Blogs from Central, Ghana, Africa - page 7

I know this is a little late... but oh well - I have the internet in Africa to blame! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful time this holiday season. I miss you all. But I will be seeing you in the near future at the end of February when I return. Since my internet time is short - I am not planning on updating on my coastal adventures (which included a lot of fruity drinks and lying on the beach...) until later. Till then...... read more

Riding Day 5 - 132km (total 525km) Since we decided to cycle to Cape Coast in two days we had to decide where to stop for the night. This was the one stop on our tour where I wasn't confident that we would find accommodations or even good food. There were four major towns along the 230km route, but we didn't have much more than that. For a change, we got off to a quick start. I guess part of the problem over the first days was one of conditioning. I'm just not sure how to sufficiently train for cycling fully-loaded with 30kg of bags in tropical heat and humidity. Anyways, we had 40km finished without a break. The ride out of Kumasi was much easier than the ride in on Saturday. Part of that was ... read more

Greetings after several busy and move-about days. TUES: City of Kumasi, Capital of the Ashanti Region We visited Manhyiah Plalace, seat of the Ashanti Kingdom and the Kumasi Cultural lCentre. Our group heard a lot of tradition and history. In the Ashanti Region,l the Royal family bloodline is traced through the maternal uncle line. In the Akan speaking areas women are very powerful. The current Ashanti King: Osei Tutu II took office in 1999 and sits at the Rooyal Palace and settles disputed of residents over land or other matters, Monday through Thursday. After leaving the Palace, we visited the Bonwire Kente Weaving Village. We met 4 young weavers at their looms in a small modest building. Some of the Kente patterns were explained. We purchased an asstm. of Kente and Kente products. Richard, custom bracelet ... read more

I'm back. I went to Cape Coast for the weekend with Michael, Eddie, Katie and Maya, so I couldn't access the internet. We took a metro bus from Kumasi, which was four hours of bumpy and extremely sweaty travel. The Metro is a coach with leather seats and they cram as much people as they can into one. It’s very packed and there’s no leg room at all. I was stuck between a big man called Issac and Eddie who was sweating a lot. You get on a first come first serve basis so you've got to battle to get a place. The conductor said a prayer before we set out. The coach was surrounded by people selling things through the windows. We got to Sammo's guesthouse in Cape Coast around six in the evening; better ... read more

This internet is very unreliable and frustrating, but I must be thankful for what little I do have. That being said, I shall give a recap of what I've been up to the past few days. Last week all of my classes met but one. I was supposed to go to the orphanage but in true Ghanaian form, those plans did not happen. We are still in rainy season here so that has been interesting. We have massive downpours for hours and hours. I put my bucket outside so I could collect the water, it filled up fast. I have not had to use my bucket yet, but the water we're getting now is brown when it comes out of the faucet... so maybe I should use the rain water. We left Legon for Kakum National ... read more