Ghanaian experiences

The heat is making me tired. Even the locals are exhausted so you can imagine how the ghost from Finland feels. And I really feel like a ghost. It's not just the constant "Obruni!" shouts and the children's giggles when they see me. Some people pinch my arm, as if to see if I'm real or not, and the sight of me has also made a few kids cry.

These guys smiled.

He cried. I was the first white person he'd ever seen, said his mom.

I've also tried to learn to live with my fear of spiders, because let me tell you, travelling around the world with arachnofobia is a bitch. Coming to Africa was a good start. Some of the spiders here can be fist-size. I was told to "only look out for the hairy ones". Gee, that thought kept me up one night in Kumasi. But progress has been made! Gradually I'm getting used to the idea not all spiders are out to get me.

One day I spent writing in my home here with a big one clinging on the wall. I decided not to mind it and everything went well (in all honesty, though, had it moved all hell would probably have broken loose). And - this is a HUGE step - I walked into a room with the spider in the doorway above me! Normally I'd call for someone to kill them for me, but these guys got to live. And that is why all this makes no sense whatsoever, since usually out of the two of us it's the spider that gets killed.

Cape Coast Castle.

This week I also visited Cape Coast and it's Castle, the central place of slave trade. Seeing the small, dark cells where the slaves were imprisoned before being shipped into new countries and the corridor through which they passed before being forced out of their home country for good was heartbreaking. Like our guide Oscar said at the end of the tour: "We must all think about what part we've played in the course of history and be better people today; never think any person is inferior."

Cape Coast - my favorite city in Ghana.

Cape Coast was the most beautiful place I've been to so far in Ghana! A relaxed, sunny city with a friendly vibe. It sort of looked like I'd come to the Caribbean. Fishermen, swimmers, a lively market place... I was almost robbed here for the first time during my trip, but people around me tackled the guy and gave me my money back. Right on! If I ever return here Cape Coast is where I'm going to stay.

I'll be in Ghana until Saturday and then I'm off to Cape Town, South Africa. Nice to go to a bit cooler climate (only a bit though) that won't mess with my head anymore. I almost tried to take a picture with the air conditioning remote just now.