15th - On the road again

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The girls were heading east back to Accra and then the east coast and I was
going back to Cape Coast to see the rainforest so our paths we together for a
while. They dropped their bags of at my room to wake me up and pack while
they hiked over to see the castle. They didn't get robbed either, stupid
guidebook! I got my shit together, paid for my room and when they got back
went and got a taxi. Nana was very sad to see us go, but I promised I'd see
him again as I decided Busua would be a great place to see the eclipse in 2
weeks time. Even if it was cloudy you can't beat a nice beach, and surely it
would be heaving with pretty tourists then!
We got a taxi to the junction and then onto Takoradi, my treat. Our taxi
driver asked some 'peacekeeper' guard bloke where the ATM was at the market
and he jumped in the cab with us only to drive nearly full circe around the
circular market to the bank. If we had looked behind us when he got in we
would have seen it. Just another example of the craziness of Ghana. I think
he just wanted a ride with some white girls.
The big bus to Accra was full so we went and waited in a A/C minibus up the
road from the station. The customers were getting a bit irate as the
scheduled departure time had come and gone, they were sitting in the bus with
virtually no ventilation and of course no one would waste money turning the
engine and A/C on for the benefit of the customers. We were told it would
leave right away and sat there for 45 minutes. Not that we expected it to
leave but why lie? I even had to jump out to shout Tua because we were
leaving 'now' and she had to come running up only to sit there for another 10
minutes. Hey ho, welcome to Africa. At least there were no goats on the bus!
We set off and an hour and a half later I was in Cape Coast saying goodbye to
the girls. I nearly went all the way to Accra because the stupid driver
forgot I wasn't going all the way. I had realised that St Patrick's Day was
imminent and it would be a good idea to spend it in an Irish bar, so I would
be back in the capital in 2 days if they were still there. Pretty stupid to
backtrack so much but plans are for the boring people, not disorganised free
spirits like myself.
I checked into Sammos guesthouse which was ok and went for a walk around
town. The power adapter I was using to charge my mp3 player, PSP and backup
hard drive decided to break when I was there so I faced an uncertain future
with no technological barriers to the local population. I might be forced
into being sociable. The waitress in the restaurant was socialable enough,
seems they all like single men and can't understand why we're not married.
Seems like love and finding the right person doesn't really enter into it.
I had a good walk around town, found a ATM to restock the funds, spent 10
minutes in an internet cafe staring at the screen, not the fastest place in
the world to browse the information superhighway. I also visited about 15
shops looking for a power adapter, they all had the same crappy low current
ones which might work on my mp3 player but nothing else. Anna and Tua had
recommended 'Joyce's lover spot' as the place to go. It was great if you like
distorted African music blasting right into your ears 1 meter away. Took a
long time to drink that beer and I had the usual conversation with some guy
who asked for my phone number. Ghanaians love to do this too, email, address,
phone number, they want your details. Not to necessarily get in touch with
you, but as proof that they talked to a foreigner. Although I fully expect a
stream of people I fleetingly met turning up at my door in the near future. I
gave him a fake number.

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