) was a force to be reckoned with, but I survived. I made it to a few small outlying villages that are known for their weaving and cloth dying arts. And I had some fantastic Indian food at a local restaurant that redefines the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”.

After a full day of travel – 5 ½ hours in a bus to Accra, then about 3 hours in trotro’s – I finally arrived in Ada Foah, a small town that sits where the Volta River meets the Atlantic. From the Ezmine Guesthouse (best place I’ve stayed all trip!), it’s about 10 minutes walk one way to the beach of the ocean, and about 10 minutes walk the other way to the shore of the Volta.

The difference between the two is amazing. The Atlantic side is desolate. You’d think there would be resorts lining the shore, but there is almost nothing there. An old church, and remains of old trading posts. The surf is rough – this is not a swimming beach. And, as is all too typical in this area, the beach resembles more of a garbage dump than a recreation area. There are small plastic water sachets (the locals get their purified water in bags, not bottles) everywhere as far as you can see. I don’t know if they get blown to the beach, or are thrown into the ocean and wash up here, or a bit of both. But it’s really depressing to see. These beaches are also breeding grounds for sea turtles, and their habitat is being ruined by humans who don’t seem to care.

The Volta side is a different story. Fishing is a key industry on the Volta, and there are small fishing boats lining the river. There are a few islands in the river, and the locals run boat tours to them. One goes to an island where crocodiles roam freely, and tourists are encouraged to pet them. Hmmm… been there, done that. Really – four years ago in Gambia. I figure petting a giant unrestrained crocodile once can classify as adventurous. Trying it twice is just stupid. So instead, I took an afternoon to venture over to an eco-lodge, Maranatha Beach Camp. It involved a mototaxi to the edge of a local fishing village (all thatch roof huts), walking about ½ hour through the village to the end of the beach where Maranatha lies in the middle of a large palm grove. The water is calm, the palm tree trunks are painted pastel pinks and greens and yellows and blues, and everyone is just chilling in the shade of the café awning. I hung out there all afternoon, enjoying lunch with some volunteers, then taking the water taxi back over to Ada Foah. Much more peaceful than tempting fate with crocodiles.

One more night here, then it’s back to Accra for me. This was a great choice to spend the last few days of this trip. Part of me doesn’t want to leave, part of me is ready to come home. Maybe just one more trip down to the beach first…

Monkeys! Baby Monkeys!

Puppies are cute. Kittens are cute. But they got nothin’ on baby monkeys. My second day in Amedzofe involved a side trip down the mountain to the little town of Tafi Atome to visit the Monkey Sanctuary. About 300 mona monkeys call the Sanctuary home, and come out to play with any visitor. Ok, maybe any visitor that just happens to be holding a bag of bananas that they’re willing to share. I arrived late afternoon, after a series of misdirections that took me about 2 hours out of my way, but within minutes none of that mattered. The monkeys travel in family packs, and about 2-3 dozen were within sight in minutes. There were quite a few babies in the batch, about 3-4 months old. Incredibly cute! With a banana firmly in hand, the monkeys will come right up and use their little fingers to scoop bits out from the peel. A few times I wasn’t holding on tight enough and an adult snatched a whole banana right from me. But the babies would grab onto my hand and hold on while having a snack. One jumped right up onto my arm!

I’m very glad I saw the day through and got to the Monkey Sanctuary that day, because the next day was pretty much a bust. Woke up to a view of nothing but clouds and fog. The rain came and went all day, very heavy at times. At one point a few of us at the hotel tried to take advantage of a break in the rain to go climb Mt. Gemi, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Luckily, we were only at the base of the mountain, and right by a memorial garden with a large gazebo. We holed up in there for almost 2 hours waiting out the storm. Once it cleared again, we knew better – back to the hotel, leaving Mt. Gemi for another day.

On Sunday I decided to leave the mountain and head out for a full day’s journey to Kumasi. The trip took about 10 hours total, including 8 hours between two tro-tro’s. Kumasi is Ghana’s second largest city (after Accra). It’s a busy busy city, traffic is congested throughout the day, and the central market area spills out for several more blocks of people just selling everyday goods off the sidewalks. It seems to be more modern than Accra, and a recent initiative to get street signs on every street (yes, the things we take for granted) seems to be working. But even “modern” cities in Ghana have issues – the power went out for a good portion of the city around 6:00 this evening. Luckily, my hotel has back up generator power. Again, things we take for granted…

Back in Ghana

I've been moving around a bit since the last post. I couldn't get into Benin without an advance visa (I had been told that I could get a 2 day transit visa at the border, but the border guard said no). And getting a visa through the consulate in Lome would take 4 days. So my Plan B (which is really about Plan N, subpart 12 by this time) was to travel north to Kpalime, Togo. Got up there on Monday and stayed for 3 days, during which I spent more time on a moto-taxi (that would be riding around on the back of a small motorcycle) than I had anticipated. Mototaxis are the way to get around in Togo, especially Kpalime. So, to see the sights my guesthouse arranged a guide for me. I went to the peak of Mt. Agou one day (luckily we got about 90% to the top by moto, but hoofed it from there), and the next went to two waterfalls - Cascade de Wome and Cascade de Kpime. Both were great to see, but also a lot of effort and scrambling up and down rock/dirt paths.

Kpalime was a great place to stay for a few days. It has a totally different vibe than anywhere I've been so far. People are friendly, but also understand the respect for personal space. (3 days with no marriage proposals or strange old women grabbing my hips. Yeah!) It's just an easy place to kick back and relax.

Yesterday I made my way back across the border into Ghana, and I am staying in the moutaintop town of Amedzofe in the Volta Region. Amedzofe is Ghana's highest settlement, and the view from here is spectacular! There's really not anything to do in town, but it is useful as a base. Today I am heading to Tafi Atome, where there is a monkey sanctuary. Tomorrow I may climb up to the top of Mt. Gemi (ok, not really "climb", more like take a slow walk up an uphill path). Sunday I may do nothing at all.

To Go to Togo...

I took a local trotro Sunday morning from my hotel in Accra to the local market place (Makola Market). Found a long distance trotro going to Afalo, the border town on the edge of Togo. The Ghana trotro is like the louage in Tunisa, the sept-taxi in Gambia, and other share taxi systems that seem to exist everywhere except the US. They all have set destinations (for the local ones, a set route that usually goes in a circle). From their start point, there is no set time table – they go when they are full. For the Ghanaian trotro, this means filling about 20 or so seats. The trotro is somewhere between a large minivan and a minibus. 4 seats deep (not including the front seat that takes 2 passengers), which each sit 4-5 people, depending on the vehicle. The good thing about arriving to a relatively empty trotro is that your pick of the seats, which for me meant picking the window seat in the front (driver’s) row. The bad thing is you have to wait for the rest of the trotro to fill up before you can go anywhere.

Waiting an hour on the fringe edge of the Makola Market really wasn’t that bad. Yes, it was hot, but I found a nice shade spot under a tree. An old woman was selling tomatoes on the sidewalk right next to the trotro, and decided I was her new best friend. Which, to her, meant having the absolute right to grab my hips with both hands or slap me on the butt anytime I got near enough. Strangely enough, this isn’t my first occurrence with this behavior over the past week. While the men stick to the hiss or tongue click (the Ghanaian version of the mild cat call), women – older women in particular – get a kick that I have what they call “Ghana hips”. Yep, the women here are curvy, and they are proud of it. So I walk into a shop, or market stall, and get slapped on the hips/butt by some old woman, who just then gives me a big smile and thumbs up. I think most of the white people they see here are young students/volunteers, who are little skinny things from what I’ve seen. So they aren’t used to seeing a white woman with the Ghanaian figure. Nice to finally fit in somewhere. 

So, around 11:30 or so, we were filled up with all sorts of people (me being the only obrini, or foreigner/white person), and on our way. Three hours later we arrived in Afalo. It was a really easy drive – the road is in great condition, and our driver liked to go 100 kph in 50 kph zones, passing pretty much everyone we came across. The only people that passed us were nice private cars – mostly SUV’s. Got to the border crossing, exchanged a bit of money (I already had some Togo cifas, but decided I could use more), which involved me beating a common con and actually getting a better exchange rate than I should have. (Con = exchange guy promises a great rate, but then tries to keep changing from small bills to large ones, back to small, etc., hoping to confuse the poor tourist who ends up paying twice.) Got my Togo visa without any hassle (both Ghana and Togo border people were really nice), and then haggled with a taxi driver for a ride from there. Ended up having him drive me the full 50k or so across the country (yes, it’s that skinny at the ocean end) to Aneho, which sits just outside the Benin border. I think I overpaid, but not by too much, and it was worth it to be in a car by myself for a change.

Staying the night at Oasis Hotel (not to be confused with Oasis Beach Resort, which I stayed at in Cape Coast). Rooms are a little blah, but the patio and outside dining room sits right on a small lagoon that opens up onto the ocean. Really tranquil spot.

The AFS Gala!

The great thing about traveling without a set itinerary is the ability to change things up at any time, especially when really fun opportunities come about. On Monday, while visiting the Ghana AFS office with the students, the National Director, Kwame, asked if I would be in town for the big gala event on Saturday, celebrating AFS’s 100th year Anniversary. I had planned on being in Togo or Benin by then, but easily reconfigured plans to be back in Accra for Saturday’s events. Very Good Decision.

With my new dress all ready for the big occasion, all I had to do was get from Winneba to Accra, find someone to press the dress, manicure, pedicure, get to the local market to search for a purse and hopefully some shoes to match, and get back to the hotel in time to shower, get ready, hop in a taxi and get to the event on time. Whew! All was actually accomplished, although with a rather whirlwind run through the market (getting there took longer than expected, and I had about 10 minutes to find what I wanted), except for the shoes. My black sandals (a last minute addition to my luggage, actually) would have to do.

I was told the event started at 6:00. Was that 6:00 real time, or Ghana time, I asked Kwame. Ghana time, or GMT as they like to call it, is a time system that would be right at home in most of Central/South America. Say you are meeting your friend at the café at noon. Well, that almost certainly doesn’t mean arrive at noon. Even at 12:30 you may find yourself sitting alone for quite some time. 1:00, 1:30, maybe even 2:00 is perfectly acceptable. (Yes, I’ve found a place for mom to retire to quite happily.) But with formal events, was GMT still in play? Kwame said not really – a western style fashionably late (6:15ish) would be appropriate. So I arrived about that time, to a totally empty venue. The staff was still setting up, and I was the first guest there. Awk-ward. Oh well, I got to meet assorted volunteers, host families and staff members as they arrived.

The event was being held at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in an open air atrium set with a red carpet, flowers, candles and little twinkling lights. While most of the younger women chose western style dress, or a bit of a mix (western style, but made with Ghanaian style fabric), many of the older (40 and over) women arrived in more traditional African dress. All long dresses, fabulous colors, lots of gold accents, some with big headdresses to match. I was happy with my choice of material and dress style, and I also had some of the dress material made into a simple headband, to have my own spin on the traditional headdress (which I just can’t pull off). Some of the men were also in traditional dress, which varied in style from long dashiki (straight collared tunic worn over pants), to a toga style wrap of kente cloth, and other styles I wasn’t familiar with. AFS President, Vincenzo Morlini, who was the guest of honor, wore a normal western suit. I introduced myself to Mr. Morlini, who started his AFS experience about 50 years ago in no place other than Ohio. (He was hosted just outside Mansfield, which shows placing students in the middle of nowhere is a long time honored AFS tradition.)
The band played a strange assortment of music, quite a bit of it sounded more Jamaican than African to me. I did recognize the Abba classic Fernando at one point during dinner, and of course, a little Paul Simon. People started dancing as dinner ended, and I got pulled onto the dance floor by the little 5 year old host sister of Anouk, one of our Belgian girls here. (The two Americans staying in the Accra area also were at the gala.) I quickly learned that the traditional dutch wax cloth, while really pretty, doesn’t exactly breathe. Soon I felt like I was wearing a full length Hefty bag, and had to get a little air. The night went on with awards to volunteers, speeches by President Morlini (everything sounds funnier when said with an Italian accent), and more dancing. The 9pm ending time converted to about 10:30 GMT, which seemed perfectly appropriate.

Sunday morning I carefully folded my dress (along with the other short dress I had made), put both into one of the vacuum seal bags I brought, and even with that they now pretty much take up all the spare room I had in my backpack. Good thing I packed an extra tote bag for souvenirs!

Cabo Corso - Now that's my kind of town!

I spent the last 3 days in Cape Coast, formerly known as Cabo Corso. People here got a kick out of seeing my name, but didn’t quite believe it when I said that made me Queen of the town.

We arrived on Tuesday, the “we” being myself, two AFS volunteers from Accra, and two of our students from the US, Aurelia and Ellice. We were bringing the students to their new host families, where they will be staying for the next 10 months. After that was taken care of, AFS dropped me off at my hotel – the Oasis Beach Resort, which is the only place to stay that is directly on the beach. And from that point on, I was on vacation! Yeah!

I’ll admit, I was getting a little spoiled having AFS cart me around and help me navigate my way through Ghana up ‘til this point. I expected Cape Coast to be more provincial, with a lot more remnants of the past founders and inhabitants, the Portuguese and the British. What was once a major trade port (first gold, then unfortunately, slaves) is now mostly a fishing village, with some tourism and assorted businesses. Most of what was built during its earlier life was replaced with faceless concrete buildings fronted by various sidewalk market stands. There are still a few stately churches well placed on the hills, a handful of crumbling old British era buildings, and of course, the Cape Coast Castle which dominates a large area of the ocean front. Castle really isn’t the right word – this is the fort that was used during the trading days, and the rooms that used to hold gold and other goods for trade were converted to holding cells for slaves that were to be shipped off to Europe or the Americas. A rather dismal place in the end.

While my days started out by walking out of my bungalow, all of about 20 feet from the beach, and eating breakfast while watching the local fishermen drop nets in the ocean and then slowly pull them back to the beach trapping all sorts of fish and ocean life. It is a slow process and dozens of men are involved in the process. When the nets get closer to shore, the women show up. Some to help sort the fish, others to sell drinks and food to everyone working and waiting. Then the next boats go out and the process starts all over again. The same thing occurs up and down the coast line, dozens of boats in sight one moment, then they’re all back at shore loading up for the next run.

Wednesday was spent on a very important task… getting a dress made for Saturday’s gala. Anastasia, the wife of the resort’s owner, was great help in this task. First, I needed to go buy material – 4 yards for a formal (full length) dress. I went to about ½ dozen shops before settling on a material I liked. Then I went back, got Anastasia, and she took me to her dressmaker. The dressmaker had dozens of posters with models in various dresses. In a nice twist, most of the models were not the stick thin American type, but rather curvy (probably size 16-18 US) gals. I picked a neckline from one dress, bodice & skirt from another, and sleeves from a third. Measurements were taken, details were discussed (with help from Anastasia, since the dressmaker spoke mostly Fente, a local language), and money was exchanged. I was told everything would be ready by 4:00 Thursday. That was just over 24 hours away. And, I was actually ordering two dresses. I really liked another material, but it wasn’t quite right for a formal dress. So I have a fun short dress for casual wear, too! 2 dresses, 24 hours, 146 cedi (about $40 US).

Thursday morning was spent at Kakum National Park, about 40km north of Cape Coast. The park is known for many species of birds, monkeys and other wildlife. About 15-20 years ago the Canadians came in and build a canopy walk – a series of about 10 rope bridges going from tree to tree. The hope was to encourage wildlife observance and preservation. Unfortunately, the animals have all figured it out and tend to avoid that exact area of the park, so while the canopy walk is a fun adventure, there are no animals to be seen. A fun way to spend the morning, though. The afternoon was spent lunching at Baobob House, another guesthouse near the castle, which has its own farm and does only vegetarian and vegan meals. Then back to Oasis for some lounging Oceanside. I was met there by Aurelia, Ellice and their AFS advisor (and local teacher), Ben. Aurelia and Ellice have already learned that some aspects of Ghanaian living may be harder than that in the US, but the view from Oasis (a short trotro ride from their homes) certainly makes up for it!

By 4:00, my new local friend, Issac (about 10 years old, sells dried plantains and hits up tourists for money to pay for his school) was reminding me it was time to pick up my dress. He’s the Ghana equivalent of Siri. But in a nice twist, the dress came to me. I tried it on, asked for a few adjustments (the casual dress fit perfect, though) and marveled at the ability to do so much in so little time.

Today I decided to move a little closer to Accra, just to cut up the trip a little. I’m staying in the little town of Winneba, about an hour & half from Accra. Also on the ocean. A nice place to chill for an afternoon before hitting Accra tomorrow. From there, maybe on to Togo. Will figure that out on Sunday.

PS - tried adding pictures, but having upload issues. Uploaded one batch already - go to jenniferinghana2014/shutterfly.com/

Ebola? No ebola here.

I've been in Ghana for 4 days. In that time it seems like I've barely left campus (yes, campus), but at the same time have really seen a lot in Accra. My trip to Ghana started after spending 2 days in New York at the gateway orientation for about 150 AFS (American Field Service, a foreign student exhange program) students going abroad. I would be chaperoning five students, all girls, on their flight to Ghana, where they will be spending the next 10 months as exchange students. They cram a lot into 2 days of orientation, but by about midnight on Thursday we were in the air on our way to Ghana. Oh yeah, we saw Katie Holmes at JFK airport. The girls asked if they could take her picture, and she was very nice and accommodating. We think we saw a few football players, too, but weren't 100% sure. I was keeping my eyes open for politicians for the perfect airport trifecta (movie star, sports celebrity and politican). No luck.

A team of AFS volunteers met us at the airport, and the girls were very excited to have finally reached Ghana. Me too. :) We went to our orientation site - the Guest Services Centre at the University of Ghana (Legon campus). We are in dorm/apartment type rooms here. I volunteered to stick around and help with orientation, and I'm glad I did. The AFS staff and volunteers here are wonderful - so very very nice, helpful, and informative. They've been guiding the girls through what to expect for their year here, and I've been learning a lot about Ghana in the mean time. We were joined by 2 girls from Belgium, but the group from France cancelled out due to the ebola scare. Ninnies.

So, in between actual classroom style orientation sessions, AFS has been giving us the royal tour of Accra. We've seen a presidential mausoleum & museum, the National Museum, gone to the ocean (twice!), hit the local market (crazy!) and the arts & crafts market (crazy, in a whole different way), and have been to the US Embassy (my first time in any Embassy). So, without intending to do so, I've pretty much crossed off my Accra to-do list.

My plans going forward have changed, changed again, and again a few times over. I've been invited to a big gala celebration on Saturday here in Accra. The president of AFS is touring to celebrate AFS's 100 year anniversary, and he will be here this weekend. One problem - I have nothing to wear. It is African (or western) formal. Well, this gives me the excuse to see if I can have a Ghanian dress made in the few days I have before the event. I head to Cape Coast tomorrow - going with the AFS Ghana staff to bring two of the girls to their host families there. I will get a few days of beach time, then head back to Accra for the festivities. If I can get a dress, that is.