Day 23 (sunday)

That's a normal site to see...there is no real waste management and they don't recycle.

At the beach in Cape Coast the morning we were trying to leave.

I love it!

This one's for Early...otherwise it's just a taxi that brought us to the STC yard.

 

Maureen awoke and politely asked how I slept and I just giggled but she said she slept pretty well. She started getting ready for church and left just before 8. I laid around for a bit and went to the lobby to use the internet then came back and took a shower. I got the voucher and went for the continental breakfast where they offered an extravagant meal (or really just eggs, toast and oatmeal with coffee, tea, or water) and realized that they didn't have oatmeal because they ran out and the toast was just a couple of non-toasted slices of bread so I had to sprinkle some sugar on it to make it sort of pallatable and enjoyed my instant coffee. I bought some water and headed back to the room to write for a bit then Maureen came back and wanted to go to the beach before we left. We ended up back at the Cape Coast castle and the weather was really nice and the water looked really green and pretty. Some kids were doing flips and aerials over one of the old cannons in the sand so I took some pictures (afterwards they wanted money for the show they just put on...everyone wants money for something) and moved on. I enjoyed being at the beach and we just walked along a bit and then there was a group of 5 or 6 guys who were coming down to the beach and the first one wanted to take pictures of my tattoos and they were generally pretty kind except for the last guy...he began yelling (I couldn't understand what he was saying but I knew that it was directed at me) and eventually said that I was terrible and that what my forefathers did to his forefathers was attrocious and kept going on so we just left (that was my first real experience with someone vocalizing that they hated me because I was white). We left the beach and went to the STC station to make sure that we could get a comfortable seat and secure a spot...are you (am I) ready for a much more comfortable ride home? Nope, me either (they decided this morning they weren't running any to Kumasi). Now it's on to figuring out what to do...it's an adventure at the STC yard. We decided to go to Accra then to Kumasi then not then yes scrap that, going to the “short-bus” station. We had a bite to eat at the restaurant near the station and Maureen ordered and I ordered a pizza (I said no thanks originally because it was too expensive then they lessened the price so I felt obligated to say yes) but Maureen got hers and finished it with plenty of time to spare before I even got mine...Loving this! We made our way to the other station to make sure we could get a ride home and when we got there realized that there were only the smaller vans (similar to a tro tro) left and that there weren't too many more going to Kumasi but Maureen decided not to take the “last one” because that was the exact type she was in during her accident. Ultimately another one came and she decided to just take it (I have to keep explaining that my comfort should not be her priority) so we boarded and were in for quite an adventure. As we left I realized that there was finally enough room for my knees but absolutely no room to move around or stand up if I wanted to nor was there anywhere for me to put my head so trying to sleep was out of the question. It turns out that I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyways...the driver was speeding quite a bit and passing often and got so close once that as he went to pass a car (he was right on the guys bumper) there was a big truck in the oncoming lane so he just had to split the gap, narrowly missing either car by mere inches or less! There was no sleep or even attempt to and along the way I saw 2 overturned semi-trucks on the side of the road and 3 or 4 head on car crashes off to the side of the road (all cases just looked like they were deserted) but I never saw any people around them, I also never saw them on the way down to Cape Coast. We got back to Kumasi and took a few taxi's through parts of town I hadn't been to but eventually got home safely. I took a shower and mom and dad (Maureen's campus family) came by and it turns out they had been trying to contact us all weekend and were getting worried (her phone was still broken and turned off). I went to bed shortly thereafter, completely exhausted.