Category Archives: Uncategorized

I was walking on the beach, listening to En varg söker sin pod, a podcast by Liv Strömqvist and Caroline Ringskog Ferrada-Noli. Liv Strömquist is a creator of graphic novels and playwright, but she also has a past in humor and satire programs in Swedish public service radio. She is a feminist, left-wing and intellectual.Continue reading “thoughts and waves (December 20th)”

Ghana might be a beautiful country with rainforests and beaches – but it all gets kind of ruined from the extreme hassle that any kind of transport entails. Men screaming at you from all directions, wanting your business, but there is no niceness about it. And being white, they’ll happily charge you three times theContinue reading “getting from inn to inn (December 19th)”

Strictly speaking, Bobiri isn’t a village. It was, however, the last stop on our craft village tour. It is a nature reserve and a butterfly sanctuary. Unfortunately, it was the wrong season now to see any butterflies, but there were plenty of humongous rainforest trees. After all the noise and the bustle in and aroundContinue reading “the four villages tour IV: Bobiri Forest Butterfly Sanctuary (December 18th)”

The flag ship of Asante crafts is the kente weaving. In Adanwomase, they make the weaved strips of cloth with intricate patterns that are sown together and made into the clothes of the Asantehene and his family. It is a weaving technique that is only taught to the boys and men of the village, andContinue reading “the four villages tour III: Adanwomase (December 18th)”

In Ntonso, they make Adinkra, a traditional way of printing black symbols on strips of cloth. The tour here was more organized than in the carving village, and we were shown the different stages of the dye making and printing. The dye was made from a special kind of tree bark, burned and then boiledContinue reading “the four villages tour II: Ntonso (December 18th)”

The Asante culture is known for its long tradition of craftsmanship. In the past, many of the finer crafts were meant for the Asantehene and his family, and the making of the different crafts was centered in certain villages outside of Kumasi. Nowadays, the fabrics and pots are made for anyone who can pay forContinue reading “the four villages tour I: Ahwiaa (December 18th)”

In Kumasi, we stayed at a bed and breakfast called Four Villages Inn. They only had four rooms, and a very shy dog. It was by far the most luxurious place where I had stayed during my time in West Africa. The room was big, the bed enormous and the common rooms decorated exactly likeContinue reading “evening activities at Four Villages Inn (December 17th & 18th)”

We needed some time to calm down after the intense day at the market, so we went to The View for a pre-dinner cocktail. I got a mojito. It was good. And drinking it, in an incredibly deep and soft couch, I suddenly remembered another mojito that I had drunk. Natalia, Cecilia, Jonna, Alice andContinue reading “cocktail memories (December 17th)”

Kumasi is the second largest city in Accra, and the capital of the Ashanti kingdom. The Asantehene, the traditional leader of the Asante, which is the largest ethnic group in Ghana, still lives here and plays an important role in the society. What left the strongest impression on me of Kumasi, though, was not theContinue reading “a visit to the market (December 17th)”

It always seems to be the case in countries outside of Europe, that the range of comfort in the terrestrial public transportation is extreme. I’ve never traveled in anything as comfortable as the bus me and Natalia took from Cochabamba to La Paz, with seats basically as big as beds. On the same trip, though,Continue reading “on the road to the king’s capital (December 16th)”