Location: Cape Coast, Ghana

Hello from Ghana!

Anne and I have finally made it down to the coast of Ghana, the city of Cape Coast to be exact. We left Ouaga early Wednesday morning (I was not sad) on a bus headed for Kumasi, Ghana. The ride ended up taking about 16 hours, and although the bus was supposed to be air-conditioned, it wasn't. It was a rather hot and sticky ride. We finally made it into Kumasi at around 1 am, found a hotel and went to sleep.

Ghana is AMAZING. It's green and beautiful and way more developed than Senegal. Compared with Anne's experiences in Niger, I was thinking that Senegal was cushy West Africa. Nope, that's definitely Ghana! We spent most of the day walking around the city and the market (where no one even tried to hassle us!) and visiting the National Cultural Center. Kumasi in the capitol of Ashanti culture so there was some very interesting exhibits. We met a German guy there and spent the rest of the day exploring the city with him. At a loss for things to do, we decided to visit the Hat Museum, a collection of many many hats (Michael, the German guy, asked people at the hotel if they had a room with a lot of hats in it It was actually very funny at the time....). Sadly, we walked all the way to the museum, which is on the top floor of a hotel, and discovered that the hat museum is closed for renovation...actually, to quote more accurately, the museum is closed so that it can be made better. Hmmmm.

Having exhausted that option and being very tired from walking in the heat, we decided to go to the saloon next to the hotel. Well, upon approaching the building we discovered that it was not in fact a saloon but a salon. Not a very good place to get a beer. We went back into the hotel and Michael asked if they had a room full of beer.

This morning we went to the bank to get some money and then wandered around looking for a place to eat breakfast. We eventually found a place that looked really nice but it turns out they aren't very speedy because it took them an hour to get us oatmeal and tea. Meanwhile, a HORRIBLE movie about a deaf woman who gets locked in a school and witnesses a murder was on. It was unbelievably bad bit it actually served to make the situation quite hilarious.

FINALLY after eating we went to the gare routiere and found ourselves a little mini-bus thing heading down from Kumasi to Cape Coast for only $3. It was a pretty sweet deal and was much nicer than taking the bus again. The scenery was breathtaking. There are lots of rolling hills in Ghana (which don't exist in either Senegal or Niger so Anne and I were both impressed) and everywhere you look is GREEN. It reminds of pictures I have seen of jungles. However, a long with comes lots of humidity but I'll take it!

Tomorrow we are going to explore the city and the Cape Coast castle (used to be used in the slave trade). Sunday we are hoping to go the nearby rainforest to do a canopy walk. From Cape Coast we are hoping to head to a smaller beach town for a night and then move on to Accra, the capitol. It is all going to be over too quickly!

FUNNY THINGS

-The largest cedi bill (Ghanaian money) is worth about $2. This makes going to the bank a hilarious experience because you literally get a huge wad of money. I have to keep most of mine in a plastic bag because it won't fit anywhere else!

-Ghana is very Christian so many of the shops had Christian "slogans" associated with them. I think my two favorites so far are "God Only Knows Electricals" and "The Lord Is My Shepard Fashion Center". Also, just to my left there is a poster hanging on the wall that says "Oh God, let your name be glorified." on the bottom. Above it is the slogan "A Paradise On Earth" under which is a picture of a huge house and fancy car. WHAT?