Weekend in Kumasi

Yesterday we got back from a great weekend with the girls in Kumasi. Nicole and I went with six other girls who were traveling up there to see their host sister graduate from University. With this connection to the University we managed to stay in the super cheap dorm rooms and it felt like one big slumber party with everyone crammed into a small room.

Kumasi is great. It’s quite a bit bigger than Cape Coast but I liked it a lot more than Accra. The Kejetia market is advertised as the biggest open market in West Africa and it is indeed huge. It makes Kotokuraba (our Cape Coast market) look petite and peaceful by comparison.

The Kejetia market is roughly divided into sections with fabric, shoes, jewelry, and food all concentrated in different areas. There was so much of everything and we managed to spend at least five hours wandering around. The fabric section was really extensive with a huge amount of variety. I found some patterns that I really like and I’m having them made into bags and skirts before I leave here (Mom, Katie, Mare – I hope you like the colours I picked!).

From Cape Coast, it takes about four hours to get to Kumasi by tro. The road is brutal. For the last hour getting into Kumasi, it is only partially paved. The road alternates: 500 meters paved, 500 meters dirt, 500 meters paved, etc (for an hour!!!!). Also, the heavy trucks kick up the loose dirt in the unpaved sections so you spend the hour driving through a dust cloud with windows that don’t fully close. On the way home I was feeling sick for this enjoyable part of the ride and eventually had to ask the driver to pull over so I could trek into the jungle and go to the bathroom. Amazing. On car trips at home, you’d never be expected to drive for four hours without some kind of a break. We’ve all survived another tro ride though. I think that was my last long tro ride too because I’m not leaving Cape Coast again until I go home and then I’ll be taking the STC bus to Accra.