Rain rain rain

Back to Kumasi after an uneventful tro-tro ride from Koforidua. It rains every afternoon and most mornings here, and our days consist of logistics and planning around the worst of the downpours. So far our rain karma has been pretty good.

For example, we dashed to this smart little internet cafe just in time to beat the real downpour. A cloudburst can easily fill the gutters and overflow onto the streets in minutes, so this is no small feat.

Kumasi has consisted of constant introduction and greetings to all of ecogrrl's Ghanaian community that she has cultivated out here. I've met, greeted and spoken with many many people who have expected to meet The Husband, and they all want to try out my (non-existent) Twi. Unfortunately for me, ecogrrl has spoiled them with her basic competence in the language.

Tomorrow we are off to a funeral in a small town just outside of Kumasi that ecogrrl was invited to. Part of our reason for coming into Adum (the commercial centre of Kumasi) was to augment my wardrobe beyond goofy travel clothing. We are also hoping that our clothes were taken off the line before the rain started in earnest.

The funeral will take place over the next four days, so we won't be back to the land of broadband until Tuesday or Wednesday. Considering I'm catching a bus to Accra Friday for my return trip on Saturday, it appears that my vacation is fast coming to an end.

Very little to report in terms of a travelogue. Kumasi is still Kumasi, though much damper than my last trip. It was fun living out of hotels for two weeks, but I've pretty much had my fill of accommodation roulette. (Not that we had terrible luck with our hotels. On the contrary, we've generally found most of our stays to be in clean well-ordered rooms. Hot water is a luxury, but a luxury we've decided to pay for the entire trip.)

I'll probably report one more time from Kumasi next week. Given that I plan to take a day in Amsterdam on the way back, I likely will not blog between Accra and YYZ.

    Weekly recap

Accra to Aburi, where we stayed at the Hotel Faded Elegance which was rather dubious. Aburi Botanical Gardens was a relief from the hustle and bustle of Accra. No surpise that the English created their cool summer getaway up here. Then along the escarpment via many towns I forget the name of because we didn't bring our guidebook to the internet cafe. I recall: Mamfe, Asikombo, New Senchie, Kpong.

The Cedi Bead Factory (which sounds like a tourist trap, but is actually very nice) where got a very aesthetically and technically pleasing tour by Mr Cedi himself. It was nice to see a real artist at work creating a fusion of old and new craft.

Beads are actually a very important part of ancient and continuing culture in the Eastern Region of Ghana, and it was good to get an overview of this beyond simply buying some pretty beads from a street vendor. Took some photos for Mr Cedi that he can use for an upcoming show in New York. I do recommend the Starr Villa hotel along the highgway that runs to Ho in the Volta Region (and on to Togo and beyond, one supposes). Just so you know.

And then it was off to a few days at a slightly run-down resort on the western side of the Volta river. Our river view chalet was nice enough, and we had our own little patio we could sit on, reading with cold beers immediately to hand. We took a 2-hour canoe trip up the river to the dam that created the Lake Volta, but skipped visiting the dam itself, or the lake, to save a few days on the way back to Kumasi. I did get a short day trip into Asikombo on Sunday.

Now in Kofuridua, the capital of the Eastern Region. Tomorrow we are on our way back to Kumasi. We might visit one of the famous waterfalls in this area either today or tomorrow, but this depends on how we feel.

Highlights of this part of the trip have been: finding another Ghanaian dish I like a lot (Palaver and meat with plantain); meeting with the aforementioned Mr Cedi; cool nights listening to the Bufo Africanus croak, and the rain falling on the palms; listening the wind in the palms during the day while the sun comes gloriously out over the top of the escarpment; seeing the star-filled African skies, including the Milky Way directly overhead, on one perfectly clear evening.

Otherwise, our travels continue apace. Negotiating the tro-tro and taxi services from place to place has been more or less pain-free, with only a few moments of excitement as you realize that you might, in fact, not be going where they said you were going. Usually these small misunderstandings are ironed out quickly, and we get to our desinations in a timely manner.

More once we get into Kumasi.

    Accra Accra Accra

Arrived safe and sound in Accra after a reasonable flight connecting through Amsterdam. Hot and muggy and definitely the rainy season. It is hard to keep dry.

Accra is certainly an international city, with much to offer everyone. Hotel is a bit dodgy, but it's clean and relatively quiet. We only have to share the room with a few of the small German cockroaches (hey, I don't make these names up) which is just like Toronto.

Off to Aburi Gardens tomorrow, the first leg of our short tour of the Lower Volta region.

Tonight, fancy, luxurious ex-pat Chinese food at the local fancy, luxurious Chinese restaurant.

More internet tomorrow. I might try to post some photos from our next location.

    And now on a more serious note

I've mentioned before about how I don't believe in an all-seeing god, or subscribe to any particular religious belief. At the same time, I refuse to join the anti-religious pile-on, mostly because any position that defines itself primarily in relation to another in such a convoluted and irrational way is pretty weak.

Most anti-religious arguments are so based on zealotry, irrational belief and false logic that I'd rather discuss religion because it's less crazy-making. Reading comments from the usual nodding-heads on any so-called rational blog, while interesting in how it all gets wrapped up in socio-political assumptions, is so often an exercise in the worst sort of groupthink. Then the irony gets too thick and I have to leave.

So, over on Bitch Ph.D. there has been a bit of an internet slapfest regarding comments about Jesus and Catholicism that got the attention of one of those kooky US Catholic groups. The details of the slapfest are uninteresting beyond being yet another religious internet slapfest (however, feel free to dig around and see for yourself) but it has resulted in some discussions of religion and belief that really ring true.

Personally, I think they ring true because individual experiences of religious life, while they may vary, are also part of a greater shared experience. Religion and godhood were created by people because it's what we do. We invent ways of seeing and thinking and understanding the world, and we share those ways with others. So individual understandings and experiences within these cognitive frameworks are, to me, the most interesting part of religion.

Perhaps ecogrrl is right, and everything really is Anthropology.

    25. Drops

100 snapshots.

    5. Open

100 snapshots.

    One more thing

Please be aware that the Eco-Monkey World Domination Inc. executive team will be temporarily relocated to our West African offices for the next three weeks, starting August 22^nd. The intention is to scout out new investment opportunities in and around Accra, Kumasi and the resort areas in the lower Volta region of Ghana.

This means that the home office has been left in the capable hands of Entropy and an ill-fed and sexually dangerous pit-bull. In the unlikely event that one or more of the hosted Eco-Monkey services becomes unavailable during this time, our advice is to get outside and enjoy the nice weather we've been having. We will delete complaints upon our return mid-September.

To contact the Eco-Monkey executive team in case of a real emergency, please see the About page. This pretty much means email only, as we tend to move fast and use disposable phones that are hard to track.

Thank you for your time and attention.

    21. Earth

100 snapshots.

    Top 10: Things Lame Gendered Web Sites Fall Back On

Here's an actual conversation between two second-year college students interning at AskMen.com while taking a coffee break from their rich and rewarding careers in The New Publishing:

Features Intern: We have to come up with content for tomorrow, but all the writers are watching the Olympics and playing foosball.

Technical Intern: I know what you mean! The guys on my team have fucked off, too, but they said I had to finish all of this layout work by the end of the day.

FI: It's so unfair!

TI: I know! And my mom called and told me she's turning my room into a place for her craft stuff.

FI: Sucks.

TI: Yeah.

FI: So, what are we going to do?

TI: I dunno. We have to come up with something. I have to pay for tuition this year.

FI: Well, it's not like anyone cares if we repeat ourselves. It's an IGN site, after all.

TI: True. Another top 10 list?

FI: Bingo. Top 10 what?

TI: Well, it needs to be funny. It's always funny when we make fun of girls, right? How about The Top Ten Things That Are Totally True About Bitches, Only The Bitches Don't Believe It?

FI: ...? Dude. You are not handling that break-up very well.

TI: Sorry.

FI: But you are on the right track, I think. How about The Top Ten Things Only Men Can Do?

TI: Awesome! [high-fives] Wait. So what are the sorts of things only men can do?

FI: Oh, you know. Math and stuff.

TI: Gotcha. Ok, I'll go figure out the first, second, third column flash ad placements, and work on the header and footer ads, and cook up the annoying click-throughs. You get the content ready and I'll set up the publish job for tonight.

FI: Ok. Make sure you have those stupid menu pop-unders activated so the list is hard to navigate. This will take no time. Writing is easy.

[Read the rest...]

    61. Music

100 snapshots.

100 snapshots by me and by others.