We were exhausted when we finally arrived in Accra, Ghana. So when the airport official who was checking our bags asked, "Where's my New Year's tip?" I just laughed, and she waived us through. Sometimes ignorance and laughter is a good combination for a bad situation....
We checked into a nice Oceanfront Lodge at a good price, however, the beach was not safe at night, garbage and raw sewage were dumped along the shore line. It could only be appreciated as a distant view from our room's window.
The weather was very hot and humid. The sky filled with smoke from burning heaps of garbage. In the streets, people put everything on their head and walked up and down in the traffic selling everything from water to fire extinguishers. They apparently do well because everyone is stuck in traffic most of the time.
We spent most of our time acquiring VISA's for Togo & Benin. It was an all day process for each country that involved filling out forms in triplicate, without the help of carbon paper or copy machines. They also made you pay in the currency of the country you wanted to visit even though you didn't have access to the currency until you arrived in the country. But not to worry for a nominal fee they gave us a crappy exchange rate in order to help us acquire the VISA.
After we successfully obtained VISA's for Togo and Benin, we realized that each country was taking more space in our passports that we thought. We were fast running out of room and wouldn't be able to make it around the world without more pages in our passports. We took a taxi to the US Embassy for more Passport pages only to find out that they closed at noon on Fridays, it was 1 pm or 13 o'clock as the rest of the world sees it. We would have to get them in another country.
We had one day to sight see before we collected Stacie from the airport and headed for Togo. We decided to go and see Kakun National Park which boasted of a Treetop walk in the jungle with a chance to see monkeys and tropical birds. We paid a taxi a flat day rate to drive us there and also to the Cape Coast Castle on the way back.
It was great to get out of the city and see the country side, but the smoke still filled the air from field burning. I saw vegetable stands and many other people selling things along the road sides. Then I saw something I couldn't identify. I asked the driver who told be it was Bush-rat and they sold it fresh or flat! Flat was a smoked version stretched over sticks with head, tail and feet still attached. I asked him if he ate it. He said it was quite good. I inquired if it tasted like chicken. To which he replied, "It is sweeter and much better than chicken."
The Treetop walk turned out to be aluminum ladders suspended from tree to tree with ropes for hand railing. It was precarious at best and bounced and swayed with each step. Out of a group of about 15 people only one turned back. I'm glad to say that it wasn't me. We didn't see any monkeys or birds, most likely because we were concentrating hanging on for dear life. When we were at the farthest point out and just the two of us were standing on a tree platform of patched plywood, I let out my monkey call, one I learned as a child by watching a chimpanzee on TV. A group of people the next tree over got very excited and started making the best monkey sounds they could muster. Jungles bring out the best in people.
The Cape Coast Castle sat on a rocky cliff with a beautiful view of fishing boats and a small village. The peaceful scene did not reflect the gruesome history of the slave trade that once darkened its shores.
The trip took much longer than we had anticipated and the driver was quite worried as we drove back in the dark. He told us the highway was very dangerous at night because of the bad drivers. He was right, but thanks to his good driving skills we made it OK. When we hit Accra the worst traffic jam since Toronto, Canada welcomed us. We sat for two more hours inching along while listening to the most obnoxious radio station that ever aired. It wouldn't have made it five minutes in the states.
Early the next morning we collected Stacie from the airport and took a taxi to the boarder....
We checked into a nice Oceanfront Lodge at a good price, however, the beach was not safe at night, garbage and raw sewage were dumped along the shore line. It could only be appreciated as a distant view from our room's window.
The weather was very hot and humid. The sky filled with smoke from burning heaps of garbage. In the streets, people put everything on their head and walked up and down in the traffic selling everything from water to fire extinguishers. They apparently do well because everyone is stuck in traffic most of the time.
We spent most of our time acquiring VISA's for Togo & Benin. It was an all day process for each country that involved filling out forms in triplicate, without the help of carbon paper or copy machines. They also made you pay in the currency of the country you wanted to visit even though you didn't have access to the currency until you arrived in the country. But not to worry for a nominal fee they gave us a crappy exchange rate in order to help us acquire the VISA.
After we successfully obtained VISA's for Togo and Benin, we realized that each country was taking more space in our passports that we thought. We were fast running out of room and wouldn't be able to make it around the world without more pages in our passports. We took a taxi to the US Embassy for more Passport pages only to find out that they closed at noon on Fridays, it was 1 pm or 13 o'clock as the rest of the world sees it. We would have to get them in another country.
We had one day to sight see before we collected Stacie from the airport and headed for Togo. We decided to go and see Kakun National Park which boasted of a Treetop walk in the jungle with a chance to see monkeys and tropical birds. We paid a taxi a flat day rate to drive us there and also to the Cape Coast Castle on the way back.
It was great to get out of the city and see the country side, but the smoke still filled the air from field burning. I saw vegetable stands and many other people selling things along the road sides. Then I saw something I couldn't identify. I asked the driver who told be it was Bush-rat and they sold it fresh or flat! Flat was a smoked version stretched over sticks with head, tail and feet still attached. I asked him if he ate it. He said it was quite good. I inquired if it tasted like chicken. To which he replied, "It is sweeter and much better than chicken."
The Treetop walk turned out to be aluminum ladders suspended from tree to tree with ropes for hand railing. It was precarious at best and bounced and swayed with each step. Out of a group of about 15 people only one turned back. I'm glad to say that it wasn't me. We didn't see any monkeys or birds, most likely because we were concentrating hanging on for dear life. When we were at the farthest point out and just the two of us were standing on a tree platform of patched plywood, I let out my monkey call, one I learned as a child by watching a chimpanzee on TV. A group of people the next tree over got very excited and started making the best monkey sounds they could muster. Jungles bring out the best in people.
The Cape Coast Castle sat on a rocky cliff with a beautiful view of fishing boats and a small village. The peaceful scene did not reflect the gruesome history of the slave trade that once darkened its shores.
The trip took much longer than we had anticipated and the driver was quite worried as we drove back in the dark. He told us the highway was very dangerous at night because of the bad drivers. He was right, but thanks to his good driving skills we made it OK. When we hit Accra the worst traffic jam since Toronto, Canada welcomed us. We sat for two more hours inching along while listening to the most obnoxious radio station that ever aired. It wouldn't have made it five minutes in the states.
Early the next morning we collected Stacie from the airport and took a taxi to the boarder....
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