Ghana Day 2 - 3/12

First, we headed downtown, found our way to the lighthouse, and figured out a way to get up to the top. Luckily both of us were scared of heights, so there wasn’t any rushing! At the top, the view was quite impressive. Though Accra has some big buildings, the lighthouse offered quite the vista. From there, we determined our course of action and wound our way back down. We headed over to the part of the beach where they were slaughtering goats and preparing them for market. It was a strange site, vultures picking up the few scraps, specialists in each step, from the younger boys going to the sea to get buckets of water to clean the area where they were shaving and preparing the intestines to the guys killing the goats to the roasters. It is never difficult for me to understand why someone is a vegetarian. From there, we went out along the coast to the part of the shore where the fishermen dock on the beach (if you can say that?). The boats were packed in tight and some of the crews were repairing nets. It seemed like an easier life than I expected as they generally only go out 3-4 hours a day. Next stop, a castle! Unfortunately, this one had few of the exciting tales of armored knights and held many more of slaves brought from across Western Africa to be shipped to the Americas. To add indignity to the horror, it was also used to hold political prisoners during the struggle for Ghanaian independence. We wound our way through the cells, and I was surprised to find the artwork of the prisoners still there. Dave enjoys learning much more than I do and the part which the EU funded to turn into a museum was similar to my 8th Grade social studies textbook. So our occasional question about Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas, etc. seemed to take them off-guard. Ghana is hot. Ghana indoors without fans, open windows, or AC, is hotter. We got out of there dehydrated and weakened. On our way to meet Meredith for lunch, we stopped and downed some cold water which seemed particularly delicious! After a good lunch, we headed over to the national museum and checked out the exhibits there. My colleagues gave me a hard time for wanting to relax in Ghana for a couple of days, but I thought it was great-especially the Red Red (black-eyed peas in a tomato sauce over fried plantains). My only real complaint? They have GOT to get their sewage system working. It is pointless to have treatment facilities if they aren’t maintained…and the beaches are foul enough people generally don’t go near them. Luckily I don’t enjoy fish, because there is a lot of seafood in Accra, but I sure wouldn’t want to eat anything that was caught close to the coast that serves as a septic tank for 2 million people.