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Takoradi/ Nzulezo

7/12/14 - 7/13/14

After the trip to Cape coast last week, we set out on another journey farther west of the country. We decided to go to a floating village that exists in the Western Region. In the morning around 7 AM, Sarah and I met up with Anaman to take a trotro (van that works as a joint taxi) to Mankessim. There we got a taxi to Cape Coast.

At Cape Coast, we walked around briefly to exchange some currency in the black market. It was quite easier to find a black marketer than I thought as Anaman explained the trick behind it. Apparently, most black markets in Ghana regarding currency are controlled by the Muslims. So how do you spot them? You look at the foreheads of the store owners and if one of them has a distinct mark then he is most likely to be a Muslim. Anaman's trick worked so well and it took us no time to get a good deal on currency exchange. Afterwards, we went to the gate of Mfantespim to meet up with Will and his crew. This trip was exciting because Will is a fellow Penn student who interns in Accra! I was also introduced to Fred from Sweden and Ashley, another Penn student. From Mfantespim we took a trotro to Takoradi (third largest city in Ghana) which took around 2 hours. Then, we took another trotro to Nzulezo, the floating village in the west. The ride from Takoradi was probably the most challenging ride I've ever had in Ghana. It took us four hours to reach our destination and the roads we travelled were all unpaved which made it dusty and restless; when we got there my hair was so coarse because so much red dust had gotten all over my body through the open windows of the van. To make matters worse, my feet were constantly hot because the trotro's engine was right underneath my feet. Oh well if you cant avoid something, you better enjoy it. The ride was an interesting experience.

Upon arrival, we went inside the reception area for the Nzulezo tour. The reception area was pretty much a small room with no tour information but just a woman collecting the fees for the canoe ride (yes, in order to get to the village you need to canoe!). Before the canoe ride, we decided to get lunch. There was a nice beach right next to the reception area and we found a restaurant. Our dining experince was again interesting because the building was unfinished with no walls and it only offered jollaf rice with no other menu options. The jollaf rice was 15 cedis, almost twice the price you'd normally pay for it in a regular restaurant.

After lunch, we went to the docking area for the canoe ride. Our paddler's name was Monnich and we paddled through a lake/ bog for for 45minutes until we reached the floating village. The water was very brown and maybe it's because the lake consists of only rain water during Ghana's rainy season. In fact, the lake starts disappearing completely once the rainy season passes by. Our canoe ride was very fun. Water kept leaking into the canoe and I had to often use a cut milk carton to get the water out of the boat.

When we got to Nzulezo I was very surprised by the small size of the village. But most importantly, I was shocked at the impoverished state of the village. Littering was not well taken care of at all and and I even saw babies with bloated stomachs for the first time since arriving in Ghana. Of course, there were no set up for tourism and the tour felt more as if we were walking around the village peeking and infringing on others' privacy. We left the village soon after.

That night, Anaman, Sarah, and I parted ways with Will'a crew after returning to Takoradi. We stayed the night in Takoradi while the others went back to Cape Coast. So after saying goodbye, we got a hotel then went to a spot called Vienna City to enjoy Ghanaian live music and some dance. We had done a lot that day.

The next day, we slept in. And we spent most of our time at the Takoradi Vienna Beach Resort. We ordered some food, drinks, and even played a few game of Pool. Then we returned back to Denkyria. On our way back, we couldn't help but deeply fall asleep in the bumping trotro. At one point, we were introduced to the wonders of Daddy Lumba and his high life music.