Weekend in Busua

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11/14/2010
Hello everyone! I have just returned from an amazing weekend in the Western Region of Ghana. I played almost the entire weekend at the beach so I am feeling a little sunburned on my shoulders and a bit tired from the long day of traveling. I spent last week studying hard for my first final exam in my Ghanaian society, government, and politics class so I felt a relaxing weekend trip out of Accra was much deserved and necessary.
I left early Friday morning with my two friends Naima and Ric and we caught a cab to Tema station where we then boarded a bus that would take us to Takoradi. (A side note about these buses is that although they are quite comfortable and have air conditioning, they always play these horrible Ghanaian movies with the volume on full blast so it is usually difficult to sleep or have a conversation with your neighbor.) Nevertheless we endured being screamed at by the television in Twi and made it safely to Takoradi, which is the main city of the western region, and then had to take a short cab ride to a little village called Busua. Busua is surrounded by a beautiful ecologically protected rainforest so there is vegetation everywhere and the land is so green. Right as we got out of the cab, a man came running up to us, introduced himself as Nana, and told us his restaurant was mentioned in the Guide to Ghana book that Naima was holding. Nana showed us around the village and pointed us towards some hostels where we could spend the night. He then took us to his small chop bar and asked if he could make us fresh fish for dinner that night. He was such a nice tour guide that we agreed and then went to check out the beach until dinner was ready.
The beach at Busua was very clean and you could watch the locals out on their small fishing boats. We walked up and down the beach, talking with some of the local children and taking in the amazing scenery. It was soon time for us to go back to Nana’s for dinner and we found out we would be having hammerhead shark with coconut rice. The shark was just caught that afternoon so it was very fresh; the texture was unlike anything I had ever experienced before so that was a little strange, but the taste and smell was fine. After dinner we went back down to the beach to watch the lightning storm that was lighting up the whole sky and ran into some local Ghanaians having a bonfire. We sat down with them for a bit, watching the storm come closer and listening to Ric play the djembe. It started to get really windy so we decided we better get back to our hostel before the rain came. We went to bed that night listening to the pouring rain and with the lightning lighting up the room every ten seconds. I slept like a baby!
The next morning we woke up early and Naima suggested we go visit “Daniel the Pancake Man” for breakfast because she had read about him and his famous pancakes in her guidebook. Daniel’s place was easy to find as the whole village consisted of just two small roads. When we arrived Daniel told us that he had just run out of materials and his son was going to the market to buy more and wouldn’t be back until the afternoon. We promised we would come back tomorrow and then went off to find another place. A man approached us and said he knew where we could get a great breakfast and fresh fruit juice. He took us to a little shack where a tiny kitchen was set up and we ordered banana pancakes and scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes. The man making the pancakes didn’t speak English very well but just kept nodding and saying yes so we thought he understood what we wanted. We were very wrong though…. the man brought us pancakes that had onions, bananas, tomatoes, and eggs mixed into the batter. They were very undercooked and tasted horrible! We tried to explain to him that we wanted the eggs and pancakes separate but he didn’t quite understand. So we each chocked down a few bites to be polite and went disappointed and hungry to the beach.
We spent the entire morning and afternoon playing in the waves, boogie boarding, and sunbathing. The water was warm and a beautiful clear blue color and the waves were just big enough to be exciting but not hurt you if you got knocked down. For lunch we had these huge burritos at a restaurant on the beach, which were delicious and the first Mexican food I have had since I’ve been here. There were two young guys that worked at the local surf shop that told us of a reggae concert that was going on at Cape Three Points that night and invited us along. There were several volunteers that lived in the village going along including a guy from Connecticut who told me he had skied Schweitzer Mountain before when I told him I was from Sandpoint Idaho. Small world eh?
Cape Three Points is about 45 minutes west of Busua and the southern most point of Ghana. The drive takes you through some interesting scenery and past several rubber tree plantations. When we arrived, we went up to the lighthouse in hopes of catching the sunset from the top. The views from the lighthouse were gorgeous, I took lots of pictures but it doesn’t look as good on camera. The beach at Cape Three Points was even more gorgeous than the one in Busua and the sand was so soft it felt like sugar. The concert that night was ok. They had a bar set up and everyone was dancing but they had the speakers turned up too loud so the sound was a little staticky and wasn’t great. I had fun anyways. We drove back to Busua that night and stayed another night in the pink hostel.
The next morning we were hoping to take a boat out to the little island you can see from the beach but we woke up to rain so we decided we would just have breakfast then head home since it does take about five hours to get back. We went to Daniel’s for breakfast and saw his interesting pancake menu. There were all kinds of fruit pancakes along with some fish and lobster pancakes. We decided we didn’t want to take any culinary risks and each ordered banana-chocolate pancakes. They were delicious! We then headed back to Takoradi and caught a bus back to Accra. The trip was really fun and eventful ☺.
This week I have two more final exams and then hopefully another trip this weekend to the Volta Region to visit the places I missed last time. I only have four weekends left before I go back home so I’m trying to cram in my last sightseeing adventures. I love Ghana and have had great experiences here but am about ready to go home to the Great Northwest. I can’t wait to see my family and friends again, watch college basketball, and eat home-cooked meals. Only one month left though! For now I’ll appreciate the warm weather and continue to enjoy the company of my new friends from all over the world.

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