On the road again

I have to learn that I am not entitled to "Half Term" holidays here. Schools don't have them. However, my friend Jeny came over to celebrate a "big" Birthday so I had the perfect excuse.
I tried a different Accra hotel this time. The New Haven is fine for the odd overnight on the way to other destinations. I sat in my room reading my kindle waiting for the arrival time at the airport. Suddenly, I was plunged into darkness. Eventually an electrician was located and he arrived to fix the fault. Nobody has ladders or scaffolding in this country! They climb anything else to get to high places. He pulled out the only piece of movable furniture in the room, a tall feeble looking wardrobe and found a flip up chair. Maybe electricians need to pass gymnastics tests as he seemed to jump vertically onto the top of the wardrobe, a metre from the high ceiling and fixed the poor connection with a screw driver, his only tool amidst a spray of sparks! This is Ghana. Needless to say, it worked perfectly afterwards.

The journey along the coast westwards was eventless and we stopped for pineapple. Fruit here is prepared for you to eat at the side of the road, cut into cubes expertly and bagged with toothpicks to prevent stickiness. These long and huge pineapples are so sweet and very different to those at home. I was told Ghanaians keep the best ones for themselves.

We turned off the road before Cape Coast to find some "Posuban Shrines" in a fishing community. These are built by local defence units to store their arms and regalia. There are often a few units in each coastal town that compete for the most impressive building. This was one of the best we saw.

As always, the children were eager to be photographed by the "Obrunis". Notice the little girl "backing" her sister. This starts at a very young age. I have seen girls no older than 8 with a sibling on her back and a heavy bowl of something on her head. Childhood is about practising to be an adult!

There were a lot of people frying and smoking small fish. We tried some and they were delicious. With fried sweet potatoes we had perfect fish and chips!