My alarm went off at 6 to go running with Kara and Emma. Naturally, I hit snooze, and on my way back to sleep noticed a text message from Bridget, saying that her mom had to go out of town this weekend for work, so we will have to reschedule my trip to Takoradi. I understood completely, and immediately my brain went into “Plan B” mode. I decided to go to Accra on Saturday by way of Winneba. Another friend from school sent gifts to be delivered to her host family in Winneba, which is about halfway between Cape Coast and Accra. From Winneba, we could continue on to Accra, where I could buy a new charger and stay at the Global Mamas house there.
The run was nice, as today’s weather seems to be continuing the cloudy and cool trend. Since I wasn’t able to drag myself out of bed until 7:30 at the earliest last week, being up, exercised, showered, and eating breakfast by 7:30 makes me feel so accomplished. When chatting with another volunteer, Kirsten, over breakfast, she told me a story of how her charger got overheated one day and stopped working. She continued, saying that the next day, she plugged it in and it worked just fine. Excited at the possibility of not having to travel to Accra and spend $100+, I scampered into our room and pulled my previously discarded charger out of my military sea duffle bag. I plugged it in to the adapter, then the power strip, and then to my laptop, fingers inwardly crossed. *Bing* A green light appeared, and then turned orange, indicating that my laptop was charging. I did a little celebration dance, okay, maybe it was a big celebration dance, and returned to breakfast, feeling relieved, and feeling my brain kick into “Plan C” mode, which consists of staying home and relaxing in Elmina with the other Global Mamas.
Since I don’t do music or teacher trainings on Fridays, I headed into the office with Erin et. al. Global Mamas provides tours of Cape Coast to their new volunteers, and for some reason, we managed to live here for two weeks without making the time for one. Our tour guide/Global Mamas employee, Erin, and I set out to explore the city. He took us down to the beach, where we were able to watch the fishermen mending their nets, getting ready to cast them out. We stopped at a batik shop where some Global Mamas products are made, and one of the ladies, Emma, showed us some of the batik stamps and the hot wax. Erin has been to a Global Mamas batiking workshop, but I have not. After watching Emma work, I think that might be on my list of things to do in the next week or so.
We continued to explore around the Cape Coast castle area, and then made our way up town to Kotokuraba market, which is very familiar to me. At least, I thought it was familiar to me, since I have purchased things there many times. But, as it turns out, I was only experiencing the outermost circle of the market. George led us between two small, nondescript shops, and all of a sudden, a whole new world opened up. Stall after stall of goods lined the dirt path, which was only about as wide as a person and a half. On top of that, people carrying huge bags of flour or big bowls of unknown goods on their heads rushed up and down the aisles, making me feel quite in the way. I am positive I looked like the biggest deer headlights have ever seen. We passed stand after stand of bananas, plantains, avocados, cabbage, overflowing bowls of rice and beans, chili peppers, tomato paste, smoked fish, crabs, and yes, even muscles that were still alive and moving. I found myself making mental notes by the dozen:
“Those are the biggest mangos I’ve seen yet. Remember that lady.”
“Rosemary and thyme? I have got to come back here.”
“Yes! Green onions and bell peppers. Next time I’ll make a left at the palm oil stand to avoid walking past the decapitated fish again."
And so on.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of East Liverpool as we were leaving the market and I ran into one of the teachers from the school. We chatted for a few seconds, I said, “See ya Monday,” and we continued the tour. I chuckled to myself and was in no way surprised that this seemingly foreign and exotic place is starting to have a small town feel.
We wrapped up our tour and headed back to the office, picked up the rest of the Global Mamas, and headed out for a goodbye lunch for Sara, one of the volunteers, who is heading out today. For the third time this week, I got lunch from Baobab. Today I tried the tofu salad and another smoothie. Both of which were quite good. After lunch I headed up to the seamstress to pick up the dress I ordered last week. It was ready, and they let me try it on. It fit pretty well, and I love the pattern of the fabric. Tomorrow we are going to a Ghanaian wedding, and I can’t wait to try it out there!
Tonight we are going to Eli’s (surprise, surprise) to celebrate Emma’s birthday. We are having gari, which sounds like the Ghanaian equivalent of couscous. Some of the volunteers are here visiting from Accra, so I think we are planning to have a girl’s night in the house. Not sure what else is in store for the weekend, but I'm sure it will be a good time.
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