A Touristy Weekend

This weekend the group and I decided to see some of the popular tourist attractions that are near Kakumdo. I have realized how much I really hate touristy stuff. It is so much more pleasant and more authentic to be and live amongst the locals than to be shuffling around in a group of foreign look-a-loos and their annoying clicking cameras. Shamefully, this weekend I was one of them. Friday we went to the Cape Coast Castle which was one of the largest slave exporting ports in West Africa. We decided against the guided tour and wondered around the castle and drew our own conclusions about what happened there. There were no surprises. I walked into the female slave chambers and walked through the "Door of No Return". I have so much to say about the institution of enslaving African people that I am left speechless.......................................

Moving on...We woke up early this morning to go to the Kakum National Park. It was very cool. We did not see any animals but the hanging bridges were cool. A lot more sketchy than the ones I walked in Costa Rica. I liked it though. Because we didn't see any animals at the park (apparently you have to arrive at about 5 in the morning to catch a glimpse of an animal) we decided to visit a place called "Monkey Forest". It is owned by some Europeans who have decided to live in the bush of Ghana and take care of abused or hurt animals. They had a small selection of animals to see but a lot of them were in cages and I just don't dig seeing animals living in cages. It was cool though. One time was enough. We moved on to Han's Cottage which was a tourist trap if their ever was one. A lot of people go there to see and feed the crocodiles. They also have a restaurant. The food was overpriced. The service was by far the worst service I have ever received in my life. It took forever to get the food and whenever you asked if the food was coming the response was the same, "It is just coming" or "just a moment". 45 minutes of "It is just coming later" we received some decent yet overpriced food. Getting them to bring the check was just as torturous as waiting for the food. Simply stated, never again. On the way home we were stopped a police check point because the driver brought his son along and there was no seat for him in the van. He was sitting in a make-shift seat and the police officer was going to give the driver a ticket. The drivers son handled the situation in the good old Ghanaian fashion. He gave him a bribe of 1 Cedi (equivalent to about 65 or 70 cents) and we were on our merry way.

Aside: I am the only one on this trip to be bitten by mosquitoes. As of now, I have been bitten twice.