welcome to winneba

Winneba

Just got back from Winneba, and the short version is: IT WAS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! WONDERFUL TIME WITH FRIENDS, MADE NEW FRIENDS, WENT TO THE BEACH, HAD COCONUTS PICKED AND GIVEN TO US BY LOCALS, WATCHED OUR FIRST AFRICAN THUNDERSTORM, SAW THE SUN RISE OVER THE OCEAN AT THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING, RESTED.

The long version may take several hours to write, and may take you a LONG time to read, but if you’re ready, I’m ready!

Day 1- Friday
So our trip began Friday morning. Six of were going to make the trip on Friday, and nine others joined us on Saturday. But the six that went were Gillian, Marykate, Mallory, Tina, Gabby and I. One of the most interesting parts of our trip began before tires even started rolling towards Winneba. First, the Solomon’s girls (Gillian, Marykate and I) met up with the Church girls at “Coffee Shop,” a local landmark here, and took a cab to the Tema Bus Station. We had originally planned on taking a privately owned bus, though when we got there, the woman said there wasn’t another bus leaving until 12:30, and it would cost us 6 Cedi each. We opted not to wait for two hours, and not to pay the 6 Cedi, so the woman told us there are tro-tros that leave for Winneba all the time, so we decided to make our way over to Kaneshi, the market where I got accosted (see previous post)/the place where tro-tros are. At the bus station we asked a cab driver for a lift to Kaneshi, which we knew was close by, but didn’t know the exact direction. He asked us for 6 Cedi, which is a huge rip-off. He wouldn’t even try bargaining with us, and thought we were really going to fall for his tricks. We’re all getting good at spotting good prices v. bad prices, and this was clearly a rip-off, since he was only taking us maybe a mile, probably less. So, instead, we decided to just walk to Kaneshi, being directed by friendly locals trying to help us out. We finally got to what we thought was Kaneshi, since there were a ton of tro-tros there, and were directed to a bigger, nicer, mini-van type of tro-tro that was going to Winneba. Great! We all got in and got settled and we were told it’d be 6 Cedi again! Tro-tros should never cost more than 1 Cedi, and that’s for really long distances. We tried to bargain to no avail, and finally just walked out while the guy was trying to explain to us why it was fair, etc. etc. A kind man saw us and decided to walk us to the right Kaneshi, where we finally boarded the right bus! It was a public metro bus, but bigger and taller than the metro buses we have in America, and painted bright orange. It was pretty new, and only cost us 90 pesewas!! While we waited for the bus to fill up, I bought a FanIce, plantain chips and a sweat rag out the window. Vendors crowd around waiting buses' windows because they know people will buy something because it’s SO hot.

The bus ride was nice. It took a little over an hour to drive about 60 miles west along the coast. The bus made frequent stops, as people will just call out where they want to be dropped off along the route. Thankfully, Winneba was the last stop, so we didn’t have to do much guesswork or anything. Once we got off the bus, there was a cab just waiting, so we took it to our hotel, Lagoon Lodge.

Gabby, our trip planner, had been speaking over the phone with Isaac, the owner, all week, and he greeted us warmly upon arrival. Lagoon Lodge is a beautiful hotel with an open courtyard in the center where their restaurant seating is. There are two floors, and one side of the hotel overlooks wide, open, African plains. It was an amazing thing to see, especially at sunset, but we’ll get to that later. The six of us shared three rooms, and it only cost us 10 Cedi per night per person to stay. Talk about cheap!!

*Winneba is absolutely incredible (I think I’ve used that phrase a whole lot), but it’s true. It’s a quiet, quiet beach town located 60 miles west of Accra, and there’s nothing touristy about it. Most people who see you are shocked that an Obruni is there, and are more than welcoming and hospitable because of that. It’s so unlike Accra, and it was such a refresher. There’s a lot of fishing that happens there, and families just mind their own business and go on living their quaint, perfect little beachside lives.*

After we threw our stuff down, we were so excited to get to the beach, so we asked Isaac where we needed to walk, and he directed us down a path which took us about 10 minutes to walk to the beach. When we turned the final corner and could hear the ocean, we all just squealed with delight and ran up to the beach, which is covered in palm trees, fishing boats, and white sand. It truly is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to. It was so quiet and peaceful and the sound of the ocean can lull me into euphoria any day. Marykate and I walked down towards the water while the other girls stayed up at the top, and noticed a very good looking Ghanaian couple taking our picture. We turned to them and asked them if we could take their picture, and they agreed, and we spent the next few minutes taking various pictures of each other. They were grad students at the local university, and were enjoying their day off at the beach. After the pictures, MK and I joined the others and started walking to get food at a place Isaac recommended, Emmanuel’s. On the way to Emmanuel’s, we saw some Ghanaian children, and we always wave and say hi to the children, because they usually are so enthralled by seeing a white person. Mallory went up to one group of about 4 students, all different ages, but the youngest being no older than 3, and waved to them and reached out her hand. The youngest girl shuddered and began to cry when Mallory reached out her hand, because the girl had never seen an Obruni before. It was the strangest thing, but completely understandable. I’ve tried to find an equivalent to that in America, but I don’t think there is one, and since the US is such a diverse country already, nothing surprises us.
A fishing boat I just loved on the beach

We got to Emmanuel’s, which wasn’t a close walk, and much to our dismay, Emmanuel’s restaurant had been replaced by his little snack shop. There are many of these types of stores all over Accra, and they sell crackers and chocolate and the like. At this point we were all starving and had such an exhausting day already, that we asked Emmanuel where a good place to eat was, and he said there wasn’t one anywhere near this beach, but that he’d drive us to Royal beach, where there was an outdoor restaurant overlooking the beach. So all six of us piled in his nice station wagon, and he drove us for about 10 minutes to Royal beach. At the restaurant’s entrance there was a beach guard charging 5 Cedi to park. Emmanuel didn’t think this was fair, since people who are parking are paying to eat at the restaurant. Emmanuel proceeded to have a 5 minute long argument with this beach patrol man in Twi (so we couldn’t understand and word of it) and finally got us to the restaurant. Emmanuel gave us his phone number and told us to call him when we were done swimming and eating, and he’d come back to pick us up. The restaurant is basically a gazebo type thing overlooking the water on a hill and the people serving us were so friendly (as is everyone everywhere). While we were waiting for our food, we noticed a boy climbing what, I kid you not, was a 50 foot palm tree, carrying a machete in one hand and climbing the bare tree with just his arms and legs. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen, and he literally just climbed up it like a monkey. I was enthralled, and watched him throughout our lunch as he sat in the palm tree and cut off coconuts and threw them to the ground. His friends were at the bottom just kind of watching, and the boy was up in the tree for a good 20 minutes. I wasn’t paying attention when he came down, but soon after, he and all his friends came over with 6 coconuts, cut off the tops of each of them, and gave us each one! We drank out all the milk (which I’m not particularly fond of, but had to be a good sport) and even had a chugging contest at one point to finish it off. When we were done, the boys cut open each of our coconuts so we could eat the meat of it (which, again, I didn’t particularly like). But it was just the most surreal experience—sitting by the ocean, being waited on by the most genuinely hospitable people, watching a boy climb a coconut tree, bring us the coconuts, and help us eat and drink the coconuts, and enjoying good company. We all just sat back and reminded ourselves of how lucky we are, and how “we’re in Africa!” and how incredible that moment and the entire day were.

Fresh from the tree!
Us with the waiters/coconut people!

After we were done eating our rice and chicken (a standard dish here served at most restaurants), we walked the ten feet to the ocean and immediately ran in. The water was the perfect temperature, and was soooo refreshing. We collected shells and just swam and had a great time. Emmanuel had come and waited in his car until we were done. We told him we wanted to wash our sandy feet off before we got in his car, so he asked the owner of the restaurant (who also owns the hostel right next to the restaurant) to let us go into one of the rooms to wash our feet in the shower. He asked the owner all of this in Twi, so we didn’t know what he was saying until the owner showed us to a room. We were humbled by their graciousness but politely declined because we didn’t want to impose. Emmanuel said it was perfectly fine if we got in the car dirty, that he didn’t care. I sat in the front seat and talked to him the entire way back to our hotel. He told me that Isaac was right, he did once own a restaurant, but closed it when the students he housed (he also owns hostels next to his store for students to stay in over the semester) left for the break. He said he planned on opening it up again soon. He invited us over the following day for lunch, and said he’d open up his kitchen and cook us spaghetti with tomato and tuna sauce. Let me just say, this kind of hospitality and kindness is so beautiful. There were no ulterior motives, no weirdness, just pure, simple, kindness. One fellow human extending a hand to another and welcoming us into his home and family.

When we got back to the hotel, we showered and sat around talking for a long time, and ate dinner at the hotel. We all ordered grilled cheese sandwiches, which were great, and massive amounts of French fries (they get us every time!). Also, the hotel serves fresh (as in, cut up a pineapple in front of you and put it through the juicer) pineapple juice, of which we each got a glass.
the sunset over the plains

After dinner we all sat up on the hotel’s second level porch, and talked and read and just rested. After a while the wind really started picking up, and there was heat lightning every few minutes which would light up the entire sky purple and blue. In the distance we could hear drummers and singers playing music as it started lightening and thunderstorming. It was such a beautiful sight and sound to behold, and we just sat under the porch covering listening to God work his magic on the African sky and plains. We slept well.

Day 2- Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up around 10 and had breakfast at the hotel. I had oatmeal and a pineapple juice, both of which were good. After breakfast we went to the beach for a little bit, taking pictures (this time I brought my good camera, I had forgotten to on Friday) and just walking along the sand. We promised Emmanuel we’d be there at noon, so we didn’t swim in the morning. We got to Emmanuel’s at noon and he and his wife greeted us with open arms and broad smiles. They had set up a place for us in their “backyard” (which is huge and beautiful, since it’s also the hostel’s backyard). We waited for a few minutes while they finished cooking the spaghetti (I think from their own kitchen), and talked under a little beaded canopy hut thing. It was so cool and just, again, beautiful. The spaghetti was amazing, and I didn’t think I’d like the tuna, but it was actually really good because the tuna was in chunks and tasted kinda like chicken. Anyway, it was great, and Emmanuel joined us and we thanked him profusely for his kindness. He also showed us one guest house he has available for normal tourists, where they can stay for only 20 Cedi a night! If/when I go back to Winneba, I’ll definitely stay there! We took a picture with him and will send it to him. He called me later that day and asked us if we wanted breakfast before we left Sunday morning—that’s hospitality.
At the beach!

Us with Emmanuel!

After lunch, we split off into two groups—Gillian and Mallory went to the Fort of Good Hope, a slave castle a few miles away, and Gabby, Tina, Marykate and I went to the beach to just swim and lay out and read. I ended up swimming quite a bit, but there was one point when the tide completely overtook me and I got tossed around a bit. I decided I’d just lie out on the beach, work on my tan, sleep, and read. I think one of my favorite things in the world is sleeping on a towel on the beach during the day. The feeling of the sun hitting your back is pretty great. Anyway, at the beach Marykate and I met another friend named Richard, who is 17 and whose father and he own one of the fishing boats we saw on the beach. He offered to take us out fishing Sunday morning at 6 a.m., and of course we agreed! After the beach, Marykate, Tina and I took a taxi into town to visit the local market (MUCH MUCH smaller than Kaneshi market). It was SO much fun, because all the market people were so nice and weren’t hassling us or anything. Funny story—the kids here LOVE having their picture taken. When you show them their picture they absolutely die laughing, they think it’s the coolest thing ever to see themselves in your camera. So I was taking pictures of all the kids at the market, and slowly more and more started climbing on me, begging me to take their picture. They make hilarious faces and poses (I don’t know where the get these poses from!) and it’s just hilarious. I also found popcorn kernels (“popping corn”) at the market, which was great because I’ve been looking for it for a while and can’t find it anywhere.

After the market we went to a Catholic church in town, which was beautiful both on the outside and the inside. The inside was painted in bright pink, and the altar had tens of Jesus statues all over. It reminded me of the church scenes in “Romeo + Juliet”. The children’s choir was practicing as we walked in, and it was so great to see another kind of church here. After, we came back and had dinner at our hotel, again. I had oatmeal and french-fries, and strawberry ice cream for dessert—what a balanced dinner, right? Oh well, you only live once. Gillian and I decided to stay in and watch a movie in our hotel room, but the cable cut out about half way through, and it was already 1 a.m., so we decided to call it a night since we had to wake up at 5:15 to go fishing!

Day 3- Sunday
We got up at 5:15, as planned, and were SO tired. We all were ready on time, and headed over to the beach around 5:45, when it was still pitch black outside. As we were walking, nighttime slowly started to turn into dusk, which was really cool to see, since I’m never up that early. We got to the beach and were astounded by the size of the breaking waves. These were bigger than I’ve probably ever seen, and definitely not okay to take a pretty small fishing boat out in. Richard was already there waiting when we arrived, and after waiting for about 30 minutes to see if the waves would slow down, he told us it wouldn’t be a good idea to go out. It was a blessing in disguise though, because as much as I wanted to go out on the boat, it was incredible sitting on the sand and watching the sun rise through the fog and then just open up over the entire ocean. It was really amazing. Definitely the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. We thanked Richard and exchanged contact information, which he wrote down in his school notebook. Another interesting point—his school notebook is like a Ghanaian standard school notebook, every child is given one by the school. On the cover, though, there’s a black and white picture of Oprah grinning, probably taken in the late 1980s. I thought it was the funniest thing, and asked Richard if he knew who that was on the cover. He said no, and we told him she was a famous television personality and had TONS of money, and he just kind of smiled and didn’t seem to care. It was so funny to see how unimpressive, or really, just unimportant she is here. Anyway, we said bye to Richard, then headed back to the hotel and had a quick breakfast before leaving. We caught a bus right away and it left pretty soon after we got on, and we were home in Accra by 11 a.m.
Good morning! Richard, Marykate, Tina, Mallory and me at 6 a.m.

I’ve spent the rest of my day doing laundry, writing this blog, unpacking, and napping, and it’s been great. Tonight Gillian and I made Red-Red, the dish I’ve been talking about! It’s fairly simple to make, but takes a bit of time, since the beans have to cook for an hour. I had it for dinner and it was delicious! I can’t wait to make it for everyone in the states! We need palm oil, though, and I don’t think that’s readily available in America. Maybe they’d have it at World Market or Central Market or a specialty store like that. Anyway, it turned out great and I can’t wait to make it for everyone! In a little bit we’re going to watch a movie and eat popcorn while I read some manuals for WAAF. I start my first day tomorrow at 9 a.m.! I’m really, really excited, and can’t wait to work with Belynda, my boss. She’s incredibly sweet and I think is going to make this experience even better than it already will be.

Now that I’ve spent five pages of a Word document writing, I’ll shut up and wish you all well and hope that everyone is happy and healthy and had a great weekend! If you ever get the chance to go to West Africa, and have a limited amount of time, skip Accra and go to Winneba. You will not regret it. I miss everyone and love you all so much!

love love love