After returning the room key and placing my suitcase in the bus, I headed to breakfast by 7 AM. Other tour members were waiting in the lobby for 7:30 since that was the breakfast start time on our agenda. They followed me because I announced that breakfast should have already started. The agenda also showed that we were going to be on the bus by 8 AM. We needed to get a jump on breakfast to meet that departure time.
Miraculously, we boarded the bus on time, but began the five-hour journey on Ghanaian time. Dr. Kofi explained that since the highway was under construction, the rules were “open” because everyone improvised their progression along the highway.
We passed a group of goats grazing in the middle of the dusty highway. A lone goat, tied to the top of a sedan, car surfed expertly as its owner maneuvered in the opposite direction. We clapped prematurely for our bus driver after navigating us through construction once we hit smooth road. After three seconds, we returned to rough highway.
During our first rest stop, I passed out those extra napkins I’d received from the restaurant at the JFK airport to women who’d left their toilet paper on the bus. I knew they would come in handy. Of course, I also had a pack of wet wipes in my purse.
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One phenomenon I’d noticed while living in Tanzania was the ubiquitous stray medium brown dogs. Knowing that all canine species derived from wolves, I wondered why all of the strays I’d seen looked mostly like the one pictured below. I always thought that without human-manipulated breeding, canines would appear more wolfish.
At our second rest stop, for two cedis, people used the executive bathroom, which was clean, and had soap, water, and toilet paper. So, I should’ve charged two cedis apiece for the women who I gave a napkin to at the last stop. I’d never been much of an entrepreneur.
By this time, we needed snacks. I got an international mix of prepackaged food: Pringles labelled in both Spanish and English from Jackson, TN; cheese potato chips from China; and cashews from Ghana.
Since I sat by the window, my sister pestered me to take a picture of the red soil, which reminded her of where our mother’s side of the family hailed from, Cascade, VA. Not sure how common red dirt is, but she was so excited to see it in Ghana.
When we walked into the ladies’ room at our third rest stop, I was initially taken aback at the row of sinks that looked like small toilets for kids. Were they actually urinals? We’d entered the women’s bathroom. Perhaps they were for little boys who were escorted by their female caregivers? Moments like those made me wonder if I actually understood what I saw.
Beyond that room were the toilet stalls, which we women used. There were sinks at waist level for us to wash our hands.
There was no misunderstanding the bathroom signage.
One of the snacks my sister had bought reminded us of Oreos. I’d enjoyed those cookies since childhood. Before popping one into my mouth, I noticed that the design was different. We compared cookies then read on the package that they were stamped with symbols from Minecraft.
Another snack my sister offered me looked like gerbil food. Those coconut-ginger flakes were sweetened by honey, which made it hard to remove from the bottle. Interesting texture and I loved the burst of ginger.
For our traveling pleasure, the driver played a variety of music. The bus trip became long when Sisqo’s “Thong Song” came on.
We rode past several small towns that all hosted sidewalk markets in front of more permanent establishments.
Koo Nimo Village: Musical Dialogue. Once the drumming began, a male dancer slowly performed around the space as if warming it up. At one point, Ghanaians and Dr. Kofi gave two fingers like the peace sign, signifying that the dancer was doing an excellent job. Later, a female dancer joined the male dancer. After a while, the guy left and she performed her solo.
When we were invited to participate, one guy jumped up first, then sat back down because he’d recruited so many people that there was one too many. I danced at least three times.
One move was a samba step where the left foot turned to the left by pivoting on the heel quickly, then the right foot just stepped forward. The professional dancer seemed impressed that I knew how to do that.
Quite a few moves involved a heel-ball-change, followed by some other familiar steps with unfamiliar arms. All of them started off at regular speed, which was a little too fast for most of us, coupled with the arm movements. The pros usually slowed things down to basic footwork and showed us how to move our arms.
In all the African dance classes I’d attended in the States, the instructors advised us to learn a move from the feet up. Once you understood the footwork, the foundation, then you built your way up.
Koo Nimo patiently posed for pictures with all of us before we left for lunch.
I told Dr. Kofi that today would probably be the best day for me out of the entire trip. He confidently stated, “Just wait.”
Dinner consisted of a buffet with a variety of traditional foods with some different things such as meat pizza and salmon rings. For dessert we ate very soft strawberry ice cream.
When we checked into our hotel, we received a key which had no correlation with the floor number. The only logic behind the numbering I thought of was that the owners had retained the original numbering when new additions were built.
As soon as RC plopped down on her bed, she screamed because the bed was so firm. I asked, “Rediscover your coccyx?”
In the middle of laughing at her, I screamed, “NAAAW,” when I entered the bathroom. There was an empty light socket above the sink. Would we have to be in the dark while using the bathroom? Then, I saw a ceiling light.
I had a shorter learning curve, figuring out the hot water strategy: turn on the electrical switch, then turn on the water, followed by the water heater itself. Finally, adjust how much hot water mixed in with another knob.
The one TV channel I wanted to watch had no sound. Every other channel had sound, but were either in a language I didn’t understand or showed subject matter that didn’t interest me. The radio channel came in loud and clear.
Many thought it was too soon to go to bed, but I “made” the bed by putting a Balinese wrap over the fitted sheet since bed didn’t have a top sheet. She looked right at home.
The electricity blinked off twice before I showered and dressed for bed. Since I didn’t pack a headlamp, I brought my phone into the bathroom, thinking that if the electricity blinked out again, I’d be able to grope in the dark for my phone without injuring myself nor damaging the phone. Luckily, I never had to put that theory to the test.
One good thing about staying in at night: not spending any money. I had not quite spent half my money yet. I didn’t want to blow through all my money the first week. One member of tour group had already asked about getting more money from an ATM. I’d bought the rest my souvenirs yesterday, so I should be good.
Despite having showered and dressed for bed early, we didn’t bother to turn off our lights until the church music from a nearby service had stopped blaring past 9 PM.