African Upgrade

After finalizing our trip to Libya, we headed off for Cape Coast. Our plan was to catch a bus for the 140km drive. The taxi that we hopped in at our hotel offered to drive us to Cape Coast for 50 Cedi which is about C$50. The bus would have cost us about $10, so we really didn't want to take the taxi. We countered his offer at 25 Cedi. He didn't budge. Then we realized we wouldn't have to wait around for the bus to leave, nor hang out on a bus for 2.5 hours - we decided an offer of 40 Cedi would be good. He agreed. I even took the money out of my pocket to confirm that we agreed on the right price. Ghana dropped 4 zeros from their money in July so it can be a bit confusing when talking prices. As well the English here is much worse than the French spoken in the other countries we have visited - we were much better off with Kim's French than the Ghanian's English! Once we arrived at our hotel in Cape Coast the taxi driver wanted another 5 Cedi from us - to help with petrol. After a few minutes of discussion about him giving us 5 Cedi to help pay for our dinner he realized he wasn't getting anything more from us and left. Kim and I are catching on to the whole African way of life!!

We visited Cape Coast Castle - which was the largest slave trading post in West Africa. It was controlled by the British for the last several decades before Independence. It was a thought provoking place to visit - especially when visiting the holding cells. There is also a great example of hypocrisy at the Castle - directly above the men's holding cells the first Anglican Church in Ghana was built. Disgusting.

To reflect - we went to a close by restaurant situated on the beach and ordered dinner. Service here wasn't swift - which suited us fine.

This morning we went to the Kakum National Park and experienced a walk in the tree top canopy of the rain forest. It was a very interesting to walk in a rain forest on rope bridges among the tree tops - as high as 40m off the ground. We even saw some monkeys!

We just received good news from the Libyan visa people - they are going to be at the airport to meet us and we think there is a flight for us to head to Benghazi on Sunday night - so the Jack and Jill party that Mike and Mel are hosting for us is on - book your tickets now!!

We are back to Accra tomorrow - just another afternoon of relaxing in the heat for us today!

g&k