Wednesday - we arrived in Ghana around 10:30pm on Wednesday night after a 6 hour flight (and 1 hour delay leaving Heathrow). There was a shuttle at the airport to take us back to the hotel. We stayed at the Labadi Beach Resort, which was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely the swankiest place we've ever stayed in Africa.
Thursday - The bride had invited me to her "hen do" (aka bachelorette party) so I was up early on Thursday morning and joined about 40 other girls for an hour and a half bus ride to White Sands Beach Resort. Another very nice place, White Sands is a private club in a little bay. We were there for most of the day, had a delicious lunch, and watched a group perform traditional Ghanaian music and dance.
Ric got a car from Accra and picked me up at White Sands (about 2 hours late after the driver missed the turn and drove an hour too far). We then went on to Elmina for the night, which is a little fishing village on the coast. We arrived at night, so it was pitch dark and had to drive on a dirt road for what seemed like miles to this out of the way "rustic" hotel. We were both a little nervous upon arriving, but once we saw that Will Smith and Serena Williams had stayed there we felt much better. Had another delicious dinner - Waakye, which is a traditional meal made of black eyed peas and rice, with a meat on the side in spicy red sauce.
Friday - Our driver took us into Cape Coast, the fishing town next to Elmina. We toured the slave castle, which was a very moving and sad experience. This was a place where hundreds of thousands of men were kept before being sent on ships to the new world (a third of the men went to Brazil, a third to the Caribbean, and the rest to the Americas). It was appalling to see the conditions they were kept in for up to three months and chilling to walk through "The Door of No Return" where they set foot in their home country for the last time before being put on boats and sent abroad. After the slave castle we decompressed a little bit by walking around the town of Cape Coast. It was vibrant and bustling, with tons of people on the streets, lots of little stands selling odds and ends, and lots of women walking around with huge baskets on their heads full of fish, fruit, water... After a nice lunch on the beach we started the 3 hour drive back to Accra.
Once we were back in Accra we showered, had dinner, and were then onto the next event - a night of dancing at Bella Roma, a hot nightclub in Accra. We are not club people, as you probably know, but this was a very laid back place and we ended up dancing until the wee hours of the morning. I woke up the next day with sore knees and an aching back. If that's not a sign I'm getting old I don't know what is!
Saturday - We were able to sleep in Saturday morning, which was very nice (and very necessary). After an early lunch we got ready for the wedding and left for the church around 1pm. The wedding was held in a "normal" church and was very much like a Southern church service. There were tons of people there, it lasted a while, lots of hymn singing, etc. Following the service there were refreshments served behind the church, then we went on to the actual reception. More good food, lots of people, traditional Ghanaian music and drums... it was a very fun night. And I couldn't get over how well everyone was dressed! It was the creme de la creme of Ghanaian society (the groom's mom has been a supreme court judge her whole career) and a huge group of fancy Londoners.
Sunday - We didn't leave until 10:40pm Sunday night, so we had another nice day in Accra. We walked on the beach outside of our hotel, had a little down time at the pool, went to the groom's mom's house for a lunch reception, and stopped by the cocktail party before heading to the airport. We couldn't believe how many activities were planned throughout the week. It was amazing, but I'm sure the bride and groom were exhausted and ready for everything to be over with!
Monday morning - arrived home around 6:30am and were very excited to see the little man! He cried when he first saw us, but once he got used to us again he was his normal happy self.
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