In some ways, Ghana is quite different from Burkina. As the bus made its way down from Ouaga through Tamale and Kumasi to Accra, Ghana's coastal capital, the landscape got progressively greener. First, grass appeared between the trees on the rolling terrain, and by the time we reached the coast, there were palm trees, lush grasses and high humidity. (Burkina's reddish-brown dryness had been a bit hard on my psyche, but it does have some advantages, namely that when you do laundry, it actually dries. I had to put on some clean but pretty damp clothes this morning, on the first real rainy day I've seen since leaving Canada.)
Ghana's infrastructure also much more closely resembles what I'm used to. I'm not sure if it's because the British colonial influence has subtly organized aspects of Ghanaian society in a way that's more familiar to me than the French influence in Burkina (as ANERSER's director, Francois, suggested to me before I left), or if it's just that Ghana is a richer country, with much more of the inequality that has often accompanied economic growth elsewhere in the world. For instance, the urban growth pattern in Accra seemed more like cities at home, in that the city had a somewhat decaying downtown that was fairly deserted at night (and contained the first real slums I've seen on this trip--I haven't seen any in Burkina), while affluent-looking suburbs spread out over the surrounding hills. That's not to say that Ghanaians are necessarily rolling in cash: about half the houses in those suburbs were half-built, but only a small proportion of those looked as though the construction was ongoing. There are also almost no motos in Accra or Cape Coast, and the cars are generally in better repair than the ones in Ouaga (although the minibuses are still pretty rundown).
We moved on quite quickly from Accra, arriving in the fishing village of Anomabu on Sunday to spend some time unwinding on the beach. Megan, Linda and I also took the opportunity to go for a scenic run, exploring a couple of coves and small villages on the way. I find the interactions with local residents here to be even more intense than in Ouaga, perhaps because there are more tourists along the Ghanaian coast, and thus a more frequent juxtaposition of wealthy foreigners against the shabby villages. The children here angle overtly for my watch and sunglasses and often greet us with an outstretched, cupped hand--which doesn't really happen in Ouaga, even when our neighbours ask us for money--while even adults ask us for "cash, money," which I haven't encountered in Ouaga. But given that it was a 5-minute walk from our touristy beach to the village, a lot of these kids probably have a lot of opportunity to watch rich foreigners lie around on the beach, making lots of money for doing seemingly little. I still never give money to children under any circumstances (which I'll explain when I have more time), but I can see why they ask. It's kinda too bad.
So now we're in Cape Coast and plan to head up for a hike in Kakum National Park (the rainforest) tomorrow. It should be fabulous--I'm going to have trouble going back to work on Monday for my last four weeks! I'll keep you all posted.
posted by Emily @ 12:16 p.m.
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