Day 9: From Cape Coast to Accra (January 16, 2011)

I learned today while still in Cape Coast that because it's Sunday, the "nice" busses don't run from Cape Coast to Accra (one of the downsides of not planning every detail: some surprises are bad). The fellas at the hotel, who'd given me good advice in the past, suggested I try one of the tro-tros, which I've previously described as clown cars. They're super cheap but don't leave until they're full, and I do mean full. Plus, they're prone to breakdowns and crashes, and before today, lots of locals would purse their lips and shake their heads at me when I asked if I should take tro-tros somewhere. I don't know if they were being overly protective of a foreigner or if they're really as dreadful as some travelers claim. So to make a long-story medium length, I wound up taking a taxi from Cape Coast to Accra with one of the drivers I'd met a few days earlier. While it cost a lot more than the tro-tro or a bus, I was able to make a stop at another fort on the way to Accra. And by comparison, today's 4-hour ride cost less than a taxi from Dulles Airport to Dupont Circle.

The main stop was Fort William, an 18th Century English-built fort in Anomabo that, like the two Castles I saw earlier this week, was used primarily for the holding and transporting of slaves. Unlike those two Castles, though, Fort William is off the beaten path and my driver Danso and I were literally the only two people there, plus the guide, for the 30 or so minutes it took to tour it. I like that, so I'm not complaining. But there was also a clear difference in how much the two Castles have been restored, and how little the Fort has been, so if more visitors to Fort William mean it's more likely to be preserved, I hope more people stop in. Apparently the Fort is undergoing some (slow) restoration, but it sounds like it will take years to get much done.

Interestingly, this Fort was used as a prison from the 1960s until it closed in 2000. The prisoners were held in the same dungeons as the slaves (!) although treated better. Part of the Fort currently serves as a library for schoolchildren, too: The former colonial governors' quarters (oh, and the governors of this Fort were jerks just like all the governors around here).

An observation about the Fort William guide (and other guides at little-visited sites): While the guide knew a lot about the history of the Fort and its architecture, etc... I have to wonder if he's working under any official umbrella, or if he's just some guy with nothing better to do, so he hangs out at the Fort and charges 5 cedis per person to show them around. He seemed as knowledgeable about his Fort as the guides at the two Castles (who are clearly working for some museum system) but the whole thing was so casual, I'm just not sure. There's no ticket booth, no receipts, no uniform, etc. My skepticism increased when I saw laundry hanging in a corner of the Fort. The guide chuckled when I asked if he lived there, and said no but he had a lot of time so he did his laundry there (turns out he lives about 50 yards away in a well-kept shantytown). Then again, a lot of stuff around here is casual, from what you pay for something to when you pay for it, to when the busses leave or if there even is bus, etc. I don't feel ripped off by any of these tours, but I'd be happier knowing that some of the money I paid went to fix up the places I've seen, and not just to pay for the guide.

So I avoided the possible disaster that is the tro-tro, but my second detour of the day (well, third if you count the coconut stand, which was by the side of the road) was at the tire dealership, because Danso's taxi got a wobbly tire. I wound up standing around for about 10 minutes while he acquired and changed the tire. Good thing there are random tire salesmen all over! Although they all looked like used tires to me, it got us to Accra.

I was (surprisingly?) not annoyed by the minor delay. Maybe because Danso had delayed his trip by taking me to the Fort so it felt like a fair trade. Maybe because I'm on vacation and not in a hurry to get somewhere. Maybe because everyone around here is not in a hurry to get anywhere and it's rubbing off on me. Or maybe because in a new place, even mundane things like wobbly tires are interesting.

Tire store or tire dump?  You decide.

My hotel in Accra tonight is in a really different part of town than my first hotel (to which I'll retun tomorrow for my last night in Ghana). I wanted to see a different neighborhood. It seems like a middle class neighborhood in that the buildings are actual buildings, not shacks, and there are sidewalks and restaurants, which I didn't see in most other neighborhoods I visited. It's not Adams Morgan in DC, but if you think of Adams Morgan maybe 15 years ago, it's kind of close. A lot of color, a lot of people, and a little bit shady, but someplace you'd want to be. I'm glad I stayed in this part of town for one night; I'd hate to leave Ghana thinking that everyone is poor.

This hotel also makes me wonder if the Rising Phoenix Hotel deliberately made its cottages kind of ramshackle to fit westerner's stereotypes about what an African hotel is supposed to be. Maybe I didn't freak out about the lizards in my room, or the chickens outside the door, or the scruffy bathroom, or the woven mat floors because stuff is supposed be like that in Africa, right? But my place in Cape Coast and this place are much more like the mildly dingy but reliable bed and breakfasts I've stayed in in London and central Europe. Actually, they're nicer than the ones in London. And one-third the cost.