Dabi dabi boko!
What a monumental farewell to Ghana today was! But let us backtrack small small first.
We did indeed make it Captain Hook's for lunch, Black Star for some surf, and African Rainbow for one last hurrah. The meatloaf was of some funky, German variety but the surf (I stood up on my first wave!) was great, if not a bit choppy, and African Rainbow was quite alright. The rooftop hoopla lasted long into the morning and continued a bit into the following bout with consciousness. But I'm getting a bit tedious...
Fast-forward through Cape Coast, Lu and I hit Koforidua and spent two nights at Maxwell Nyako's Two Streams hotel. We were able to visit Asiamah and check up on his education. His grades are not so hot, but that is what I expected considering the caliber of school he once attended and that of F'eden. However, we had a wonderful conversation with Hanson, the headmaster of the school and he sees much promise in Asiamah. Within a month of beginning at F'eden he was selected to march in the "Ghana at 50" celebrations and Hanson sees him being selected as class leader (not bad for a little munchkin straight out of government school). In short things went a little better than expected--and I had high hopes.
From there I had to meet a tailor in Kokrobite for a little business plan of mine...more on that later. But when I tried to leave Kokrobite God sent a sign that he did not want me to leave the beach because it rained harder than I've ever seen in my life. The road from the beach to the main Accra road is surrounded by high hills being stripped for rich obruni houses. The bare dirt hills in conjunction with heavy rains resulted in massive mudslides coming across the road at all angles. Some stretches were 10m wide and literally had rapids. But that wasn't even the worst of it. Kaneshie market was a complete river. One meter deep open sewers overflowed into streets which overflowed onto sidewalks. After a quick analysis of the situation I realized my only course of action was to take of my shoes (I lost my sandals somewhere in Koforidua) and do it African style--barefoot (with a VERY full pack on the back and a 12" djembe on the front). The water was half way up my calf and in some spots up to the knee! Imagine this in one of the busiest neighborhoods in Ghana! Cars, unaware of where the roads ended and the gutters began, were blindly tossing themselves into sewers much to the amusement of rain-soaked pedestrians. Sedans, amidst the flood of tro-tros struggled to carry on as waters came up to the axles. Surprise, surprise, the power was out because of the winds. The constant drone of motorists and the roar of the rains were broken only by catcalls and woops at the obruni with no shoes.
-Africa is very baddd-ooo!
-He go to America and never come back!
-Small boy only gets snowww back home! Never African rain! Haha!
-Bruni lost his shoes-o!
And yet it was during this mayhem that I realized how much I would miss Ghana. Vendors, with bowls of pure water or plantain chips on their head, continued in their conversations and sales woops as if rain wasn't in their vocabulary and grown men danced through the puddles with childish grins on their faces. In all of the havoc it seemed as if everyone was having a ball!
But really, Ghana is great. I love waiting 10 minutes to be waited on in a restaurant and for everything to take two hours longer than expected--only for it to not work at all. I love beach-side conversations with rastamen on the ills of NGOs. I love planting cassava and "continental food" that tastes nothing like anything on MY continent (maybe they are referring to Europe). I love rice and stew for 2000 cedis. I love to complain that Star tastes like DEET and that Castle Milk (Cast-el Mielk) is the best (even though it's shite). I love pioneering obrunis who left their homes for the simple life. I love the adventure that comes with each and everyday no matter how long I've been here and it's going to be hard to say goodbye...
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