We are back in Kumasi for a brief stop, heading north again. We had an idyllic few days at Kokrobite(y). Big Milly's was a lovely place to park with a gate leading directly on to the beach. Chris needed the rest after long drives in high temperatures and humidity - the road to Accra rom Kumasi had very long stretches of roadwors, potholes, speed humps etc. When the new motorway is finished it will be wonderful. We decided to give it a miss on the way back and drove along the coastal road almost to Cape Coast, with its ancient castles and sandy beaches. We stopped for lunch and the last sight of the sea in a small fishing cove, then headed north from there through tropical rain forest and very good road conditions in spite of the thunderstorms and torrential rain. with light failing fast and another heavy downpour we stopped for the night on a filling station forecourt on the Fomena Mountain road. I made mushroom omelettes with some recently bought mushrooms along the road, while stopped at a roadworks section. They were very strange with long rubbery stalks but quite delicious. We set off at 7am this morning to dry conditions but a little foggy til the sun heated up.
It was very relaxing at Kokrobite during the week. It all happens at Big Milly's at weekends with day trippers, as we experienced on arrival last Sunday. There were fishing boats on the beach and out at anchor. At 9am on Monday, Chris helped 11 local fishermen and women haul in their nets from way out at sea. It was hard work on the rope and the resulting catch seemed small for the effort. There was a real mix of fish, big and small. We had locally caught lobsters (quite small but very tasty) with chips and salad on our first night at the restaurant. Another day, chris befriended the same fishing crew who had a boat called 'Travel and See'. Few of them spoke much English - they all use their own tribal dialect (Ewe I think on the coast). Their wooden boat had a big hole so Chris used his electric drill/screwdriver to put a patch on it for them as they had no tools. They promised us fish in exchange, but we didn't take them up on the offer.
While in Kokrobite we investigated our options - decided definitely not to travel via Cote d'Ivoire as the further possibilities through Sierra Leone and especially Guinea where roads are reported to be very very bad was not sensible. We met a German man who was returning to Hamburg by container/RoRo boat from Tema with Grimaldi Shipping. he didn't have a vehicle but we tried to get more info on availability and charges - we are still waiting for a reply from London via Grimaldi Ghana. Another option was to ship home from Takoradi, but again no information readily available. It's a possible plan for the future. We drove into Accra to visit the Mali Embassy, but a new visa would have taken until Monday to acquire so we are risking extending our existing dual entry visas at the border. We are planning to drive up the western side of Ghana to Wa and cross into Burkina Faso (which we can do on our Visa d'Etente) and avoid going back to Ouga. Don't know what to expect from the road conditions yet. If all dirt roads we may change our minds. Timing is now becoming critical as we would like to stop in Spain again before getting home. Senegal is still not 'in the bag' balloonwise but that may have to wait for another trip.
Accra had a large air-conditioned shopping mall with European standard shops an supermarkets, quite a culture shock for us. We stocked up on a few things but it was expensive compared to roadside stalls and small town shops. Pineapples, mangos, papaya and coconuts are good here. They also grow oranges but we find them tough and not very juicy. We found we craved Granny Smiths apples when we found them in the supermarket and satisfied our lust!
I drafted this blog on our rush hour entry into Kumasi, much easier to navigate this time round and we are back at the air-conditioned internet cafe. This may be the last chance for a while to communicate electronically. It was very good to talk to most of our family via Skype last Saturday. We don't intend to stay here very long.
We took advantage on our last visit here to go to Kejetia Market - what an experience! We saw no other white faces, but it was chaotic, vibrant and exciting. You enter the corrugated iron roofed market down steps (and in one place across a used railway line!) to the wider lanes but we had to watch our for people trundling wooden barrows through at speed and jump out of the way. There was fresh, salted, smoked and dried fish, fruit and veg, huge snails the size of a fist and great wooden butchers blocks piled high with fresh meat (which had to be moved from the aisles every time a barrow came through). All this was mixed up with stalls selling cheap Chinese goods and beautiful bright batik fabrics. Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti people who are famous for their brilliant patterned fabric, and everyone wears it, including smart young women with stylish dresses. I didn't buy any as it is quite expensive and I don't think I would have the opportunity at home to wear anything quite so dramatic, but we did buy a length of the white fabric with black geometrical designs, also traditional, and sewn together in narrow strips. We saw a wedding celebration where young and old, men and women were all wearing the black and white dresses and robes. Back to the market: I preferred exploring down the maze of narrow dark alleyways, barely wide enough to pass, selling spices, dried goods, bowls (vats) of spicy peanut sauce and other foods. There were also 'beauty salons', wig sellers, make-up, jewellery and hairdressers where ladies were having their hair braided and woven into fantastic styles. Everyone was so friendly, especially as Chris kept up a running conversation and joking with people as we passed through - he is the ideal companion on these sort of adventures as he converses with everyone, teases the children and young women and befriends policeman and officials in no matter what language.
After an hour at the market we had had enough so we took a taxi to the Suame Magazine district (the old artillery area) which is now a huge mechanics workshop with rusting engine and lorry parts piled high and everything covered in thick red dust. Chris eventually found a place where we could take the Enterprise to be checked over and greased, but it would not be until Monday, so that job is still to be done somewhere along the road. Also a haircut for chirs. Accra would have been a good place but we ran out of time before dark and our return to Big Milly's Backyard through the teeming, crazy traffic of buses, trucks, tro-tros and taxis, with no lane discipline, no understanding of how roundabouts work, stopping and starting at random and most without lights.
Everywhere else we have been, and especially in the French speaking countries, every other stall appears to be a hairdressers or barbers, displaying hand painted images of 'haircuts'. Chris has been reluctant to test their barbering abilities, so he is planning to start wearing his hair in a ponytail! Talking of painted images, I at last had the time and opportunity to get my water paints out and have completed a copy of a colourful African woman, bowl on her head, which was one of the many images painted on the walls of the little houses at Big Milly's.
It was very relaxing at Kokrobite during the week. It all happens at Big Milly's at weekends with day trippers, as we experienced on arrival last Sunday. There were fishing boats on the beach and out at anchor. At 9am on Monday, Chris helped 11 local fishermen and women haul in their nets from way out at sea. It was hard work on the rope and the resulting catch seemed small for the effort. There was a real mix of fish, big and small. We had locally caught lobsters (quite small but very tasty) with chips and salad on our first night at the restaurant. Another day, chris befriended the same fishing crew who had a boat called 'Travel and See'. Few of them spoke much English - they all use their own tribal dialect (Ewe I think on the coast). Their wooden boat had a big hole so Chris used his electric drill/screwdriver to put a patch on it for them as they had no tools. They promised us fish in exchange, but we didn't take them up on the offer.
While in Kokrobite we investigated our options - decided definitely not to travel via Cote d'Ivoire as the further possibilities through Sierra Leone and especially Guinea where roads are reported to be very very bad was not sensible. We met a German man who was returning to Hamburg by container/RoRo boat from Tema with Grimaldi Shipping. he didn't have a vehicle but we tried to get more info on availability and charges - we are still waiting for a reply from London via Grimaldi Ghana. Another option was to ship home from Takoradi, but again no information readily available. It's a possible plan for the future. We drove into Accra to visit the Mali Embassy, but a new visa would have taken until Monday to acquire so we are risking extending our existing dual entry visas at the border. We are planning to drive up the western side of Ghana to Wa and cross into Burkina Faso (which we can do on our Visa d'Etente) and avoid going back to Ouga. Don't know what to expect from the road conditions yet. If all dirt roads we may change our minds. Timing is now becoming critical as we would like to stop in Spain again before getting home. Senegal is still not 'in the bag' balloonwise but that may have to wait for another trip.
Accra had a large air-conditioned shopping mall with European standard shops an supermarkets, quite a culture shock for us. We stocked up on a few things but it was expensive compared to roadside stalls and small town shops. Pineapples, mangos, papaya and coconuts are good here. They also grow oranges but we find them tough and not very juicy. We found we craved Granny Smiths apples when we found them in the supermarket and satisfied our lust!
I drafted this blog on our rush hour entry into Kumasi, much easier to navigate this time round and we are back at the air-conditioned internet cafe. This may be the last chance for a while to communicate electronically. It was very good to talk to most of our family via Skype last Saturday. We don't intend to stay here very long.
We took advantage on our last visit here to go to Kejetia Market - what an experience! We saw no other white faces, but it was chaotic, vibrant and exciting. You enter the corrugated iron roofed market down steps (and in one place across a used railway line!) to the wider lanes but we had to watch our for people trundling wooden barrows through at speed and jump out of the way. There was fresh, salted, smoked and dried fish, fruit and veg, huge snails the size of a fist and great wooden butchers blocks piled high with fresh meat (which had to be moved from the aisles every time a barrow came through). All this was mixed up with stalls selling cheap Chinese goods and beautiful bright batik fabrics. Kumasi is the capital of the Ashanti people who are famous for their brilliant patterned fabric, and everyone wears it, including smart young women with stylish dresses. I didn't buy any as it is quite expensive and I don't think I would have the opportunity at home to wear anything quite so dramatic, but we did buy a length of the white fabric with black geometrical designs, also traditional, and sewn together in narrow strips. We saw a wedding celebration where young and old, men and women were all wearing the black and white dresses and robes. Back to the market: I preferred exploring down the maze of narrow dark alleyways, barely wide enough to pass, selling spices, dried goods, bowls (vats) of spicy peanut sauce and other foods. There were also 'beauty salons', wig sellers, make-up, jewellery and hairdressers where ladies were having their hair braided and woven into fantastic styles. Everyone was so friendly, especially as Chris kept up a running conversation and joking with people as we passed through - he is the ideal companion on these sort of adventures as he converses with everyone, teases the children and young women and befriends policeman and officials in no matter what language.
After an hour at the market we had had enough so we took a taxi to the Suame Magazine district (the old artillery area) which is now a huge mechanics workshop with rusting engine and lorry parts piled high and everything covered in thick red dust. Chris eventually found a place where we could take the Enterprise to be checked over and greased, but it would not be until Monday, so that job is still to be done somewhere along the road. Also a haircut for chirs. Accra would have been a good place but we ran out of time before dark and our return to Big Milly's Backyard through the teeming, crazy traffic of buses, trucks, tro-tros and taxis, with no lane discipline, no understanding of how roundabouts work, stopping and starting at random and most without lights.
Everywhere else we have been, and especially in the French speaking countries, every other stall appears to be a hairdressers or barbers, displaying hand painted images of 'haircuts'. Chris has been reluctant to test their barbering abilities, so he is planning to start wearing his hair in a ponytail! Talking of painted images, I at last had the time and opportunity to get my water paints out and have completed a copy of a colourful African woman, bowl on her head, which was one of the many images painted on the walls of the little houses at Big Milly's.
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