Day 4: Everything... AND the Kitchen Sink

Day 4: Cape Coast, June 26th

 Ok… we made it, alive, to Cape Coast! Woohooo!!! If you know what the driving is like here in Ghana, you understand :) lol  Just to give you an idea I’ll tell you more about the two cities that we have been in so far. Everyone wants to pass everyone, there are chickens and goats running around everywhere, there are people everywhere, we have been surprised we haven’t seen any car accidents and I think I’ve seen one road kill. When you stop at any major intersection, or especially where we got on the bus to Cape Coast today, you are swarmed with people selling goods. Just about anything you can think of… water, chocolate, plantains, pineapple, soda, peanuts, clothes, cloth, car interior cleaner, refrigerators, and yes, kitchen sinks (and toilets)! Just to name a few things… and mostly the women are balancing the goods on their heads, quite a site and a little overwhelming.  Somehow, the people, drivers, goats, and chickens have all learned how to stay alive in this environment… it’s a crazy dance of moving in, out, and around each other for the purpose of getting done what you need to do.  It is very unique and interesting… I have grown to really enjoy watching (not so much when you’re in a game of “chicken” passing a vehicle on the highway though).

We are staying in guest housing on the campus of the University of Cape Coast. We ate some more wonderful Ghanaian food right here on campus today.

We also visited the first of two slave castles we will see here, the Elmina Castle. It was very moving to see where some of the slave trading actually happened. Once again, I can’t get online so I’ll post when I can.

A glimpse of the market... where we caught our van ride to Cape Coast, absolutely insane! If you could hear, it was SO loud and so many people. These pics do not capture the reality of the moment

This is a peek out the back of the van we rode in

 

Another view... there were people crossing the bridge over the highway, people standing on the bridge watching, people everywhere. This was the only time Jeff and I felt a bit uncomfortable

The courtyard at Elmina Castle

Two dungeons used to punish slaves (for trying to escape and other things). The door on the left, there is a skull and crossbones over it... here they were left to die

The entrance to the "Door of No Return," you have to bend over and take five steps to walk through

The Door of No Return... once a slave passed through this door, they were loaded on ships to never see their homeland again. The ocean is out further now, something happened to change the landscape

Canons for protection from enemies... Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle had canons facing each other and shot at each other now and then (they were in competition for trading). On a clear day, you can see Cape Coast Castle from here, and Elmina from there