Cape Coast and Kakum

Saturday, August 28

I arrived in the morning at a major intersection where I was to meet up with Tiffany (the American girl I met at church last week) and her host family to head to Cape Coast. While I was waiting, a herd of sheep crossed the intersection completely oblivious to all the cars whizzing around them. It was so funny to see the sheep, apparently with no shepherd, cross a large intersection in the middle of a big city and to have traffic continue around them.

Cape Coast is about 2 hours from Accra (which is 4 hours with bad roads and traffic). It has one of the old castles that was used to gather slaves that would then be shipped all over the world. It is now used as a historical museum for tourists. We stayed with the tour group for about the first 30 minutes and then we “accidently” lagged behind taking pictures and peeping in different doorways and rooms. Nothing was barricaded as off-limits and no one cared if we separated from the tour, I guess they assume you’re smart enough to not get yourself in any trouble. J It was so weird to think of such a beautiful site being a place of such sorrow and human injustice.

I had heard that there is a canopy walk not too far from the castle where you can walk on rickety bridges high up in the trees, so we planned to go to Karcum after finishing up at the castle. We asked someone working at the castle for directions and they told us it was only about 15 minutes away. An hour later we pulled up to the canopy walk after what felt like Mr. Toads Wild Ride on a dirt road littered with potholes. The canopy walk ended up being such a fun experience with no harnesses or helmets required! It was one of those really surreal times where I just couldn’t believe that I am actually in Africa and was traipsing around in trees.

On the ride home we passed through the same intersection I had waited at in the morning. I’ve never seen traffic that chaotic! There had been some construction started 2 years ago and the intersection is still unpaved and without lights. There were cars everywhere, inches from each other, and facing in all different directions. There was absolutely no order and it looked like a disordered parking lot where there was absolutely no hope of getting your car out. I think the police were trying to direct traffic, but they were basically wandering about with their guns strapped around their backs, being completely disregarded. It was such a fascinating experience that it didn’t even bother me that it took 4 times as long to get home!