Advertisement
Published: February 23rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hey all,
Another update - first weekend away from Accra... the first of many!
Weekend of the 7/8th February 2009:
Did very little on Saturday morning... tried to lie in... but this new body clock that I have means that I don't get a lie in much beyond 7am!
Packed a little rucksack and set off with the girls after lunch towards Circle. We were due to meet another 6 girls there to travel to the beach for the weekend. Well, the other girls are also running on 'Ghana time' and were running a bit later than planned, which left us standing in the central reservation, surrounded by smog, dirt, dust and grimy market sellers who wanted to sell us jeans 3 sizes too big... even for my bum!
Ooooooo... but we did get a 'fan ice'... this is a first (but certainly not the last) for me. OMG... they're the best things to come out of Ghana... like a creamy melted ice cream that you, once again, rip the corner off and eat out of the plastic bag... amazing :o) and a good source, if not the only source, of calcium.
Finally, all present
and correct, piled into a trotro heading West. It was quite an expensive trotro journey... over 50peswas (!)... but it was worth it for an hour and a half... although, if you'd paid me a million pounds, I'd have to think twice before jumping back into the sweaty, smelly, sticky back-seat of that trotro again...(normally, the back-seat is the best spot on the bus for all the 'cool' kids... not in Ghana, it's the last place you want to get stuck, especially if you're on a big trotro and have to disturb about 8 people trying to squeeze out and past the little foldy up chairs that will always give you a bruise in the same place... grrrr)
Had to take a couple of share taxis down to the actual beach resort area, down a very bumpy, dirty, dusty road, in a taxi that was blarring out music which even my granddad would have been able to hear!
Arrived at 'Big Milly's back yard' … a lovely beach-side backpacker's haven. Checked into a couple of rooms and hit the beach within 15 minutes! Took a wander along the beach all together,... but a couple of hundred meters down
the way, a local guy told us to turn around and go back, it really wasn't safe for us to continue... he was totally serious... sadly, there are a lot of robberies on the beach, at all times of the day, and unfortunately a couple of the girls hadn't taken the advice that we were continually getting throughout the day and into the evening, resulting in them losing their bags, purses, cameras etc to some very lucky thieving Ghanaian.
Started our evening with a drink at about 5.30pm... and sat around watching the sunset. As we only had one bathroom between millions of us... I thought it would be wise to jump in first, not wanting to wait until after dinner, or for the water in the tank to run out or run cold! I've done this too many times, I've now learnt from previous mistakes ;o)
We continued to enjoy our pre-dinner drinks... however, you're never allowed 5 minutes of peace in this Country; there's always a local wanting to talk to you/know where you're from/ask for your hand in marriage...
Had THE BEST dinner EVER on Saturday night... beef fillet strips, vegetables, rice, potato wedges
and a very Very VERY spicy sauce - yummmy :o)
At about 8pm, after dinner, the live band struck up, and were playing well beyond midnight! They were amazing, and at some points I forgot that they were actually live! Had a great night; drinking, dancing and mixing with the many locals and volunteers from all around the world... a good time had by all :o)
Made even better by the fact that a large bottle of beer or v.large rum and coke cost all of about £1... Which all goes on your 'tab'... they don't like you to carry money around, so rely on you being honest (and not completely smashed) to sign off everything that you order at the bar... I was expecting a HUGE bill in the morning... but food, accommodation, drink all in for the weekend cost me less than £15 - Brilliant and quite honestly, amazing!
Much later on into the evening, just after a couple of the girls had fallen foul to the local gang,... I got chatting to a local guy called Bobo (no joke... he actually wrote it down for me, after I'd stopped laughing at him!) he was
a wannabe Rasta, and a bit of a little man :o) We had a very deep conversation about etiquette and the differences between my culture and his culture, he was very conscious about how to approach and treat a 'white' girl, and I told him how not to invade personal space or treat them like a piece of meat - this followed another incident where one of the girls had inadvertently rejected some persistent local, who then got in a right huff about it... Bobo and I spent a lot of the evening talking about how to respect each other's cultures and I learnt a lot... but then he called me his 'guardian angel' and told me that I was sent by God to lead him in life... bless...he went on to proclaim that he loved me... oh dear, that Rasta lifestyle you lead really has now gone to your head!!! I thanked him graciously, then duly gave him the lesson on what not to say upon just meeting someone that you hardly know... In fairness, he apologized and asked if we could maybe be like brother and sister then (I didn't quite know how to explain that if he
spoke to my brother, he wouldn't want that kind of relationship with me!) What he was really trying to say was, it was as if we were the same and had the same backgrounds - it was a mark of respect. However, he still maintained that I was his angel... bless.
It started raining at about 3am... which was an amazingly refreshing feeling :o)
Woke after only about 2 hours sleep on Sunday. Snoozed until it was too hot and the temptation of breakfast was too much! Had a banana pancake :o) After breakfast, checked out and settled my bill... accommodation, food, drinks etc, all in... 'bout £15! Woohoo!
Spent the day on the beach and looking around the little craft stalls selling locally made bits and bobs. When we were in one little shop a small boy, must have only been about 4 years old, came in and started talking very matter-of-factly with the older man who ran the shop. He was asking for something, what... couldn't make out... the older man was telling him that he wasn't going to buy it because he had lost the last one he'd bought him... the little boy
persisted in his very mature manner and formed some very well reasoned arguments, and had me sold that he was going to look after this thing?! It all became clear when we went back to the beach and saw him bartering with a guy selling inflatable rings and balls to play with... the little boy was sooooo adorable, if I'd had any more change, I'd have bought it for him myself, not caring if he was going to lose it again tomorrow...
The beach is full of some crazy people... a wacko American lady came to where we were sat on the beach and started showing us some jewellery that she had made out of shells and beads... very pretty bits but she was CRAZY... still, maybe not so crazy as she had persuaded me to buy 2 pairs for 1 cedi each (bout 50p).
Had a bucket shower before packing up and leaving... taking a line taxi back to the main road. I shared the front seat (of a family saloon) with 2 young girls, one of whom kept dozing off and banging her head on the dashboard, creating great amusement for her sister who had hold
of her, and was hogging most of the seat even tho her bum wasn't even the size of one of my 'cheeks'!!!
Made our first trotro mistake,... got on one going... well,... not in the direction that we wanted to go in! So had to get off a couple of stops down and wait for another one.... grrrr.
Arrived back on Sunday afternoon about 5pm - just in time for tea!
Have attached some pictures of Kokrobite beach, enjoy :o)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.182s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 51; dbt: 0.1354s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Big Little Bro
non-member comment
That sauce must have been spicy. as soon as I read it my heart burn kicked in :s And what do you mean he wouldn't want to be your brother :( you big meenie XD