Sunyani Bound

While in Accra we had the opportunity to experience an army of hawkers (retailers on the street who flock to you trying to sell their wares) and a cultural centre. There was some great art and lots of carvings. We also had the chance to enjoy lunch at a spectacular beach resort... located across the street from a slum. The contrast was startling, rich people from various countries travel to pay 300 Ghana Cedis (GHC) a night (about $300 CAN) while across the street few of the residents make 300 GHC in a year.

We then made our way to Kumasi, where we made our way to another cultural centre. This one was a bit more hands on and gave Matt an opportunity to challenge a young boy to a handstand competition (Matt won, but not by much). We were also just in time for 100 French tourists to hold a press conference (maybe?) with a chief from a nearby village. We also learned that there was to be a huge celebration for the 10th anniversary of the Ashante King (who holds power over much of the local area).

The next day we had a full day booked. In the morning we made our way to see a wedding and a baby naming ceremony. However, because things run on GMT (Ghana Man Time) in Ghana, they weren't quite ready. Instead we made our way into town to see the parade of chiefs and sub-chiefs making their way to the football stadium for the celebration. The mass of people was staggering, the side walks and streets were packed and the police and army were out in full force maintaining order. After working our way through the crowd we also had the opportunity to see a flash of the President of Ghana's car.

After an hour of feeling like a sardine, we went back to the wedding which was just about to get underway. We had the opportunity to meet the family of the bride and groom and impress them with our command of the Twi language (taught to us by Sam and David, refined by Michael). After enjoying a rushed ceremony and seeing the groom get buckets of water dumped on him by three different people we retreated back to the guest house where we were staying to prepare for another long drive to Sunyani.

Other than two near misses, the drive to Sunyani was entirely uneventful. We had an emergency "free-range" (bathroom break) at a rural hospital halfway there. I'm not sure if I heard correctly, but it sounded like they birthed an average of 400 babies a month there, but it could be a year. We quickly got on the road again and made an uncomfortable trip all the way to Sunyani.

To say we were relieved when we got there is an understatement. With the amount of gear and people crammed into the bus some of us were on jumpseats. Fortunately the bus was air conditioned which kept tempers fairly even. After dropping off our gear we escaped to the Eusbett Hotel, which was to become our sanctuary for the next few weeks. Just knowing there was a pool to be used made all the difference. Not only that, but they offer a wide varietly of "Canadian" dishes which are handy when you start feeing homesick.

Overall the trip was great, but finally being able to settle was simply awesome.

Plane ticket from Vancouver to Accra: $2000. Diesel to drive from Accra to Sunyani: $500. Getting off the bus and realising we were "home" for the next month: Priceless!