We had to wait for the bus to leave Cape Coast, so I took the opportunity and bought some Magic Malt, a very popular soft drink in Ghana according to the volunteering Belgian doctor that was staying at Stumble Inn over Christmas with his girlfriend.
Magic Malt was like drinking the Finnish dessert mämmi, or really sweet and heavy Finnish rye bread. I must admit, I very much prefer to ingest the solid versions of the flavor.
The second half of the trip took us through the suburbs of the capital. Accra is this huge city that just keeps on going. There are US style malls next to west African markets, crazy traffic, people everywhere. And then: Just getting to the hotel from the bus station is a day’s work, haggling with taxi drivers, realizing they have no idea of where they’re supposed to go, getting directions from people on the street. I was ready to call it a day once we finally arrived at the small, clean, airport city hotel.
We rested for a while, watched the news on BBC. There will be no re-election in Sweden! Maybe the world isn’t completely topsy-turvey after all.
But it was our last night in Ghana, after all. Spending it in a hotel room just felt wrong. So we took a cap down to Oxford Street, the fancy shopping street in town, and did some last-minute shopping.
The street full of young men selling fireworks – they’ve already started celebrating New Years, all through the night there were odd fireworks going off. I found Christmas gifts for Tilda and Kai, the children of the family. It made me feel so pleased with myself!
Then I had a coconut, I bought bissap juice and ate so much pineapple, papaya and mango that my mouth is now almost bleeding. But it was worth it! Oh, I’ll miss the tropical fruits! But, except for that, I have to repeat myself: I don’t think I’ve ever been as ready to go back home in my entire life.
Katja Malmborg 