Jan 19, 20 - Kakum and Kumasi

Photos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151258121876961.436031.562066960&type=1&l=b1ce201ff8

On Friday morning we set off on our trek to Kumasi. Roads pretty good most of the way, a few with potholes, and some dirt, but nothing like what we experienced in the Volta Regionl. Of course, the fact that we were driving at a sedate pace could be an explanation.

We passed through what I call "typical Ghana countryside". This means a mixture of forest trees, some plantations of bananas and palm trees, small villages with unstructured layouts and colourful vendors selling everything under the sun. Lots of religious halls, chemical shops, and tons of merchandise of every description. And of course people going about their business and upon seeing the truck, stopping what they do and waving, shouting hello, and the big smiles that welcome you to Ghana. What did alarm me along the route was some of the little kids shouting "Give me money", "Give me one cedi", and "Give me something". However, in the towns I have never experienced this.

We stopped at the Kakum Forest Reserve. The forest apparently has leopards, monkeys, 500 species of butterflies, birds, and other animals, but I think you have to travel deep into the 350 square kilometres to see any of this. Of course we saw nothing except a few butterflies. We walked through the forest for about 45 minutes to the swinging bridges about 80/90 feet above the ground. We crossed about 9 of these; it was fun to see the forest from that position, but really wasn't anything thrilling......at least to Ray and I. Some of the group though were nervous of heights and had much more of an exciting experience. What I did enjoy though was the colourful lizzards. They .had beautiful: orange heads and  tails, and sleek black bodies. Then it was back in the truck and on to Kumasi.

We are staying in the Asante Presbyterian mission guest house which is a gated compound in the middle of Kumasi. Last night we went to Vic Baboos restaurant and ate Indian curry before retiring to bed fairly early.

Saturday morning we slept in, then went looking for somewhere to have breakfast. We experienced the same friendliness and Ray stopped and asked one of the shop keepers where there might be a restaurant. He suggested the Ghanian Sambra Restaurant. It was a good spot and we enjoyed a mushroom omelette, and a ham and cheese omelette with toast and coffee and tea. The bread here is fabulous. It is chunky and a little sweeter than our bread but has a hidden flavour that might be lemon, or a spice of some description. Haven't seen a brown bread. For lunch yesterday we bought some street food which was like a Cornish pasty but the vegetables, in the vegetarian version, and the meat in the meat version, were scarce! We also bought what looked like a corn cake. I suspect the pasties were made from corn meal. Very tasty, but totally filling and made your lips and teeth stick together like glue!! I also bought a small pineapple which washed this down nicely. When we were eating a little girl of about 3 or 4 came to visit. She was fascinated with us, but also a little nervous; kept coming up and staring and inching closer and closer and then getting totally freaked and running away only to be back again in a few moments. The kids are adorable. They are so innocent, have huge big eyes that stare you straight in the face, and wide smiles that melt your hearts.

After breakfast we walked around a bit then went to the Internet. Lightening fast, except when you wanted to use your own computer, which I did because all my photos and blog notes are on my netbook. In the end I copied it all on to a USB and got another hour using their computers. After that we came back to the Guest House as I had to meet my cook group to do the shopping for dinner, breakfast and lunch over the next day, I was standing waiting for Annie and Dave to come when I had this fabulous conversation with a couple staying in the Guesthouse. I can't for the life of me remember her name now, which is awful, but it was something like "Mercy", but it wasn't. Anyway, she was dressed for a funeral - they wear beautifl black and red  gowns fit for any sophisticated ball back home with a head piece, and are absolutely beautiful. I remarked that I knew that it must be a sad time for her, but she looked amazing. We chatted for a while about her son in Edmonton, and how she has visited Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal and been in the States many, many times. She was in education and I suspect at a fairly reasonable level. She told me that she was sorry that she hadn't met me sooner because she would have invited me to join her at the burial in the morning and at the funeral "Celebration of Life" that she was heading to. But she did invite me to the church service tomorrow morning which was also for the deceased. She said it would have been a great experience for me. I would have loved to go, but of course, because we leave at 9:30 tomorrow morning, I couldn't go. But it just goes to show the welcome that is extended to strangers.

Shopping in the market was fun too, but serious. We were after vegetables and had to strike a hard bargain to knock down the prices. It is actually quite expensive, not like South America and Asia. We had 150 cedis - one cedi is about 60 cents, to buy food for dinner, breakfast and lunch for 17 people. We ended up with 4 kg of chicken stew - 2 kg of frozen chicken breast was 20 cedis - carrots, onions, green peppers, something for flavour (have yet to find out what), rice, for dinner; cornflakes, bread, and mangoes for breakfast, and egg salad and lettuce/tomatoes/cucumber for lunch. I think we have about 7 cedis left!

We went back to Vic Baboos for dinner and are now back in our rooms. There was a power outage when we got back but the electricity has just this minute come onl  No air conditioning in our rooms, so it is a welcome relief to have the fan working again.

I don't think I have mentioned the group we are travelling with: 15 travellers plus 2 crew. I would say most are English, but there is one Aussie, 2 Americans, one Norwegian, and 2 Canadians, although I manage to cross the line to British at times!! We have a practising lawyer, a woman trained as a lawyer who is going to open up a yoga studio when she returns to England, a CA who is taking her MBA, a video film photographer,  a Norwegian teacher who also trains trotters, a girl who works with challenged kids, a guy who is  a financial planner and analyst who works with an America equity/venture capitalist, a girl who manages pubs, and a woman who works in development for an Africa NGO,  The glue is the sense of adventure and it is amazing how well the group has congealed.

I already uploaded most pictures for this post. If you are not a FB member, please let me know if you are able to see the pictures. I will try to do something else with pictures otherwise.

I hear it's cold back home, but I assure you it's not cold. It's actually very comfortable - have no idea what the temp is but it's great!!!

Take care, and send me comments. I am literally sharing with you day to day information, maybe not in the best grammar, but I hope everyone finds something of interest. It also serves as a memory bank for me!! If there is anything you would like to hear about that I am not including....let me know!

I might just say a quick word about the "war in Mali". Mali is an amazing country. Poor but beautiful. The people are not strong, and I understand that is why Al Quaeda has stirred up the Moslem issue. They see a "weak link" and make a move. We understand from the locals in Ghana that the Malians don't want an autocratic Muslim government and that the French came in at their request. Of course, we are watching the situation carefully.....especially our tour leaders. We are heading up in to some Muslim countries and are not quite sure what to expect,  but we are hoping that the situation does not spread. So far, our major concerns are hold ups. Unlikely, but we have security and tactics in place. We have driven through a number of police checks, but so far they have all been very friendly, and waved us on our way without coming on board

Take care....and we will too!