BECA Travels: Off to Accra
Off to Accra
After the slave castle, the Ko-Sa Beach Resort was a stark and welcome contrast. Several of the students joined a dance class taught by a man who regularly teaches African dance at the resort. They learned a complicated dance from Gambia and had a real work-out. The next morning, rather than leave immediately for Accra, we opted to stay until 2:00 PM in our paradise by the sea. That meant more swimming, sunning, walking, buying beads from Cedi, eating and drinking. A great way to end our stay in Ghana!
I realize I forgot to mention the black, volcanic rock that juts out from the near-white sand along the beach. I asked if Ghana had a volcanic history, but no one I talked to seemed to know. Regardless, the black rock, pockmarked by holes where fossils or rocks used to be, added interest to the sandy shore. We all suffered from bites, mostly by our ankles, that I suspect came from sand fleas. A nuisance - and itchy - but at least they weren't mosquito bites!
Next to the resort was the area where the villagers kept their fishing boats, departing in the evening and returning in the early morning, on their daily fishing expeditions. We saw - and heard - them leave and return a couple of times - quite a hullabaloo! Tuesday, the day we left, was their day off - a day to mend nets and rest.
Leaving at 2:00 PM allowed us to arrive in Accra before dark, always the goal of any driving trip in Ghana. Again, we loaded the luggage into a "tro-tro" and squeezed ourselves in around it. The scenery was fascinating and the traffic was horrendous. I can't remember if I've mentioned the number of uncompleted buildings we've seen all over Ghana. It appears that people build buildings - of any size or number of stories - through the cinder block state, and then abruptly stop. And that's the way the buildings stay, without roofs and unused, looking like skeletons on the landscape. I asked about it, and Eric said that the change in the value of the cedi (the currency) has meant that builders planned their construction and acquired loans, and then the value of the cedi went down, such that they no longer had enough money to finish the project. Eric mentioned, in particular, the cost of cement, which has skyrocketed.
At dusk, we arrived back at the guest house in Accra where our stay in Ghana began. After dinner, the students went to a club on the roof of a nearby hotel to mark their last night in Ghana.
After the slave castle, the Ko-Sa Beach Resort was a stark and welcome contrast. Several of the students joined a dance class taught by a man who regularly teaches African dance at the resort. They learned a complicated dance from Gambia and had a real work-out. The next morning, rather than leave immediately for Accra, we opted to stay until 2:00 PM in our paradise by the sea. That meant more swimming, sunning, walking, buying beads from Cedi, eating and drinking. A great way to end our stay in Ghana!
I realize I forgot to mention the black, volcanic rock that juts out from the near-white sand along the beach. I asked if Ghana had a volcanic history, but no one I talked to seemed to know. Regardless, the black rock, pockmarked by holes where fossils or rocks used to be, added interest to the sandy shore. We all suffered from bites, mostly by our ankles, that I suspect came from sand fleas. A nuisance - and itchy - but at least they weren't mosquito bites!
Next to the resort was the area where the villagers kept their fishing boats, departing in the evening and returning in the early morning, on their daily fishing expeditions. We saw - and heard - them leave and return a couple of times - quite a hullabaloo! Tuesday, the day we left, was their day off - a day to mend nets and rest.
Leaving at 2:00 PM allowed us to arrive in Accra before dark, always the goal of any driving trip in Ghana. Again, we loaded the luggage into a "tro-tro" and squeezed ourselves in around it. The scenery was fascinating and the traffic was horrendous. I can't remember if I've mentioned the number of uncompleted buildings we've seen all over Ghana. It appears that people build buildings - of any size or number of stories - through the cinder block state, and then abruptly stop. And that's the way the buildings stay, without roofs and unused, looking like skeletons on the landscape. I asked about it, and Eric said that the change in the value of the cedi (the currency) has meant that builders planned their construction and acquired loans, and then the value of the cedi went down, such that they no longer had enough money to finish the project. Eric mentioned, in particular, the cost of cement, which has skyrocketed.
At dusk, we arrived back at the guest house in Accra where our stay in Ghana began. After dinner, the students went to a club on the roof of a nearby hotel to mark their last night in Ghana.
posted by Betsy J. Blosser at
7/01/2012 04:26:00 PM
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