Road Trip

Everything takes longer in Ghana, but....I finally made it to Cape Coast!!!

We woke up around 3:20 am to catch the 4:30 am bus to Accra. The traffic sucked in Accra so we didn't make it there until 9:45 am. From there we took a tro tro to the Cape Coast station. Then we had to wait an hour and a half for the tro tro to fill with people to head to Cape Coast. We finally made it to Cape Coast around 2:45 am.

We met up with Isaac's nephew who is a radiologist at the Cape Coast Regional Hospital. He drove us around. We first had dinner and then we stopped at various spots along the ocean. Each spot was so different from the next. The first place we stopped at was an African Beach Resort. I guess it's owned by an African American who married a Ghanaian. He had a lot of memorabilia up on the wall about African history, RASTA, etc.

Next, we went driving along the coast. We saw one of the old castle areas called El Mina. The Portuguese named this area. It's where the harbor is for the fishing boats if you could call them that. The looked like really large canoes. The waves are so huge here. I wonder how they don't capsize. The harbor was a little overwhelming. I know I've been here for over 3 months, but I don't think you can ever get use to seeing poverty at that level. These people are so hard working too. The men fish all day or all night and then the women are sitting around in the harbor preparing the fish and selling it. If this was the coast in the US it would be filled with million dollar homes. Instead, Ghana's most historic coastline is filled with shanty towns.

Our drinking spot was the Coconut Grove Beach Resort. This is a really upscale resort with a 18 hole golf course. We only drove 5 minutes down the road from the harbor to reach this place. It's so unbelievable how different the two are. Such a stark contrast!! There were so many foreigners hanging around and drinking. I felt a little confused and out of my element. I was wondering where all the Africans went. I think I'm going to be in such culture shock when I leave Ghana on Wednesday. I've gotten so use to being the minority that it will be weird to be in the majority again.

Tiffanie and I were cracking up at Steven, Isaac's nephew. For some reason here, all the Ghanaians think Tiffanie's name is Stephanie. So he was calling her Stephanie and then with me he thought my name was Claire. So I guess we are Stephanie and Claire from now on. Haha! I've decided that I would love to see Isaac in the US for a few weeks. It would be so funny seeing how he would react to everything. I think it would be a lot like the Eddie Murphy movie where he is an African Prince coming to the US. I know Isaac thinks I'm a silly American all of the time. :)

After the drinking spots, Tiffanie and I were exhausted so Isaac and his nephew took us to our hotel. It's a very clean basic room with hot running water and air conditioning! Yippie for running water! It's the first time since I left Patsy and Allan's! I wanted to write so much more, but I can't remember anything after this long day. I am so tired and exhausted after all that crazy driving! I can't believe how little it freaks me out now than 3 months ago. I will be ready for American roads and cars!!!

Love, Kari