Beach holidays

So I felt like I saw the majority of what's to see here in Ghana and just wanted to relax.

When I left from the Mole national park, I already knew I probably wouldn't make it in one day to my destination Busua, so I found a Couchsurfing host in Cape Coast. His name was Xylo. He has a German girlfriend called Hanni, they are a super cute couple. I arrived there late at night and found out there are plenty of other travelers staying with them. The evening was short but really nice. Since many of these travelers were also German we had the most German breakfast possible here.

Bread with either chocolate cream, peanut butter or tomato sauce with salt and pepper. It's really basic but was none the less good!

Afterwards I left and went to Busua. 

Xylo recommended me to visit princess at princess bar, which I did. Princess is the daughter of the local chief. At this point I have to explain chieftains here in Ghana. They are a relic of older times and rule a certain area. There are also governors, mayors, the police and the military who can all tell you what to do and there is no real hierarchy, which makes things difficult at some times. Anyway, chiefs  are in charge in terms of buying land, you need to ask for permission to build something or to open a business. They also rule minor conflicts in the community. Overall the people here appreciate the fact that they exist, they are doing good, atleast for the people I spoke to.

Princess bar is a cool place and I slept a night at her place.

Busua is supposed to be an incredible nice relaxing beach place. I have to say it IS nice but not that superior. It is the most tourist beach I've been to. There is pancake man, juice man, lobster man, cake man and some others guys who really try hard to sell their stuff.

All the people on the coast are basically living from fishing or tourism. All the boats with the colorful flags are for fishing.

And we got us some fish! The squid and the yellow fin tuna combined cost us 40ghc (less then 7€), fresh from the ocean!

There is also a castle which we checked out.

Back in Busua I saw some skaters. First time seeing Skaters in Ghana!

I made friends with Theresa and Johannes, a couple from Austria. We went to another village called Butre.

This is them, Matt (on the left) also joined us. He is American and a super interesting guy to talk to!

We found this sound system in the village center, blasting loud RnB music.

And I promised you a bridge that's even worse right?

This construction is just madness.

But it lasted as we walked on it.

A local who we went on a boat tour with later on, told us a bit about the history. He asked if we knew about this rock and it's story. We did not and curiously we awaited his response. "It's the biggest rock here. It has been here for ever" was the answer. Yeah he might improve his tour guide skills but hey 🤷🏼‍♂️

Us, leaving with the boat.

Us, beeing stuck with the boat because the tide was so low. Yup, the guy really can improve his tour guide skills 😂

We eventually made it out there again by going backwards and came to shore safely.

The locals write all kind of weird stuff on the boats, usually with a religious background. This one said "SHALL PASS        TIME CHANGES".

I tried some sugar cane. Locals here eat the whole thing, they just gnaw and chew until it's gone. It's very sweet and supposedly good for the teeth which I really doubt.

Together with Theresa and Johannes I have been to this cafe to find out they don't serve any food (there is plenty on the menu but that doesn't matter here in Ghana). In the end they asked us what we wanted and how much we wanted to pay. We ordered Jollof for 8ghc each. Jollof is a special sort of fried rice. They were ok with our offer and started to make the food. It took them over an hour but we had this beautiful Cafe just for us.

They also had some art which I really liked.

And this is the food that finally came.

This way of serving rice (as a negative of a bowl) is the typical way.

Later in the evening we sat with Peter, he is the manager of the lodge I stayed at, his son, Theresa and Johannes. Peters son proudly presented us his Lego house which he spent hours on. When he showed it, it had two stories and was twice as high as in the picture.

Then he asked me if I knew how to play with Lego. As I told him that I do, he instantly started to deconstruct his house, so I could play. Johannes was also forced to join me. Turns out he is also an engineer, so we had very high expectations towards our project.

This is what we created. As anyone easily can see by the green leaves on top and the brown coconuts, this is a palm tree. It's so obvious that I feel stupid explaining it to you 🤣

I can proudly say that this beautiful palm tree fully met our expectations!

The locals caught a ray the other day, it was a huge thing.

They also caught a turtle (animal lovers ATTENTION: Skip this part and scroll past the next picture!).

It's pretty cruel but the locals cut the arms of the turtle so it can't run away while they stand in a circle around the animal and discuss on what to do with it. Later we found parts of it's shell on the beach..

Often there are people crazily overdressed for the place they are at. At least in my opinion. This dude enjoyed the beach in a suit, with tie and everything.

I ate lobster for the first time in my life (1kg for 65ghc, around 11€) and I'm really impressed by how delicious it is!

On the last days in Busua I FINALLY was able to get some avocado and enjoyed my favourite food here again 🤩

Eventually I left Busua to visit Cape Three Points for a day. This is the back of the Trotro I went with. We went for 90 minutes like this on really bumpy roads but did not loose a thing.

This is the beach at the "Escape Three Points". It's an ecological lodge which uses solar power and eco toilets. 

Magalie and me were literally alone there on the beach.

Later on we played some volleyball until I broke one pole by grabbing it and running circles around it 🤦🏻‍♂️

For my defense: The thing was already two years old and just bamboo, I really didn't use much force, I swear!

This is where we chilled at the beach.

I left early the next morning to Accra and took a motorbike (someone else drove) to the next big city. 

Check this bike, it's super cool!

The trip took me about 60 minutes but we stopped for 10 because a Trotro got stuck.

United forces didn't help. Notice at this point that all the passengers are still inside. Things just don't make sense here sometimes.

Anyway, the ride with the motorcycle was fun but REALLY muddy. This part with the Trotro is one of the better ones. Sometimes there was just water, mud and puddles.

This is how the motorcycle looked like afterwards.

And this is me.

After a 12 hours trip I made it back to Ajits place in Accra. He got himself a dog called Tuffy. He is suuuper cute.

Today is my last day in Ghana and I'll not do much. I have some money left, which I might spend on the African market if I feel like buying trousers. I also plan of making a quiche for Ajit, as a small thanks for his hospitality. Tomorrow I'll fly to Ethiopia and the day after to Buenos Aires. I have 13h transit in Addis Ababa and take then a 16h flight to Argentina. Gonna be super fun (not). I'll use that time to write a review about Ghana, somewhat like a summary of the overall experience.

So far, peace out

Laurin

They even had a slack line! I made it to the other end eventually.