Ghana! And Sao Tome!
I’ve visited Morocco and Egypt before, but this was my first foray into the middle part of Africa. I picked Ghana because they speak English and it’s safe. From what I’ve read. I picked Sao Tome because I’ve really started liking beach vacations since I learned to swim. And it’s safe. I always felt safe in both places when we were there.
I didn’t know what to expect exactly, but here’s my bucket list from that trip.
Ghana
See the door of no return
We went to the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. It’s a terrifying castle where they held slaves before they were shipped off across the ocean.
Visit a street market
We went to the Osu night market in Accra where Mark ate some chicken. I didn’t eat anything there. I questioned the hygiene practices. The sewage smell deterred me.
Go on a canopy walk
We went to Kakum National Park and walked on bridge ropes suspended high up in the air, in the tree canopy. It was scary because the bridge was single-file and swayed a lot.
But it was fun. We hiked around there. I liked this part.
Try Ghanaian food
We ate banku (fermented maize) and red red (red beans) and kelewele (fried plantains) and waakye (rice and beans). The red red was terrific.
You’re supposed to just swallow the banku and not chew it, which feels weird. You eat it with slimy okra.
Observations
- People carry all sorts of things on their head here.
- You can get anything you need at busy intersections in Accra where people with wares on their head try to sell you those wares. Food. Water. Tissue paper. Puppies.
- There is most definitely a tourist tax here. Some restaurants even had separate menus for locals and foreigners.
Sao Tome
Sao Tome is an island nation off the coast of Gabon. It’s a former Portuguese colony. I had high hopes for this place, but the water isn’t that warm and the beach near our hotel was rocky.
Visit the equator?
We didn’t go see the equator. It was a 2 hour drive from our hotel and then another 20-minute boat ride to get to see the equator, which felt silly. Maybe we should have.
Cacao tour?
Didn’t do. We should have. I have no excuse.
Read a book on the beach
I’ve been reading a lot more lately. I started in January with 25 pages a day. In February, I read 33 a day. In March, 50. April 67. May 75. June 100. You get the point, I think.
By September, I was up to 150 pages a day. I’ve always fallen off reading when I’m on vacation, though. And this trip proved no different. I read only one book when I was out there. I had three on me, so I consider this a fail.
Observations:
- We rented a car and I’m glad we did. We drove around the island quite a bit. Well, Mark did. I don’t know how to drive stick.
- There are no Indian restaurants in Sao Tome. This is the first time I’ve encountered this defeat.
- There are no group fitness classes in Sao Tome.
- So. Much. Trash.
***
After I retired, I spent the next three years traveling and then, at the end of that three years, I was just kind of done with it and I picked Denver and took a break from the trips.
I started feeling that feeling again in Mongolia in the gurt. I’m spending all this money to do….this? And I found myself thinking that thought again before we went to Accra.
Getting a visa for Ghana is a huge pain in the butt. If I had realized how difficult the visa process was, I would not have picked Ghana to visit.
Mark didn’t have two consecutive blank pages in his passport book left, so he had to get a new passport. So right after we got back from Japan, we had to mail the old passport to the US government and pay for expedited processing and two-day mail returns.
Cost
And the visa itself! Girl! You need to create an online account and fill in an application, upload a picture, make a copy of your biodata page of the passport, create a travel itinerary, upload confirmed hotel bookings, upload a copy of your signature, pay the fees ($185 each).
We needed a multi-entry visa because we were visiting Sao Tome in the middle of the trip. Finally, we printed out the application, signed it, sent off our precious passports ($20 each), included a paid return envelope ($20 each), and hoped for the best.
There is an e-visa, but it’s nearly $500 each for multi-entry! That’s an absolutely absurd price for a visa.
We received everything back a few days later. And it was fine. I just like to complain.
We also needed yellow fever ($270) and typhoid fever vaccines ($40 each) and malaria pills and deet for our skin and permetherin for our clothes ($25) and antibiotics in case we got sick there. Plus, we paid for the travel clinic appointment ($70 each) just to get these prescriptions.
We splurged on flights because this is our last difficult trip for a while. And, because I just wanted a nice place to come home to after perhaps a hectic day, we stayed in nice hotels. We paid for an upgrade to a suite. We did tours.
It was expensive. You can visit Africa cheaply, but I didn’t want to do that. I’m so happy we splurged on everything. The hotel acted as a nice sanctuary. Business class seats made the long journey actually fun. I wanted the flight to go longer.
I’m not going to tell you the total price of the trip because I don’t want you to freak out. We spent out. No regrets, but we won’t be doing it again anytime soon.
Conclusion
These two places were country/territory/visited place number 102 and 103 for me. Visited place number 100 came and went without me realizing. They’re just numbers.
So, we’re sick of travel and we are starting the Year of Nesting soon! I’ll tell you about that in a bit. I have fun plans. It includes charts and lists and I’m so excited.
