To Cape Coast

The next morning Beth prepared some great pancakes, and then we packed up and headed out to Fifi’s house in town - were they had graciously offered to store our bags for two days while we headed north to visit Cape Coast. We dropped off the bags, and then were off to the bus station to find the next bus north. After exploring the station we found some tickets for a noon bus from Accra to Cape Coast. The interesting part was that when the bus pulled up we figured out that there were only 52 seats, although one of our tickets was for seat 53 :) I guess they knew what they were doing, because by the time the bus took off every seat was full, and no one seemed to be left behind. They really pack the people in, part of the reserved seats are ones that fold down into the aisle after all the other seats have been loaded.

Three hours of muggy, bumpy, cramped travel concluded when we arrived at the gas station in Cape Coast. Just outside the bus we quenched our thirst with a ‘Choco Fan Milk’ a frozen chocolate treat from a vendor in the parking lot. One of the big differences in Africa is the proliferation of vendors in most all public places, offering everything from a quick snack to a roll of toilet paper. In the same gas station parking lot we met Papa Yeboah, who drove us to the hotel, and we also arranged to meet him the next day to visit the town and castles.
The Coconut Grove Resort was a welcome reprieve from a hot day of traveling, where we found an air conditioned room and chocolate ice cream at the restaurant. The setting was beautiful; the resort was outside of town, making it fairly secluded - which also meant a clean sandy beach (beaches close to town are generally scattered with trash that has either been dumped there, or dumped into the ocean and then washed ashore). We all agreed that the view past the palm trees, over the waves crashing on the rocky outcrops, towards the horizon was one of the most picturesque we had seen in all of our combined travels. We spent a relaxing night chatting by the pool and enjoying a wonderful meal - and we made friends with our waitress Vida. We tried variations on local cuisine that included a great peanut soup, fried plantains, sole, and a dish called ‘Red Red’ that was a spicy rice with mixed in fish pieces. After dinner we headed back to the room for some rest, with Uncle Karsten taking up residence on the floor in the middle room of our ‘family suite.’ They had told us the room was available, and it sounded nice - but when we had come to the room earlier in the day we found out there wasn’t a fifth bed. They wanted another $20 for a mattress for the floor, which was a bit ridiculous given the price of the room, so Uncle Karsten said he’d be happy sleeping on the couch cushions on the floor!