A day or two at the beach...

Let me start by apologizing for my absence.

I’m sorry – I have been internet-free for a week now. Trust me, it has gotten to me more than it has to you.

Regardless, I want to share some updates from Ghana and show some pictures from my relaxing weekend at Kokrobite Beach and Big Milly.

Last week Friday, Aimee, Kat (2 other volunteers) and I made the journey out of big, sweaty Accra and headed west to the nearest beach town, Kokrobite

(pronounced KO-CROW-BEE-TAY). We had this GREAT idea to escape traffic by leaving the city a few hours early… We are so smart.

Well traffic is pretty steady in Accra… it took be half an hour on the side of a dusty road under construction to find a tro tro headed to Circle to meet the girls. When I finally got to Circle, the girls let me know that they were stuck in traffic and I should just hang out and wait for them.

Great.

(Note sarcasm!)

So, here I am with my backpack on, exhausted, and standing on the side of the road AGAIN for 40 minutes. At least I had a distraction…

I seemed to make the day of 2 boys (about 13-14) who were working/selling stuff/hanging out across the overpass from me. They kept waving at me. And I kept laughing. They were really funny…. At least until they started taking about a hundred pictures of me on their cell phones.

That was just hilarious.

Boys dodging through traffic to take pictures of the sweaty, lost solo-Obruni to be found.  So I laughed, and smiled at them and waited some more.

Finally, they worked up the nerve to send over a younger boy in a school uniform with a note. On it was their phone number – and I was supposed to write my number down for them to call me.

I almost choked – these boys have nerve! I am clearly not 13.

So, I wrote them back a note… didn’t give out my number, of course… and finally caught up with Kat and Aimee.

After a series of dodging through small alleys and markets, over an overpass, an one packed short bus ride between tro tro stations – to which we heard the very interesting Sales Pitch of a man selling some sort of miracle pills…. To the tune of “Blah blah blah (in Twi) hemmoroids…. Blah blah blah diarrhoea…. Blah blah Blah 2 Ghana cedis for 20 tablets… Blah blah blah constipation…” and carried on for about 15 minutes.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, this man was selling 20 pills of some miracle drug on the bus for the equivalent of $1.50. And people were buying… how one pill can cure constipation, diarrhoea, hemorrhoids and an exhaustive list of other ailments… I do not know.

Finally, we made it to the right place to head out of the city.

Sigh of relief, right? Not so fast. The line had 75 people in it. So we waited amidst the car exhaust (diesel) and plastic bags blowing against our ankles in the wind until we were next to board the large tro tro to Kokrobite.

Finally we pile in and for 1 Ghana cedi (about $0.75) we start the 1.5 hour journey west.

It’s hot. We are taking back alleys to dodge traffic when possible. And we are crammed like sardines into a vehicle that probably was taken off the roads in some US city in the 70s.

Nevertheless, this is Africa and we are at least making our way out of town.

About an hour or two into our journey, our tro tro decides to pass the one moving slowly ahead of us. It should have been simple, but as the side of our tro tro smashes along the side of the smaller tro tro to our right… Kat nearly loses her arm that could have very well be out of the window. The painful screeching sound of metal-on-metal is followed closely by a popping and hissing as our tro tro grinds to a halt on the side of the road.

It’s now dark.

We pile out of the vehicle. We are ok, but clueless as to where exactly we are.

Across the street was a hotel. Suggesting we find out where we were… and eager to get away from a vehicle that may or may not explode… we headed over and befriended the security guard into calling us a taxi to our hotel.

As the tro tro we hit pulls up and a shouting match begins, I am not getting back into that tro tro.

Once the taxi arrives, we pay a few dollars and get door to door service.

Yay – we have made it to Big Milly. An infamous beach/Rasta hang out just in time for a West African dance troupe (see Cirque Du Soleil acrobats) cultural show. Dinner service was over, but they found us some fries and salad and we chowed down.

A few bottles of Star (local Ghanaian beer), some chatting with everyone around, we finally try to head to bed around 2am. Exhausted. But wait… we asked (and reconfirmed!!!) for 3 dorm beds and there are only 2? Ok, so in 30 degree C weather… Kat and I will share. Great.

Up again at 6… a walk on the beach shows it all to be worth it. The waves are big, the fishing boats are coming in… and boys are playing football (soccer) on the beach. A couple of the local dogs decide to keep us company, even though one’s limp is so bad she hobbles along on 3 feet.

We walk and walk. Enjoying the salty air and cool breeze before the sun comes up and the beach gets busy.

Which it does.

From fishermen bringing in the catch of the day – which you can buy and have cleaned for you on the spot – to curious children scampering about -  to other tourists/volunteers baking in the sun, to women selling beautiful printed simple beach dresses, to Rasta guys chilling, and even a Liberian refugee selling bags to support a school in the nearby refugee camp.

I lay out. Eat Eggplant Parm – Ghana style… spicy.

And enjoy the day…. And then Saturday night is Reggae night.

People start filing in from Accra, we eat pizza and chocolate cake from an authentic Italian restaurant… and chill in the open-air music venue to live Reggae.

It’s a chill environment. We meet friends who work mostly at Embassies in Accra – including American, Brazilian, etc – and other volunteers. We laugh. Joke about Ghana’s love for Celine Dion…. (weird, right? I thought it was only Beth Campbell!) and dance until the early morning.

Up again early and able to capture some great shots of the beach first thing in the morning.

Of course, followed by another day of good sun, good food, and good company.

Beach pictures will follow. I promise. I haven't used my camera nearly as much as I should be. But will upload as soon as possible. I promise, Dad. :)