Pigs on the Beach

Feels like a while since I have blogged- lots to catch up on, starting with the weekend! On Saturday we made a semi-early start to travel to Cape Coast, getting there in time for lunch. The journey involved the usual tro to Kasoa, and then another to Cape Coast (a much longer journey). The second tro seemed as though it was going to be a nightmare, fuller than one could imagine, and squashed between people and bags in epic heat, but as it got moving and a few people got off it improved.  At one point, as it was overloaded, and a police checkpoint approached, the tro-mate (the drivers assistant) lay down completely under some of the seats to hide from the police! A little further along at a station the driver took pity on me squashed under some guys huge pack of material (which I assume he was taking to market), and invited me to sit up front. This was great as after about ten minutes I had the whole two front seats to myself, and the windows down, making for a rather pleasant trip- definitely the way to tro! The driver even arranged for his brother, a taxi driver, to collect us from the tro and take us whereever we wanted to go once we got to Cape Coast- handy as we had no idea where we were going.

Due to our lack of plans we asked the taxi driver to drop us off at the Castle, and a short walk later we stumbled upon a cafe at which to grab a drink.  The cafe also had some vacant accommodation which we claimed for the night before heading to the beach. The beach was beautiful, but still very African, despite the large number of Obruni's (westerners) sunbathing, with a lot of Ghanaians hawking.  Whilst chilling I also casually interviewed a couple of the kids who were selling to see what type of school they went to and why/when they worked. At one point I looked up to see a pig and two piglets wandering across the sands, casually eating anything they found and just generally strolling, not what you expect to see!! Lots of people kept stopping to chat to us, and one in particular, Knowledgeable John, stayed a very long time. Generally in these situations as a white person, you expect to be asked for some kind of cash or sponsorship, but John just wanted to share his wisdom. It turned out that he knew a lot, and was very wise to the ways of Africa. Sophie had him engaged in a discussion of some of the key concepts that made up part of our economics module, and he seemed to share very well thought-out ideas. He also taught us the Ghanaian handshake whereby one clicks fingers with the other person as they move their hands apart- I am getting there but apparently our "soft white skin" makes it difficult for us to do!

The owner of the hotel we were staying in was closely affiliated with a school near to Cape Coast, which was sponsored by selling things that the children had made in the hotel's shop, and by giving some of the cafe's profits to them. Unfortunately however he told us that just that morning the school had burned down and there was nothing left- a sad story, but fortunately the people were all OK.  It is sad to hear stories of such devastation when people are working so hard for something, and an uncontrollable event stops them in their tracks.
In the evening we went to the Castle restaurant, and I had Chicken (standard) stroganoff and chips (a change from rice) although everything here seems to be spicier than it would be in England and it was more like a creamy curry than a stroganoff, but good all the same. The menu there was the biggest I have seen in Ghana, I am used to having the option of fish or chicken, and fried, plain or jolloff rice, or occasionally chips, banku (not sure what this is), fufu (doughy strange thing) and red-red (plantain and beans).