I just returned from an amazing vacation to Accra, Ghana, Lome, Togo and the beach with Dylan! We started our trip with a 28 hour bus ride from Ouaga to Accra. At times it seemed we may never arrive but that's how African travel goes.
We were amazed at this city - it felt so Western and developed. We saw tall, nice buildings, fast food, fancy restaurants and even gelatto though we couldn't afford it. There really isn't a beach in the city of Accra even though this capital is right on the coast. Mostly its just cliffs down to the ocean but we did enjoy a few beers overlooking the water.
Along with many a cold beer during the trip, we also enjoyed great food during our trip including Chinese, fast food chicken sandwiches, pizza, Coke floats, chicken curry, fresh fish and shrimp,and lots of cheap fried rice on the street. We also tried to have at least one Fan Choco or other frozen Fan product every day. Does it sound like I talk about food a lot? Probably because that's what is often on my mind since joining Peace Corps and vacation to me means eating well. Its nice to be able to live it up even if this means eating fast food I wouldn't even touch in the US.
In Accra we saw the National Museum which was small but interesting, Independence Square, and the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. I tried to shop at the National Cultural Center, their artisan market, but was too annoyed by vendors constantly harassing me. I did but a few things at the outskirts of their huge market.
After Accra, we traveled east on an amazing toll road - I didn't know roads in such good condition existed here! We drove by hundreds of huge mansions and realized once again that there definetly is some money in this city!
Our next destination was Keta, an isthmus between the ocean and huge lagoon. At its most narrow point I'd estimate there were less than 500 sandy meters between these two bodies of water. We stayed at a nice beach resort that I don't think gets a lot of foreign visitors but seems to be busy with locals especially on the weekend. The beach was gorgeous here and we enjoyed laying out in the sun even if we were the only ones in swimsuits. There were hundreds of people along the beach though - fishermen, women selling stuff and others out buying whatever was caught that day, and lots of kids playing. I know we were entertainment for them but I also really enjoyed the people watching. One day we took a bush taxi a short ways to see a local lighthouse and try out another yummy restaurant.
After a few days on this beach we were ready to move on to a new beach. We took a bush taxi to the border and crossed on foot into Togo where we had to start using French again. Lome is a crazy city and I have to say I really didn't enjoy it. The taxi drivers were rude and we never once were able to get where we asked without having some type of problem. We did enjoy the grocery stores and food though!
In Togo we stayed at a little place on the beach called Chez Antoinne. Its not listed in any of the guidebooks so is really advertised by word of mouth. For less than ten bucks a night we had our own little shack on the beach with private courtyard and straw mattress. There are only 5 shacks there so not many night guests. We were surprised at the number of locals that came to enjoy the beach during the day though. We ran into a group of Togo PCVs enjoying one last weekend together before they COS. It was fun to swap PC stories. Our last night we had a bonfire on the beach in celebration of one of the guy's birthdays.
The trip seemed to be over much sooner than we would have liked as vacations always are. We again had a long bus ride home though this time on a crappy bus with no air conditioning and seats 5 across. Don't think we got any sleep that night.
I promise to post pictures as soon as I get on good internet though I don't know when that will be.
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