Aug 1st

Kokrobite Beach- partial sun. Fisherman putting out their nets on the beach. After watching for a while and waiting about 1 hour for breakfast and some shopping at a beach rasta shop, we hiked to the shared taxi station and headed to the "barrio" or the junction. Kokrobite tro-tro station was crazy. not as crazy as Makola but WOW. Vendores selling meat patties to Gucci sunglasses and tooth brushes. People everywhere. We almost got run over several times. There are no markings for trotros, so you have to ask and trust that people will send you in the right direction. "Over there" and pointing is the common answer. In a place full of thousands of people that is very vague. We headed in the general direction and eventually found the Cape Coast tro tro.

Cramped oto a 4 row van with 22 people excluding the two babies, our backpacks on our laps, the backdoors bungee corded with twine shut for three hours minus waiting for the tro tro to load up, we finally arrived at Cape Coast. Sometimes the tro tro never loads up all the way and you have to pay the extra fare to get a trip to Cape Coast. We were lucky apparently.

A very receptive and mellow town. People are more lowkey and don't stare at you. Highlife and reggae blasts fropm mini dnace clubs "drinking spots| along the side of the roads.

Stayed at the Fespa Hotel $30 US per night with balcony and AC/ TV and fridge. It was supposed to have a gym, but no luck. A bit outside of twon, but the Pan AFrcian festivale was going on and we couldn't get a room anywhere else. Will stay at Savoy hotel tomorrow $20.00 per night in town.

Went out to Sammo'sfor dinner to their rooftop garden. Happened upon a private Nigerian party. They asked us to join them. It turned out they were a dance and acting group who was entertaining at the Pan African Festival in town. They got their food before we arrived and did not eat again until we received our food, despite our prodding and offering to move to another table. They claimed they were uncomfortable. We did not push the issue and had a good time talking with them instead, as it seemed they were more interested in engaging us in conversation than in eating. They were partying and dancing their last night away in Ghana and planned on leaving for Lagos tomorrow.

white girl got dragged up on stage to dance (me) and soon Jay was doing the "white man's overbite" and pictures and cellphones were going off like paparazzi. Our Nigerian friends were set up on Facebook and were excited to stay in touch and get our phone numbers and emails. A great party and they did not laugh at us about our dance moves. Dancing to Highlife and Jamaican reggae on a rooftop in Africa/ Ghana at sunset with Nigerians reminds you that our world is in fact united- who cares about the political dynamics between Nigerians and Americans. It was interesting to hear about Nigerian view of the American population. You can imagine their surprise at the fact that some Americans are not privileged or educated or interested in travel.

August 2nd-
Slept in- moved to the Savoy hotel in the centre of town. Awesome- ate a butter omelette for breakfast. Diarrhea and puking in full force now. We are a hot mess, but determined. Equipped with kleenex packs and Purell, we hit the streets of Cape Coast for the castle.

Cape Coast Fort. An extremely depressing and sobering experience. Visited cells and prisons for slaves. Still scratch marks on the floor from slaves trying to escape. Being the room with all black (2 other white people) made me feel happy to be Jewish, wanting to advertise my Judaism and also extremely guilty. I noticed myself doing things like staying in the cell longer waiting for others to go out first.

Couple times, the tour guide shut us all in to the cells and turned off all the lights to show how things really looked. I was somewhat panicked and felt moved to tears.

At Oasis hotel waiting for lunch. It's around 3:30 sitting on the beach.
What an experience....

August 3rd-
Early rise, early breakfast. Off to Elmina, but first some pineapple and the bank to change $. Unfortunately, the banks do not change money. Hmm. Shared a taxi to Elmina for 80 pesewas (.50c).

Elmina's fishing market was impressively backdropped against the old Dutch fort, St. George. The insde was considereable more "creepy" than the cape Coast castle, however, the views of Elmina fishing village were incredible. Especially because pictures are pretty much outlawed (or you are beheaded for taking pictures apparently) in the market itself. Distance pictures with zoom are greatly appreciated by me. I snuck a few other pictures (slyly) in the side streets. I did not take any of people in particular for fear that it actually takes their souls if you take a picture. However, the more common belief is that they just do not like it and are "obstinant". Whatever. I don't want to be beheaded and I would rather enjoy the market as "normally" as possible considering that I already stick out like a sore thumb as a whitey anyway.

I digress. I was unable to capture the feeling or intensity of the vibes through my stolen photos. Reggae and Highlife blasting at ear splitting volumes from small "drinking spots" Guiness Malt Signs everywhere (Guiness Malt is a non alcoholic drink that is pounded by Ghanians and is popular for Muslims because of the Non Alcoholic part), fisherman pulling in nets, women and children carrying antiuge sweing machines and lbs of flour on their heads, chickens flying around, baby goats, kittens and puppies no older than a couple weeks lying in the middle of the street napping. All this surroundied by the cobblestones and footraffic. Smog clouds and colors the air, smells of gas and raw sewage and delicious spices fill the air. All of this occurs on a street about 12 feet wide lined with trenced open sewers. Children play soccer in the streets and often the ball drops into the sewer trench where kids fetch them nonchalently.

Signs like "Why worry? God is in control" line the streets and "Except Jesus" are the names of shops, bars and chop bars (street carts). The air is muggy and hot and you are constantly bathed in a lining of sweat and you smell sexy. When you have to go to the bathroom, people offer you an open sewage line or their washroom which looks like 2 doors "gents and "women". Inside are tile floors with a small hole on the side that connects to their sewer.

After a day of wiping with kleenex and using an entire bottle of Purell, (because it's cleaner than soap), we shared taxied it back to Cape Coase where we enjoyed bottle or two of cold Star Beer at Sammos.

We are definitely a hot mess and hop[e to come back to a hot shower in our room if the water heater is fixed. PS. we discovered that Grass cutters are the rats (the size and shape of Nutria) that Ghanains call "bushmeat". So the answer is yes we did eat rat or "grasscutters". They are not bad! TAstes like goat or beef. Mildly gamey, more grassy. Hence the name "grasscutter".