Travels, Tombstones, T-Shirts and other Peculiarities

I have finished my travels along the coast and am quite happy to return to Kumasi, not only because of the inordinate amount of mosquito (and other unknown bug) bites I accumulated on the coast or because of the lack of internet, but also because the coast is mostly just pretty beach. Not that I don't enjoy the nice beach every now and again, but I can only spend so long staring at ocean and sand before I get incredibly bored. It was a nice get away, I'll have to admit, but when I travel within a country, I usually like to see something unique the country has too offer. Beaches really don't fill that role. I suppose I should be thankful for the slave castles. Those made the trip more than worth it. As well as the stories I got from the journey.

Most good stories occur when reality borders on the rediculous or when my life is being threatened. Fortunately for you all, I have both! Goats are everywhere in this country. Everywhere! On the way back to Kumasi from the coast, we plowed into one with the tro tro. For some reason I wasn't phased. I wasn't phased when the door fell off my tro tro either. While I was concerned when we had passengers on top of our tro over a dirty/bumpy road, I was a little concerned, but not surprised at all. But all of that takes a back seat to when goats were placed on the top of our tro tro and tied around the waste. Throughout the journey his hooves were clanking on the top of the tro. Sure enough, at one point during the ride, the goat tumbles off the side of the tro and dangles there by the rope for a few minutes before the driver realizes and the tro stops. I couldn't stop laughing. It was priceless.

Tros come in various shapes and sizes... and various rust to actual metal ratios. Several times while riding along the coast I was fortunate enough to get into a tro that was definately more rust than actual metal and the seats weren't really bolted to the floor, so they freely swayed to the whims of the road. Now, I realize that this is a feature that they use in amusement rides and people pay good money for. In this case, my only consolation was that the tro tro was so beat up and old that it's top speed wasn't horrific. So instead of a speeding death trap, it was just a death trap. I often thought of the stories I've heard of when the axel snaps off a tro tro and what's usually left is a heap of twisted metal. You'd think that with all the traveling I've done and all the near death experiences I've had in various vehicles, I would have lost the impending sense of doom by now. And yet it's still that imminent threat of danger that makes the ride that much more exciting.

Aside from transportation, there are a large variety of other perculiar things to see in Ghana. Funerals are abig part of Ghanaian culture. They are quite similar to weddings in the sense that there is a huge crowd, musical entertainment, food and formal invitation. It is always an open casket ceremony and the tombstone is always large and ornated and frequently has a portrait of the person being laid to rest. I had thought of this as a great respect for the dead, but then I noticed at this cemetary I pass by to work every day that taxi drivers, tro tro drivers, and other laborers often take their breaks in the cemetary and stretch out across the tombstones. It's a shaded area, so I imagine it's quite cool and it's better than sleeping on the ground.

While people speak "english" here, the complete understanding or context of things escapes them. T-shirts are a great form of expression (I should know, all mine have cartoon characters and superheroes on them). Of the various T-shirts I've seen being warn by ghanaians are: Kiss me I'm Blonde, Hold my beer while I kiss your girlfriend, and fcuk (French Connection United Kingdom) like a bunny to name of a few. I would be surprised if they actually knew what the shirt was saying. Aside from the gratuitious ones, there is also a random assortment from old pizza hut deliver shirt to U. Wisconsin lacrosse. I think many people have relatives in the States and want any shirt from the US, no matter what it says.

There are other oddities that are escaping me at the moment. I'll think on it and post them next time. Two weeks from today I fly out and arrive at home for a few days before I depart again for Bolivia for one month. Traveling is wonderful, but I can feel it starting to drain me a little, and I even have a three month break in the middle. I hope everyone at home is well and are highly anticipating the fast approaching summer. Take care everyone.