Wednesday, August 14
Most everyone went for to the canopy walk. That didn't interest me as much as getting a real feel for Cape Coast street life, so they dropped me off on the road and I walked to Cape Coast, about 30 minutes.
One thing I remember vividly is how the children greet you. They start shouting "how are you? I'm fine how are you". They're all quite poor, but smiles everywhere.
Marilyn was looking for any books on local plants and trees, so my first stop was to the Challenge bookstore, but they didn't have any. They have books on construction, finance, religion, but none on plants?
My next stop was to the post office to send a postcard. The post office had a large terrazzo counter in the center, and service windows around 3 sides. The room did not have the lights on, and only one clerk in a window at the corner. I purchased some stamps. For a post card, it's 1000 Cedis (.12 cents) and sent off my card.
I headed back to the restaurant at the Castle for more curry chicken. And to sit and gather my thoughts and figure out what I needed to do next.
Then it was off to see what sort of Internet connection I could find. I headed up some stairs to the CyberCity Internet cafe at the intersection of Jackson and King. I tried downloading PuTTY, (the secure shell program I use on windows computers), but the connection was very slow. I asked if I can leave it downloading and come back, which I did, but it was unsuccessful, so I gave up.
As I walked down a few streets, I recorded the sounds I heard.
Picked up some shirts heavily embroidered on one side of buttons for 45,000 Cedis each (about $5 each).
I went to a government offices looking for flag & map. I was directed all over the building. From the tax authority to the immigration office to the education department. Someone came in with a little paper one, so at least I got a souvenir from it! It was a triangular shaped building with a courtyard in the center, about 5 floors high. Everyone was very helpful and friendly.
I found plenty of nice shirts for sale, but very few pants. I found some very loud drawstring pants a few days prior, and wanted more! The woman I bought the shirts sold cloth too, so she convinced me it's just as easy to get them made to order, so I bought 4 yards. I'll have them sewn up when I get back.
It was starting to get fivish, and I said I'd be back near that time, so I started thinking about how I was going to get back to the resort, which I think was about 5 or so miles away.
I asked one shop keeper, and I was advised to grab a taxi for a few blocks to the Anacraba market, some blocks away and take a trotro from there. I decided it didn't sound that far to walk to the market, so off I went. Along the way I'd casually asked some other shopkeepers, and I was directed the same way. In the street there was a large pillar with a crab at the top. And the market activity got progressively busier. I entered an area where many trotros were. Extremely crowded with everything moving at once. A small boy pointed me to one particular one going to Anamabo. It was full with about 18 people, so I got in one behind it. I was offered the front seat with another guy. I guess because mine was one of the first to get off.
After about 10 minutes, I saw the Anamobo sign and let the driver know and off I got. The person sitting behind me took my money - 850 Cedis (about 10 cents). I got back to the resort just after everyone else got back from the canopy walk.
Meanwhile, most everyone else went to the canop walk. I hear that was a lot of fun too!
We had a bit of a late night on the beach. Before retiring, I decided to take a short walk along the beach. A Firefly flew past me coming from straight in front of me, and disappearing a few feet behind me. So many wonderful things we kept finding!