04 Apr Ghana: The Gold Coast

Good morning to all of you
Forgive me for putting the title in English, it's not out of snobbery, it's just that this country used to be called that, and in Spanish it would look more like an advert for the Marina D'or flats on the Costa Dorada (and here I haven't seen a penny to advertise them).

I have already told you that I have taken few photos this time, because you should know that I went to Ghana to work (andeeee.... at my age...) and here they have kept me locked up all day, at the Kofi Annan Training Centre.

Still, given my inability to keep my attention on a lecture for more than 5′ (in total) I was forced to escape for a day and go to see Cape Coast.

Cape Coast was founded by the Portuguese in the 15th century for the timber and gold trade. It was later controlled by the Danes, Swedes and finally the English, who established the town as a regional assembly point for slaves to be shipped to the colonies. A Portuguese castle still stands, from inside which there are impressive views of the beach and of the town's main activity today, fishing.

Note the strong resemblance between this fisherman's body and mine emerging from the chad lake. Two peas in a pod (don't see my wonderful entry on Chad, because that picture I posted has done a lot of damage to my audience).

I have to admit that I loved watching this grandmother taking care of her grandson. You know, even Celtiberian males like me have a lonely female hormone that makes us tender from time to time.

One of the thousands of things that attract me to this land is the elegance in the gait of its women, who do not lose it, even if they wear, as in this case, something as unglamorous as "combat paper".

In Cape Coast I met some UN "members" from Côte d'Ivoire on an "under cover" mission who invited me to accompany them to Kakum National Park, and so I did. The two on the right are fighter pilots from Bangladesh. By the way, it seems that when the photographer said pa-ta-ta he missed a shot that hit two of the girls.

The Kakum canopy walk was created to observe the more than 600 species of butterflies that live there, and they say it is one of the longest in the world, although I don't know, the one in Costa Rica seemed bigger to me. Even so, the visit is worthwhile. In this forest, it is possible to see pygmy elephants, buffaloes and civets, although I got confused again and I can't remember how many of each species I saw (without the talisman to see elephants, there is no way...;-).

The return trip to Accra should be made in good time to be able to visit the ancient fortresses, the fishing villages and the incredible beaches on the itinerary.

Public transport in Africa is all very similar, and the Ghanaian tro-tro is not much different from the alajambra, the daladala or the matatus. A little more sophisticated is this transport that I photographed in the capital. While you go to work you can feel at home in your living room and watch TV, have a chat or even play a game of mus, comfort is not at odds with necessity.

Returning to Accra, I was telling you how little I went out between so many conferences. If anything, another day we escaped from a lecture and turned up at the Mokola market, totally controlled by women (the market I mean, not me, which sometimes happens).

By the way, you don't know how much courage it takes to cross this market at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, with almost 40 degrees and a humidity of 70%?

Of course, at night, while you slept peacefully, I and others like me, patrolled the most notorious nightclubs in the Osu area, watching over your safety. As you can see in the photo, in Accra we were the best of both houses.

It's amazing how "well" the conferences go in the morning after having a couple of "varon dandys" with tonic the night before at the modest price of 1€/pelotazo (the night confuses me)...
Don't forget, a friend's advice is to go to Tawala beach in Labadi to enjoy the 4 senses (except touch, what do you think?) You see how easy it is to get publicity, the owner of the beach bar only needed to buy me a beer.

Well, as I was saying, I am aware that these photos are not very good, but the memories I have of these days are much better and will remain in my head for a long time (until Alzheimer's separates us). Thank you very much Abubakar, (old friend from when I was in the chad, I've told you that I lived there and that was terrible, a bullet hole...?) for showing me your city.

And I'll end here, but I'll leave you with another curious thing, the Ghanaian coffins. They bury you in a coffin that represents what you have been or what you have dreamed of being in life. Coffins in the shape of a car, a mobile phone, or a bic pen (raise your hand if you never wanted to be a bic pen when you grew up),

or this one from Coca Cola. And I say, what kind of life do you have to have led to be buried in a coke coffin? A life full of gas?

I'm scared to think what my coffin would look like. Maybe in the shape of a gin and tonic in a balloon glass or worse, a brie sirloin steak skewer from El Lateral...my God, I'll be incinerated (and what's left, in a ming vase).