weekend in senya beraku
this weekend was pretty tame but worth writing about i guess. no spitting snakes, crocodiles or river safaris but a good time nonetheless. originally we were supposed to go hiking up near the togo border this weekend but that fell through because some got sick. so on saturday morning we caught a trotro an hour west to a town on the coast called senya beraku. we arrive at the tro tro station and walk fifteen minutes through the town to get to the hotel advertised in the guide. on the way we passed through two funerals. funerals in Ghana last three days and involve more partying than mourning. each of the funerals had some massive speakers blasting music so loud that you couldnt talk with 20 metres of them. and there werent people dancing or anything. they were just sitting there in a large group listening to this music and staring off into the distance. very strange.
we got to the hotel to find that it was actually a small dutch slave trading fort that had been very well preserved and converted into a small hotel with five rooms. there were 8 of us so we took up the whole thing pretty much which was kind of cool. the fort was on the edge of a cliff overlooking the beach below which was full of fishing boats and tons of people. we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and took a cab to the next town to a beach hotel where we had lunch and spent the day on the beach. there was a massive group of americans from pennsylvania staying at the hotel. im tempted to say they were amish but i dont think amish can fly or be in boats with motors so i dont know how they wouldve gotten to africa. its a long paddle.
they were missionaries from some organisation and they were building schools. the women were all wearing bonnets and dresses and a lot of the men were in farming clothes. and this was on the beach. it was really something to see. we were the only people in bathing suits for most of the day.
later in the afternoon we played some beach volleyball against a Ghanaian church group that showed up mid-afternoon. they were all dressed identically in dress shoes, pants and traditional african shirts. we beat them 2 games to 1 which was pretty cool but i think the fact that they were wearing such nice clothes and we were wearing beach stuff might have had something to do with our victory.
we made it back to our hotel after dinner and kept the manager up late ordering drinks. the urinal downstairs was right next to this really dark and scary room which we later found out was the room of no return for the slaves being held in the fort. from that room there was a long tunnel down to the water where they would be taken to ships. augustin was using the urinal and i was waiting so i decided to check the room out. it was dark and really smelled bad so i didnt stay long but just as i was leaving a bat flew right over my shoulder screeching. i dont like bats so i ran away and left augustin at the urinal. we never saw him again. ok thats a lie but the story needed a good ending.
the next morning we went into town to eat and sat on the porch of this old colonial era building for quite a while. a huge group of kids camped out behind us and just watched us. we got some pictures that i will share when i get them. after that we took a walk down to the fishing beach we could see from the hotel. two boats were just getting back when we got there and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of people, milling around who definitely werent fishermen. there was a group of men who were paid 3 little fish by the fishermen for every big crate of fish they brought from the boat to beach on their head. then there was a huge group of little kids who were standing around the crates stealing fish as they were brought in. a really angry fishermen started yelling at them to get away and apparently he was going to beat any kid who he caught with his fish. some kid said that he beats a lot of kids. there was also a group of old ladies who were yelling at everyone around them and especially at each other. and then there was us standing right in the middle of it all. it was cool to be there and no kids got beaten so it was a good day.
i feel like my blog material is getting a bit thin. things are less crazy to me now than they were a month and a half ago so im having trouble figuring out what people at home would enjoy read ing about. if anyone wants me to write about something specific let me know.
we got to the hotel to find that it was actually a small dutch slave trading fort that had been very well preserved and converted into a small hotel with five rooms. there were 8 of us so we took up the whole thing pretty much which was kind of cool. the fort was on the edge of a cliff overlooking the beach below which was full of fishing boats and tons of people. we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and took a cab to the next town to a beach hotel where we had lunch and spent the day on the beach. there was a massive group of americans from pennsylvania staying at the hotel. im tempted to say they were amish but i dont think amish can fly or be in boats with motors so i dont know how they wouldve gotten to africa. its a long paddle.
they were missionaries from some organisation and they were building schools. the women were all wearing bonnets and dresses and a lot of the men were in farming clothes. and this was on the beach. it was really something to see. we were the only people in bathing suits for most of the day.
later in the afternoon we played some beach volleyball against a Ghanaian church group that showed up mid-afternoon. they were all dressed identically in dress shoes, pants and traditional african shirts. we beat them 2 games to 1 which was pretty cool but i think the fact that they were wearing such nice clothes and we were wearing beach stuff might have had something to do with our victory.
we made it back to our hotel after dinner and kept the manager up late ordering drinks. the urinal downstairs was right next to this really dark and scary room which we later found out was the room of no return for the slaves being held in the fort. from that room there was a long tunnel down to the water where they would be taken to ships. augustin was using the urinal and i was waiting so i decided to check the room out. it was dark and really smelled bad so i didnt stay long but just as i was leaving a bat flew right over my shoulder screeching. i dont like bats so i ran away and left augustin at the urinal. we never saw him again. ok thats a lie but the story needed a good ending.
the next morning we went into town to eat and sat on the porch of this old colonial era building for quite a while. a huge group of kids camped out behind us and just watched us. we got some pictures that i will share when i get them. after that we took a walk down to the fishing beach we could see from the hotel. two boats were just getting back when we got there and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of people, milling around who definitely werent fishermen. there was a group of men who were paid 3 little fish by the fishermen for every big crate of fish they brought from the boat to beach on their head. then there was a huge group of little kids who were standing around the crates stealing fish as they were brought in. a really angry fishermen started yelling at them to get away and apparently he was going to beat any kid who he caught with his fish. some kid said that he beats a lot of kids. there was also a group of old ladies who were yelling at everyone around them and especially at each other. and then there was us standing right in the middle of it all. it was cool to be there and no kids got beaten so it was a good day.
i feel like my blog material is getting a bit thin. things are less crazy to me now than they were a month and a half ago so im having trouble figuring out what people at home would enjoy read ing about. if anyone wants me to write about something specific let me know.
posted by Z at 3:13 AM
4 Comments:
zach,
i think that they were fake amish. posers, you might say. and that bat cave? crazy. i'm a believer. good times.
jess
Zach, I'm surprised someone as short as you are could be on a winning volleyball team. Hey - have you heard anything about Pirates being in the ocean - I heard a crazy stat. saying there is a lot of the east coast of africa.
copycat blog? At least my links work...you know what? You can just go back to Canada and ride a moose or drink milk out of a bag or something...
Hey Zach, I dont think your blog is getting boring at all. Seriously. You are just getting used to it over there so the stuff you write probably seems boring to you but to us over here anything you write is like gold. Keep it up!!
Johannah
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