Takoradi To Cape Coast And Cape Coast Castle

After a night watching CSI: New York, but with Detective Cain from CSI: Miami followed by The Punisher, I had a nice night in a cool room. It was nice to have AC.

In the morning I packed up and started toward the Cape Coast tro-tro yard. Fortunately, I was about a third there when a tro-tro driver shouted at me "Cape Coast?" Yep! I boarded. An hour and GH¢2.30 later, we were in Cape Coast. They let me off and I hopped into a taxi to go to the Oasis Guest House. The driver wouldn't come down from GH¢2 but I tried. The driver tried to convince me to see Kakum National Park. Finally we arrived.

So I entered. Then, the unexpected. They didn't have any cheap rooms left. Yikes! Is it tourist season? I'm used to being able to get the room I want. They had the bungalows for 32GH¢ (20GH¢ in Lonely Planet). Too high. I left and found a cab. Again, he charged me GH¢2 to take me to my second choice Sammo Guest House. I guess GH¢2 must be the white price. Or maybe the baggage loaded white price. Anyway, I got there and they have a nice room with private bathroom and shower for GH¢12 per night. Whew! I even got some laundry done for a somewhat high GH¢5. But it resets my laundry count back to zero.

I headed to the Cape Coast Castle. Entrance is GH¢7. They have a nice museum which I toured. The museum is definitely geared to Americans--especially black Americans interested in their lost history. There were a few people in the museum when I was there, but they all left early while I finished up looking at all the exhibits. I realized why later on when I went back to do the tour. They were already on the tour. So I just waited for the next one. It was actually a good plan because the first tour was a crowd of 20 people, and there was nobody left for another tour. So I got a private tour from a woman named Matilda. It is nicer to get a one-on-one tour.

She showed me the rooms where the slaves were kept between when they were brought to the fort by local middlemen and when they were loaded onto the Atlantic slavers. I read a bit about how it worked in Hugh Thomas's The Slave Trade. I want to try to reread in with a little more context this time.

When I left the castle, a bunch of men tried to show me their wares. Not interested. An artist showed me his paintings but gave up pretty easily. Another guy showed me an official looking paper soliciting donations for a local soccer team. It had the mission statement and spaces for the name, email, donated amount, etc. One slot already had a name. They need money to 1) buy equipment 2) buy first aid kits and 3) aid the local destitute. I figured the donations would all go to cause #3 and that the "local destitute" was themselves. So I didn't donate anything. As merchants and con-men, these guys are amateurs. I suppose white people coming from a slave entrepôt are easy pickings for black shysters so they just don't have to try that hard. A lot of the whites in Cape Coast appear to be tourists in Africa for the first time. I paid a lot of "tuition" learning the merchant/hustler ropes and I'm still paying it more than I'd like to.

I went to the Castle Restaurant next door and got myself a late breakfast beer. Two young white people sat at the table next to me. The guy asked how the beer was. I replied not as cold as I'd like but colder than I've had. A couple of Peace Corps volunteers--Matt from AK and Sara from AL. We chatted for a while. They are computer and math teachers.

They left after a while and I left too to try to find the two forts up on the hills. I had to get by the soccer guy whose donation sheet went from 1 sucker to 2 suckers. I saw the forts, but couldn't find the path to get up. In the end, they aren't big and you can't enter them, so I just gave up. I needed a bit of a nap anyway.

When I woke up, I went to the rooftop of the Sammo Guest House which is supposed to be a bar restaurant, but there was nobody working there. Eventually, I gave up and went back to the Oasis Guest House bar which promised to be a bit more lively.

And it was. Of course, I just sat there reading La route. A local girl was sitting across from me at the circular bar. Another artist came in but I wasn't interested and he gave up. I like this non-persistence. The soccer donation guy came in and recognized me. He showed me his donation list, now up to about 10 suckers, and asked one last time. I told him he already asked and I already answered. Then he leaned in and made another offer--a nice sweet local Cape Coast girl for the night. Interesting offer. But, no, not interested. I chatted briefly with a medical worker from OH. The light eventually started to give way, and soon it was too dark to read. The girl at the other side of the bar came across. She had most likely seen my rejection of the soccer guy's pimping services. We chatted for a while. She is a systems engineering student named Jennifer. She eventually was met by a guy friend of hers and I took the opportunity to come back to my hotel. I got a bit lost, but the locals helped me out by showing me the shortest way from where I was.

Friday, October 18, 2008 20:33 Ghana local time