Cape Coast

I went this weekend on a trip to Cape Coast. What a whirlwind! I was unable to reserve tickets in advance for the bus as you have to do it in person and they close at 5!. So to make sure I got a seat I left the hotel on Saturday at 6:00 am and took a taxi to the bus station. Once there I managed to find the ticket counter and buy a ticket. My ticket cost me roughly $3.00 for a 3 hour ride into Cape Coast. It took almost an hour to get out of Accra. Once out of Accra though it was absolutely beautiful, I was finally able to see the countryside which is very lush and green. There are little villages beside the road and often there are stalls along the sides of the road with the people of the village selling their wares. It was strange though, there would be ten identical stalls all selling the same thing out in a row.

I arrived at the Cape Coast bus terminal around 11:30. I dropped my things off at the hotel I reserved and headed to the castle. The castle was amazing to see. It was very chilling to stand in the door of no return where slaves were taken out to be put onto ships. Upon leaving the castle I was hounded by some men trying to sell me things,  get me to sponsor their soccer team, or just give them money. That was the most aggressive people have been so far about trying to get money from me but I was warned by the taxi driver dropping me off that they are drug boys and to be cautious. They stopped following me when I entered a restaurant for lunch and I exited a different way so as to not attract their attention again. I ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant right on the water. I sat with the wind in my hair watching the ocean and had a nice refreshing lunch. I then walked through part of cape coast looking at things and chatting with people. The game was on so I stopped and watched in different places. It was amazing to see when Ghana scored a goal how everyone flooded the streets and celebrated together. I was so glad I was out to see that. It was a really hot day so I arrived at my hotel and was happy to turn the air conditioning on and collapse. Upon waking up I went on a mothball hunt and removed 7 very smelly mothballs from my room. I didn’t go out that night as it’s not a good idea to be out after dark so I ate dinner at the hotel and relaxed there.

I got up early again to go to Kakum National Park on Sunday. I arrived at a bit before 9:00 just in time for the first canopy walk. On the way up to the walk I discovered that tiny ants can bite very hard and come in large packs that are hard to avoid. Even now, thinking back on getting onto that bridge I feel unsteady. The canopy walk consisted of wooden planks suspended from ropes with a net up to your chest around it. I believe them when they tell me it’s completely safe, but wow it was terrifying. It was very hard to balance and we were high up. It didn’t look too long though so I got on and gritted my teeth and walked across. It was absolutely stunning to see the rainforest from high above. When I got to the other side I discovered another bridge.. and then another… until I had done I think about 6 total. Completely a once in a lifetime experience… but only once!

On the way back to Cape Coast from Kakum I saw people on the road hauling mud and the taxi driver told me that they put mud into the huge potholes and people sometimes stop and give them money for helping. It seems a very interesting way of doing things and must need redoing a lot especially in the rainy season.

Once in Cape Coast I managed to catch an STC bus back to Accra. It rained the whole way back, the roads flooded, there was mud everywhere and the traffic didn’t slow down. We went past a number of traffic accidents and I was very glad to have taken the STC which is probably the safest mode of transport.

I apologize for not posting yesterday. In my whirlwind to Cape Coast I managed to catch a cold and couldn’t form coherent sentences yesterday! Luckily enough it’s very easy to get amazing oranges here!