Cape Coast
on Michael Cashman (Ghana), 13/Apr/2010 23:18, 34 days ago
We made it to Cape Coast from Accra in just over two hours in anair-conditionedtro-troin good condition (5.50 cedis rather than 4 cedis for the basic tro-tro) - in the South of Ghana such things exist.Start of the 'pigs at the seaside' photo collection.The next photo is just for Charlotte's sister Emma and her daughter Ellie.This is Cape Coast castle - where the slaves were imprisoned awaiting ships for America. Going round with a party made up of Ghanaian residents was very humbling. Upstairs from the dungeons was a church, and one question was "Didn't the white people read the Bible? How could they do this to us?" The guide was very clear and well-informed. He frequently referred to 'our forefathers' in the dungeons.From the inside the gate is marked "Gate of No Return". On the outside it is marked as "Gate of Return" since it has been the site of symbolic "Return" ceremonies. Here are the boats that would take the slaves out to the waiting ship.The Ghanaian House of Chiefs erected the plaque "In Everlasting memory" , in recognition of the fact that slaves were captured throughout Ghana and brought to the coast - Europeans took the slaves to Americas, but often Africans had captured them in the first place. I imagine that the European slave trade to America massively increased the amount of slave trading within Africa.These two photos are just because Charlotte's maiden name is Douglas.In the shop we metAminda, who recommended to us a book of short stories for the beach, and signed it for us. Then outside, a water-seller called Sylvia asked to change a British pound coin, which someone had given her for water (normally 5pesewas, so they had paid her fifty times the normal prices, so she was happy when we changed it forcedis).Then these couple of lads were keen to sell us a bottle of water "It's Voltic!" (the local mineral water brand) but we weren't allowed to see the label...