the great northern adventure, part 1

as i've mentioned before, the great northern adventure was just too great to condense into one blog entry. so, over the next few days, tales of our exploits will be coming your way in multiple parts. here's your opener, to get things started...

THURSDAY - welcome to kumasi

We started off our northward trek with some time in the central region. Kumasi is the second-largest city in Accra, the seat of the Ashanti kingdom, and where we started our travels. On Thursday, we left the Legon house just after 7 a.m. and set out on the drive to Kumasi, taking only about four-and-a-half hours to complete the trip. We stopped at the hotel for a brief check-in before getting back on the bus to visit the Ashanti palace and a craft market. The palace we visited, which is now a museum, sits right next to the current palace of the Ashanti king. Ghana is definitely a democracy (and with elections in December, that great democratic tradition, campaign season, is in full swing), but the Ashantis still have a king who, despite his largely symbolic role, actually does preside over some important decisions and rules on tribal issues. Anyway, we toured the museum and saw some artifacts and some creepy life-size wood statues of the former kings and queen mothers. Afterwards, we went to a craft center which had the standard fare -- wood carvings, paintings, fertility dolls (which I am staying FAR away from, thank you very much), strips of kente cloth. To be honest, we were much more excited to return to the hotel for a swim and buffet dinner (we were starving children this whole trip, considering that we ate a real lunch maybe once the whole long weekend). The pool at the Royal Basin was nowhere near as nice as at Coconut Grove, but it did the trick nonetheless.

Kumasi, as a city, was pleasant and beautiful. Much more charming than Accra. It was hilly and the buildings were brightly colored and stacked very close to each other, so it reminded me a little bit of San Francisco. Except it was in Africa, so it was nothing like San Francisco.

FRIDAY - craft villages & the open-air market

The following day we toured some of the local craft villages. We saw the home of kente cloth, where the weaving technique was invented; visited an adinkra-stamping village, where we got to stamp African symbols on to strips of fabric and learn about the whole involved process; and finally, a woodcarving village, where we haggled and argued with shopowners over the prices of beautiful stools, drums and carved figurines. Each was beautiful in its own right, but my favorite was the adinkra village. Adinkra symbols all have complex meanings behind them, which makes the process of selecting and stamping a highly personal one. There are some that revolve around family, some around independence and personal success, some (because this is an ancient tradition) that pledge undying loyalty to the king and some that uphold faith and God. The dye, which is completely colorfast on fabric, is made from the bark of a tree, and is an incredibly interesting and involved process. We also learned that after the color has been sapped from the bark, they reuse the organic material to grow mushrooms, which they then eat. We Oregonians love the sustainability aspect, natch. We each did one or two stamps on a communal red strip of cloth, which we will later cut up so that each person can take home his or her own symbols. Some of us also purchased strips of cloth for our own stamping designs (you could also stamp on kente, which makes for quite the cool, cultural combination) and designed our own adinkra mini-tapestries. I wish that we could have spent more time at this village (which, actually does have a name, but it was complicated and I can't remember it), because if time had permitted, I would have stamped much more fabric and made many more great things to bring home. They also had intricately designed pieces, made by members of the village, for sale, but I didn't get a chance to look at them. They do sell adinkra in Accra, but, you know, at city prices.

We actually did eat lunch on Friday, and then took our full bellies to the Kumasi open-air market, which is the largest open-air market in all of West Africa. It was INSANE, and completely overwhelming. Leslie took us ladies towards the fabric section of the market, which took a five-minute, absolutely untraceable walk through vendors selling everything from radios to chickens. The fabric selection was expansive, and we found that if you ventured off the first aisle (where prices were steep and the ladies refused to cut the six-yard pieces into more manageable sizes), you could find equally beautiful prints and much better bargains. It was also less crowded, and we weren't constantly being jostled by passers-by as we all tried to share a foot-wide walkway. "Shops" were small inlets, open-kiosk style, down each aisle, and the women (this is a mostly female-dominated arena) who owned each shop would sit inside, sometimes on top of fabric piles, and call out to invite you into their shop. One lady from whom I bought multiple yards of multiple prints -- her name was Vic -- was so sweet and helpful that, once I was finished purchasing, I asked her if I could take her photo. She was tickled pink by the suggestion, and was absolutely giddy with excitement once I showed her the picture. I think it's a rare treat for the people here to see photos of themselves -- when we take pictures of children, they all clamor to see the image and squeal as they point to themselves on the screen -- and having a digital camera here is made even more fun when we get to share these moments with our new Ghanaian friends. Anyway, we continued on down the rows and rows of fabric, all of which was incredible. Since I arrived, I've had wanted to buy up all sorts of beautiful African prints and create a quilt out them when I returned. (I realize this news may surprise many of you, considering that I have NEVER quilted before ... and can barely sew). Despite the odds, I am very determined to make this goal a reality. So, I have been on the hunt for some good fabric, and probably bought five quilt's worth at the market. I may have gone a little spend-crazy, but everything is beautiful and will be put to good use. Towards the end of our shopping excursion, I actually cut myself off from all spending, and asked Jessica and Logan to help me uphold that vow, but as we walked out of the market, we passed a table that was selling even more fantastic prints for just 1.50 cedis a yard, and considering how cheap it was, I let myself buy a few more yards. I had to cradle my bag full of fabric like a baby back to where we were meeting the bus, because it was too heavy for its handles. It was really hot out, so Jessica and I indulged in FanChocos (somehow managing to balance my fabric baby at the same time) and chatted with some very sweet ladies who were cooking and selling ground-nut soup (aka peanut soup) on the market perimeter. The Kumasi crowd was very welcoming and it wasa treat to see how the Ghanaians shop. On the bus back, the boys talked about their afternoon exploring the meat section of the market. I'm normally a huge proponent of meat (Go MEAT, as we say), but apparently this was too much of a spectacle for even me. I don't know if I could have handled the pure stench of meat slabs hanging in front of every kiosk, not-so-seductively advertising themselves as "for sale," or the gutters running red with blood.

We didn't do much for the rest of the day ... went out to dinner at this weird little Chinese restaurant (it was no Jing-Jing, and that's all I have to say about that) and after-dinner, had some sangria that is 3 cedi and comes in a box. It's deeeelicious. We didn't get too crazy because we had to be up ridiculously early the next morning to trek farther northward, towards the much-anticipated animals...

The dish on Mole coming up in Part 2!