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Published: February 11th 2010
Coconut Grove
The start of my dayOur day started in luxury (I’m sorry Barry. I know you told me that the Irish need misery but there was none at this point). We had a lovely breakfast in an open air restaurant with a morning breeze coming off the warm Atlantic Ocean. We took advantage of the time to rest, relax, catch up on a bit of reading and tour the grounds of the compound. I came across the band’s gear (from the night before) and was happy to see that they use the same (exactly) kind of equipment that our “Greenwood Band” uses when we play.
Next, Barry arranged for a driver to take us to Elmina and our next hotel (the Elmina Bridge House) which is directly across the water from the Elmina Slave Castle we wished to visit in the afternoon. We had a light lunch before we walked over the bridge to the grounds of the castle. The guided tours happen hourly so we were able to be part of a multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic group of tourists. At one point the guide had us all enter a cell that was used to punish soldiers if they were found to be drunk and/or disorderly
Band Gear...
Pretty close to what we have or if they broke other rules. He mentioned the good light and ventilation. He then had us enter the cell on the other side of the wall which was for punishing the “would be” slaves for any number of small things and to break the spirits of the other slaves. Those who entered this cell did not come out alive, ever. The guide told us he would let us out soon, because he was a nice guy! There was no light and virtually no ventilation. The group was beginning to get a bit nervous before we were released from our “prison”. The guide had made his point. We continued the tour ending at the infamous “Door of No Return”. The slaves who survived to this point were passed through this very narrow door, down the ramp to the waiting ships that would take them on a long, perilous sea journey to the work, misery and possible death awaiting them in the “New World”. It was a very moving and thought provoking experience.
Going back over the bridge to continue our tour of the city, we saw a vast number of fishing boats. Elmina is a fishing community and a very
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Exiting the dungeion alive... busy one at that! We walked for a very long time saying “hello” to the many people we passed, making sure we were as far to the side of the road as we could be when the many taxis rushed past! We were attracted to the beach and ocean when we saw some children swimming in the waves. We took off our sandals and walked along the edge until it was time to turn around and head back to our hotel.
Because Elmina is a fishing community, we asked the cook what she would suggest for our evening meal. She said the lobster was very good so we took her advice and that is what we had. I’m not sure if it was 3 or 4 lobster tails broken in half on a bed of jolof (Ghanaian) rice. It was wonderful and a good way to end our busy day.
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