Cape Coastin'

Today I boarded an 8am tro-tro to Cape Coast to meet with a Sociology professor at the University of Cape Coast regarding my thesis research. Surprisingly, the trip went smoothly and I actually arrived on time (something that can sometimes be unheard of in Ghana...). But anyways he was very helpful, and he has a grad student actually researching something very similar to my topic, so was able to provide many supporting resources.

Afterwards, I decided to browse their "campus bookstore", which had maybe a total for 100 books. Many of which were children's books. Yeah...we're not in Kansas anymore. Or Harvard.

Following the bookstore, I boarded my sketchiest looking cab so far to go into town, but it actually turned into a very pleasant ride along the Atlantic coast, with surf crashing in and everything. My driver was very curious about America, specifically Boston, and asked me a lot of questions about the US. As I was leaving, he told me it was his biggest dream to make it to the US, and that he was determined to get there. Glad to see the American dream is still alive.

Once in town, I decided to head to the Cape Cafe. The Bradt guide fully recommends the Cape Coast Cafe, which is right in the center, and also attached to Women in Progress, a fair-trade (I still don't know how I feel about this concept...but whatevs...) NGO that assists women artists in selling their crafts for fair prices. I was hoping to buy some cool souvenirs from them. Unfortunately, the Bradt guide was updated a few years ago, and, upon arriving at the location, was told that both had closed down or moved away. Shucks. I ended up eating at Cape Coast Castle's restaurant, which had a great location, but was horribly dirty, even by African standards. My stomach churns just thinking about it.

Compared to Elmina, Cape Coast didn't quite inspire me as much. It's a bit more run-down, despite being the former British seat, and there was definitely more tourist harassment. That, and Cape Coast Castle, which granted is just as historical as Elmina, is not as well kept as Elmina Castle. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but it didn't really strike up the same level of impressiveness.

The tro-tro ride back home almost turned into a nightmare of motion sickness as our driver had a penchant for waving to his friends walking along the road without actually watching the road--leading to multiple short brakes at 50+km/h. My fellow tro-tro buddies were swearing at him in Twi, Fante, Ga, English, Latin, Cyrillic, etc. It was like the UN of tro-tro animosity. Or something. But the woman next to me offered some of her grilled maize (which they sell on the roadside). That was pretty cool.

Oh, I didn't get to blog yesterday because the Internet cafe was down. The only thing of importance that happened was that my attempt to go to Church was thwarted. The English mass is supposed to start at 8.30, but is bookended by two Fante services. However, the first Fante service went over time--all the way up to the start of the next Fante service (10am). Soooooo, by some silent consensus, they decided to just have another Fante service. I mean, I got "outvoted" by like 500 to 1. So I went home (and I was feeling dehydrated after standing outside for 90 minutes). My Ghana, my Ghana, why have you forsaken me?