The beach was terrific – there are some big rocks that break the surf which otherwise would be too big for us let alone Ama. In the morning when the tide is out, the water is pretty quiet and she could play till lunch. Our accommodation was a small bungalow with its own bathroom and 2 double beds. Lovely. Just outside our door is a gazebo and a stones throw from the outdoor restaurant. The food was consistently tasty and fresh, and fairly reasonable. The hotel consists of hut style buildings, and offers a range of different accommodation types.
Below are pictures of our room and the restaurant area
After Ama’s nap (we need to get her out of the mid-day sun), we take her back to the beach but by this time the tide is coming in and the waves are big. She loves being held by us as they crash into us and splash. She squeals with delight and can hardly wait for the next big wave. “Watch out! It’s coming!” She has learned to say.
One of the best parts of the holiday was meeting the other guests. We met some volunteers from Holland who were working in Tamale in a hospital there. We also met a UN worker who works in Nepal relocating refugees. She was preparing for her wedding here in Ghana. Our next door neighbours were a German couple – she is a kindergarten teacher in a school held in the forest (outdoors all year long) and he is an undercover policeman.
We were joined one morning by some small African boys who wanted their picture taken and also to play with Ama’s soccer ball. Innocent enough and since they were small we were happy to oblige. However, the soccer ball disappeared and despite a good effort by our hosts to retrieve it, the ball apparently met with a “needle” and deflated. That’s the story anyway. Lesson learned-don’t let the toys go out of sight!
One day while reading outside our room, some 12-14 yr old boys were harvesting coconuts. They scale the 30 to 40 ft trees with no effort and no safety anything and knock the coconuts out of the trees. Later they try to sell them to us at 1GHC a piece, not bad!
We had planned on the canopy walk but the 2 hr drive and questionable safety of the bridge was a big deterrent for grandma so we declined in favour of another beach day. Monday was our departure day and we stopped to see the Cape Coast Castle which was one of the famous spots where slaves were held and then shipped around the world. It is a shocking place – it is estimated that over 2M Africans were rounded up and shipped. Many did not even survive the castle let alone the voyage to whatever country was receiving them. It was a sobering tour.
We are now back in Accra and tomorrow Karen is off to work and I am off to nursery school with Ama. My big job will be to take the laundry down for the staff to wash – I must admit that handing it over to someone and getting it back folded and mostly clean is a pretty good service for less than $5 per week for the 3 of us. Also on tap for this week is some shopping and preparing for my Saturday departure – cannot believe my month is nearly over but of course there is no place like home so I am also looking forward to my return.
The pictures above are of the Cape Coast Castle. The "door of no return" is where the slaves were brought out to the ship. There is now a sign on the other side of the door that says "door of return." This was put on after descendants from the slave trade came back to visit the castle where their ancestors were shipped.
Just outside this door is a bustling area with tons of fishing boats. Very interesting.
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