August 11th

Complete state of overwhelm. My brain is overloaded. Too muchstimulation and no refuge.

Amazing visit to Asonwomase village today (about 1 hour from Kumasiwith traffic) for Kente cloth making. Very nice tour - 2 hours for$5GH. I would recommend this as the Kente village to visit. It hasPeace Corps set ups and therefore, cannot charge tourists more thanthe actual price. DAmn- we are Jewish.

We were having an amazing time until I had to "go to the washroom".Since we were in the village, the guide told me to go into the niceold woman's concrete facade. I wasn't sure why he wanted me to poo inthe pee hole, and I asked to make sure. He sent me again. Okay... Itwas basically a flat floor with a sewage pipe in the back. I wasdesparate at this point, so I had to drop trough. Much relieved, Iheaded back out to find Jay hanging out with a group of village kids.A bit dubious that I had gone in the right place (in the middle of aconcrete floor), I asked for a few more buckets to make sure the messwashed down). They only gave me one bucket and hustled me on the way.

Later, shamefully, we were approached by several angry Ghanaian womenwaid to our guide in Twi that we were "wanted" back at their house.

At this point, I was about to yak from the bush meat lunch thatliterally tasted like raw sewage smells and I was on a mad run back tothe village shop before I yakked in front of our guide. LOL

It turns out this was a language barrier. And luckily the guide tookthe blame. I asked for the bathroom and he gave me the "pee room".

Be aware that in Ghana, unless you are specifically "in the toilet",you are NOT to do a number 2.

To avoid embarrassment, I would go so far as to say, "I need to take ashit". Just to be clear. Americans are rather shy about thedescriptives when it comes to using the toilet. Here I encourage youto say, "TAKE A SHIT". Otherwise, you have to give 2 cedi to the angryhome owner who has to go buy "cleaning supplies".

Back to Kejetia (quickly). Made hunt for Louis Vuitton bags. Got somegood deals yesterday. You can't find what you want in this market.

Walked through overload of knock off shoes lit in blue light undercovers and "discreet". It appeared these were supposed to be the"reall things". Can't even describe it- later.

This country is over sensory stimulating without any relief if you area budget traveller. I understand now why some people pay for theWestern hotels. I can't believe that I am saying this, but I findmyself missing India and actually considering a "revisit" - which issomething I said I'd never do.

More later on this. But in one example, there is a strange refuge youcan find in Indian culture. Whether it be in a quiet buyingenvironment which involves a "business relationship" with a vendore,which is like a friendship in a sense, or in an inexpensive restaurantwhere everything is silent and meditative. You get services etc. Ifyou go to a sitdown restaurant in Ghana, it means blasting highlife,sweat, loud honking, beer and most likely a selection what the closestshop bar has avaiable for ingredients. By this, I mean if you decideto eat chinese, you can order 110 dishes before they tell you thatthey only have one. So you basically need to ask what is available before etting overwhelmed by the book like menu options.