What a day! Slept a little and got ready for the day. Breakfast at the hotel. Ok Buffet.
Our meeting time was 10 am but things happen on African time. I expected that. I am reading several books at the moment. So I was fine reading. Asante picked me up around noon and we headed out. I needed some money. He mentioned that I could get a better rate through a guy he knew. By the end of the day, I realized that he had a guy, or girl for everything. It was indeed a better rate, but it felt a little sketchy walking into a room, past a room, past a shop. I offered a new $100 bill and an old one. I was testing the system. They wanted a new bill and said that I could cash the old one in Zimbabwe. They take anything! Kinda funny.
Then we went to a place that had been a rich persons polo field in the day, not sure what day, but now it was a museum for their former first Prime Minister and the same man was the first President of the country. I learned a lot about him.
Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was his official name. He was born in 1909, same year as my Grandfather. He helped Ghana, formerly known as The Gold Coast become independent. It had been colonized by the British, hence English speaking. He was quite a visionary, believing in African unification, without violence. He spent time in prison. He was married twice, the second time to an Egyptian woman, to move the country forward with Egypts money, There were five attempted assassinations on his life but he died of cancer. When he was promoting peace in Vietnam and China, a coup d’état ousted him. He died in Romania. The pictures and museum is where his life is honored and laid to rest in the third location. He was moved here after the monument was made. Much more befitting for this man. Much of his work inspired Martin Luther King.
There were called castles for the capturers of slaves, bigger the better, but if you were African, this was the last place that you ever saw in Africa.
Next a little walking around some shopping for the locals and a few tourists. We were waiting for the kids to get out of school.
We didn’t have to wait too long, in came about 8 prepubescent boys. They were shy and cute. A few adults started playing some music. One man tied his body up like a knot. I was so mesmerized that I only have one pic.
Travel Pig 