Sept 16-18
This weekend I got to take a trip to Kumasi with my colleagues and friends Eric and Medina and their spouses, Harriet and Maxwell, respectively. Medina was doing an interview for research which is why we went. It took about seven hours to get there. We left Friday morning at about 7am and got to where were were going at about 2:30. Like Accra, traffic in Kumasi is no joke. That’s what took such a long time. Once we got to the city, we sat in traffic forever because it’s just at a standstill for the most part. But while we were sitting there, we were in the city center for a large part of the time, so I just kept watching all the people and all of the humanity. There were people selling all kinds of things all over the place – I learned we were at the major market area in town. But there were even people just setting up shop on any piece of sidewalk where they could set out their goods. It was just so packed in. Most of things I think we’re secondhand western clothes. Tons and tons of piles of shoes, bras, kids’ clothes…just everything you can imagine in this market area!
This is a pic of our fufu that we had for breakfast on the way. I have determined that I am not a fan of fufu, mainly because of the texture - you don't chew it, it just slides down your throat. But the goat meat I had was quite tasty, and the soup had a good flavor as well. The big vats are different meats you could choose from. There were things like goat meat, bushmeat, and grasscutter. Chicken is not always a standard option.
These are pics of the market around the city center.
This is a statue of the Chief of Kumasi in the city center.
When we got to Kumasi, we went straight to find the female drum master (her name is Adowa) Medina was going to interview. It was cool to sit in on the interview though she spoke the native language and I didn’t understand. But she had her manager there along with her son. And then they were all of us and we were all in the interview with her. I think she seemed a bit timid to talk because so many people were there. She was dressed so nicely in a beautiful purple dress with red flowers on it, in an African print. And her hair and makeup were done just so – so beautiful.
The most amazing part of this day is that after the interview, she wanted to play for us. So we left from where were doing the interview to go to her home. She lives in an apartment complex and we helped set up her drums in the courtyard area. She played the atumpan drums (I think...) and I got to play a supporting rhythm on the kpanlogo drum, while Medina played the axtase (shaker gourd), and Harriet and Adowa's son played the bells. Such a cool experience to get to play with another female drum master! I love that I’m having these random experiences that just happen and are not planned. This was worth the entire trip to Kumasi!
Kumasi is much bigger than a Cape Coast and more Westernized. We stayed this nice little boutique hotel called the Asentawaa Hotel for about 500 cedis per night, which is about $50, for those curious. Once we got to the hotel Friday night, we ordered some dinner at the hotel restaurant. While we waited for them to cook the food, we went on a little field trip to this place that was basically like a really cool bar or something outdoors behind a grocery store off the main road. Medina found out about it and we went to get some grilled meat. We got liver kebabs which I tried and it was actually so good! And she got a grilled chicken of some type. So we got that and took it with us and had that as part of our dinner. It was also very good.
For dinner I got chicken pizza At the restaurant. It was pretty good. I was starving because the only thing I had to eat that day was Fufu with goat meat on it at around 10:30 in the morning. I have determined I don’t like Fufu because of the texture. You don’t chew it. You just let it slide down your throat. The soup and the goat meat were quite good so I ate that. But it wasn’t very much food. So dinner was really good because I was starving. After dinner it was about 8 o’clock and we all just went to our rooms and chilled out. I talked on the phone to a friend and then went to sleep.
Saturday we went to a kente cloth factory. It was absolutely amazing! I was overwhelmed because I didn’t understand how it works. Basically, there’s a bunch of different fabric makers and they have their own section of the store so when you walk into their area, they try to keep you there so you will buy something from them. The first guy I went to he told me all about the fabrics and how it’s made and what they mean. And then I went around to see all of the different ones. There were also people there actually making the cloth so I was able to watch that. Another super-cool experience! I bought two different kinds of fabric. When we got in the car she asked me what I was going to have made and I said pillowcases and napkins and all of them in the car freaked out and we’re not happy about it. And they told me why. I didn’t understand this but they said that this is literally the kind of quality fabric that the royalty wear and they would be offended if they saw it on something like a pillowcase in your house. I knew kente is a special print that is specifically Ghanaian, but I did not realize any of what they were telling me about this particular cloth, so it was great that they told me more about the kente cloth. I asked how this was different than what I’ve seen people put around their drums and such, and they said that is just a print and not as special, so it doesn’t matter what you do with that type of fabric. This made me change my mind and I decided I would have a couple of nice dresses made instead. Medina said she would get her sister, who is a seamstress, to make me some nice dresses so I’m excited for that to happen! I’m just gonna have to look into some nice patterns. (I’ll get some cheaper fabric to have other things made as well.)
Next stop was the mall. It was totally like a western mall except cooler! I wanted to go to ShopRite which we don’t have in Cape Coast. It’s a grocery store that just has more stuff. So I went through all the isles and bought a few things that I can’t get in Cape Coast like a decent bottle of wine, some different spreads to put on crackers or bread, and some pesto. Totally random stuff that I could live without but it’s nice to have them. Then we walked to the other end of the mall at two a store called Game. This is more like actually Walmart or target. We went there because Medina and Maxwell needed a vacuum cleaner, which they found. It was really cool to go to an actual mall and feel like I was sort of in the U.S. for a minute.
The next thing was to sit in traffic for an extended amount of time. There’s just so much traffic all the time and it’s unexplainable, to me anyway. It’s just so many people and not a very good road system I guess. There are very few stop lights; mostly roundabouts. I just don’t understand why it doesn’t flow better. It’s just that there’s so damn many people and the roads are not equipped for it. But anytime we sit in traffic I just look around because there’s always something to look at and some people to watch. It’s never boring.
Once we got back to the hotel we ate some lunch/dinner around 3. But of course it took forever for our food to get there. We actually ordered it like 2:30 and we got our food at like 3:30. They assured us it would only be 20 minutes but of course it was not. So we all drank several drinks before our food got there and had a good fun conversation. I really enjoyed that conversation time. After lunch we all took a siesta which was much needed.
The final event of the day was meeting around 7:30 on the balcony of the hotel to talk about the next research project they wanted to embark on. They sent me the copy of the call for proposals and we went over it and talked about ideas for what they could do. It was a fun conversation too: very academic and heady. We talked for like three hours about possibilities. And we also talked about the research Medina was doing while she was here and kind of like what she was where she was in the process of that. I enjoyed that conversation also. But it was really late when we got done and I was very tired. So once that was done, I came back to the room and went to sleep.
This is the balcony. The lights were pretty cool.
Sunday we had breakfast and left around 11 to go back to Cape Coast. On the way we stopped for lunch around three at this restaurant on the side of the road. It was pretty nice. Looked like a gas station with a decent restaurant next to it. Everyone had Fufu and I had jollof rice and chicken. That’s always a good standard. It was a good lunch. But the problem is that their bathrooms were absolutely awful. So I did not use them. I’ll just stop there. We also stopped to see my colleague Eric‘s land on the way back. He has about 40 acres where he is growing plants that make rubber. It’s one of the investments that he is made for supplementing his income. What a cool idea and smart investment! It was cool to see his land and the rubber trees. We arrived in Cape Coast around six where we dropped off Medina and Maxwell at their house. Medina’s seamstress sister who lives there measured me for the dresses she is going to make from the kente cloth. Now the only thing we have to decide is what patterns I’m going to use! At about 6:30 Harriet and Eric dropped me off at my place. I was so happy to be home. What a great trip for lots of cool experiences and getting to know all of them better. So glad I got to go. But it was so nice to be home and to relax!
These are some pics from around the hotel.
And these are my friends right before we took off to go home!
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