Travel is Education

View at PaPa's Place

With the arrival of a new volunteer this week here in Cape Cost I was able to be a super tourist this weekend! Before Justine and I hit the road my co-workers took me to this very cool little bar spot called Papa's Place. It looks over the Castle and the coast line. I met Rasta Danielle there, who is quoted in the title of this post.

I mentioned wanting to travel north to Kumasi, Ghana to my co-worker Laura and she suggested calling her friend Kweku. Lucky for Justine and I Kewku was free for the weekend and agreed to act as our travel guide on our adventure!

Saturday

The Palace 

Peacocks...the King's dinner

After a 3 1/2 hour journey on a pretty descent highway system we arrived in Kumasi. My first impression of the city was whoa! there are soooooo many people here and EVERYONE is trying to sell something. The road traffic line are scattered with people in the street trying to sell things, then there were more people on the sidewalks! We left the congestion to head to the former Ashanti palace for a history tour. The tour was super interesting, but pictures were not allowed. One of the coolest parts of the tour and creepy parts were these wax figures of former Ashanti Kings and Queens that were very life like! But they were all adorned in

1/4 of the market

My batik!!!

real gold! Next we parked the car in the cultural center and headed through the super busy streets to go to the one of the largest markets in all of Africa. Walking there was pretty overwhelming. Kweku and no mercy for Justine and I as we practically jogged behind him as we weaved in and out of people and cars. I was so thankful to have him there once we arrived in the market, because I would have never found the fabric stalls! This market is like a city itself. SO massive and apparently always open. It is also full of pickpocketers so I didn't really take any photos. I was able to find some beautiful fabric, which I gave to a Global Mamas seamstress today to make a birthday dress for myself! After the market we at this funny little hotel restaraunt then headed to our AIR CONDITIOND hotel! This was so major! I haven't felt cold in so long haha.

Sunday

Fresh Cocoa

Kente Loom

Justine and I in tradition grab

Lake Bosumtwi

Stampin with David

Our first stop was to the first ever Kente weaving village. This village is now known for making all Kente for the King, pretty cool! We were walked through the process of weaving and got to watch the men at work. I learned that women are not allowed to weave, because they'd be out of work during pregnancy so it just  not allowed at all. We also got to see a cocoa farm and try some cocoa right off the tree! It tasted nothing like chocolate! Our next stop was an Adinkra cloth site. Here cloth stamping is done. The dye is made from a certain tree bark which is cooked down and made into a kind of paste. We got to watch this process and learn about some of the Adinkra symbols then we got to stamp some fabric! Our last stop was Lake Bosumtwi, the only natural lake in Ghana. The legend is that it was made by a meteorite. It was pretty beautiful. We stopped for lunch here and order a pizza which took over an hour to make! Kewku had to have a stern talk with the staff before it arrived. Thankfully it was pretty good, but I'm not sure it was worth the wait! Then we set back for Cape Coast.

Pizza! 

It was a lot of fun to travel a bit for the weekend, but it was also a nice feeling to be "home". This weekend I'll be headed to the eco-built beach resort! Happy birthday to me!!!!!