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Cape Coast… so far, the toast
of our trip!
Today was another truly
wonderful day! Cape Coast has a deep fishing tradition and I spent the morning
with the fisherman! It was awesome! The fisherman cast out their nets, by going out in hand made
boats, early in the morning. Then in the afternoon, groups work together to
bring the nets in singing in rhythm so that they all work together, with the
action of the waves, and the pulling of the rope. I had to pay to take
pictures, and it was well worth it. I also had a local girl with me, which
helped a lot (I was “sort of” welcome, without her I would not have been). Oh…
I also had two proposals :) haaha Anyway,
I’ll explain that tradition with the pics
Then, we visited the other
slave castle in Cape Coast. The museum was very nicely done at this one and the
tour guide was great. The fact that people can treat other people like they did
sickens my stomach.
Next, we were off to the rain
forest rope bridge where we walked 350 meters of Rope Bridge, through the
canopy, 40 meters above the ground. Very, very beautiful! And talking about
sweat!!! Once again I was well accessorized :)
On our way home, we were surprised with a stop at a very small restaurant, I
believe owned by the department chair here, where they cooked a very delicious
Ghanaian meal with some choices we had not had yet. The food was awesome… we
have really enjoyed Ghanaian food. And now we’re going to try and get some
sleep, we have a 5:30 wake up call… tomorrow, we head to Mole (mo-lay) national
park where we go on a safari!!!
1/2 of the fisherman pulling together, in rhythm, on one end of the net, while the other 1/2 pull on the other side, bringing it closer and closer to shore. This process takes hours
One of the beautiful women waiting for the net to come in so she can help with what will hopefully be a huge haul of fish
Close by, a boat maker is layering sand, glue, and fiberglass into every crack where the boards have come together to create this amazing boat!
A pic of the inside of the boat
Here you can see where the Palm Tree has been worn away by the ropes used by the fisherman... they use the strong tree to "anchor" each end of the net
Jeff dipping into the cold Atlantic water :)
This boat maker was so sweet to let me photograph him!
My guide for the morning took me to meet her friend and her friend's baby... she said she would pose for me so I could get a picture of how mommies carry their babies here :)
The baby waved bye bye to us... I love the Ghanian women
The women strap their babies on their backs and go to work! This is my guide's friend's beauty shop
The beautiful waves of the Atlantic coast! Man I love the ocean!
Here in Ghana, you can get a fresh coconut, someone will cut it open so you can drink the water inside, then split it for you so you can eat the fresh coconut fruit! It is really soft and gel like... not at all what I'm used to eating. I dug right in!
My guide for the day... don't know how to spell her name, but it's pronounced, "ed-jeu"
This beautiful woman, waiting for the catch to come in, let me photograph her and her baby. It is customary to ask to snap a shot here. Some will do it, some turn you down, some want money (like the fisherman), and some do it for nothing like this sweet lady
As the net drew close to shore, a couple of guys grabbed a fish and threw them on the beach. This is one that was in the net, looked like an eel... moved like one too
The guy here in red owns the boats, nets, and all the guys involved work for him. He was intense! He also came up to us to make sure I paid for taking pics. All of the men that help get a portion of the catch as payment for their labor
Once the net was brought on shore, we were told that it was a bad luck day... not many fish, and a lot of weeds
I jumped in and helped the guys for about 20 minutes or so, I got awful sores on my hands that hurt for 2 days! I didn't even feel it till I stopped pulling on the rope
The rope bridge in the rain forest... this was only about a 40 minute drive from Cape coast
What an amazing view!!! Beautiful!
Jeff, who's afraid of heights (along with one of the other guys), did it!!! I did it too, while taking photos, some over the edge of the rope bridge... hahaha doesn't bother me at all :)
An ant mound... looks like a mushroom! lol
This wildly dressed, random guy, insisted that I take his picture! I told him he would be on the blog
Rain forest bamboo! It was huge!!!
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