Meeting a high personage of bling

Day 11

Our 2 microbuses arrived. The Malaysian “duchess” directed us to the one she was in - marginally better being there than with the Oz Neanderthal and old Zambian colonials. Apparently we are the chosen ones. Lloyd is in front with the driver, Aggie (duchess) next row with the panicky Portuguese doctor, Diane behind and we are behind her in the back. Suits us as the air con comes our way. (The guide wasn’t pleased as he had to go in the van without Lloyd and Aggie who have GPS and can give him directions.)

We thought our luck had changed but no. The traffic was at a standstill, the guide did not know the way to the large covered market so kept stopping and asking. Eventually he told us to get out with him to walk. Mr C decided to stay in the van and read his book. Wisely. The guide got us all into tuktuks and we sped off for 10 minutes. 8 of us arrived at the main entrance to the market. No guide and his tuktuk pair, the colonials. Lloyd paid our drivers. We waited and waited. It was 37C. We gave them 15 minutes. I phoned Mr C who for once had his phone on and answered. He was with the vans and colonials at the Royal Palace car park but the guide had gone without saying where. We decided to get tuktuks there. (According to the guide the company did not provide him with a Ghana SIM so we could not contact him). We waited and waited.

He came back - no explanation, no apology, (he’ll say he told them where to go and they didn’t go - he is economical with the truth) and said we’d go to a fast food to order lunch. Yes order fast food an hour in advance. Our driver forgot about a low wall and ground into it getting stuck. Only minor damage. Then we went back to the closed-for-renovations-palace to see a video and go in a shop. I had a walk in the grounds. There were a couple of mangy old stuffed lions at the entrance and a peacock.

We had horrible soggy pizza and went to what the itinerary said was the Awukudae festival. In the Ashanti calendar certain days are set aside for a special celebration at the Royal Palace. It wasn’t held there today. Allegedly we were experiencing a “great traditional ceremony in one of the last African kingdoms which still practices its ancient rituals in full”. Some dignitary was there holding court instead. We should have seen a procession: attendants bearing gifts, story tellers, drummers, ivory trumpet players, sword beaters, armed guards, carriers of ostrich feather fans, high fetish priests, and “corpulent women dressed in vivid red performing dance with erotic symbolism”. We saw none of that. Maybe they are in an age of austerity here too. There were drummers, people taking their shoes off and bowing to a beautifully dressed personage adorned with much gold, someone fanning him and a few rows of underlings sitting on either side of him under the lovely tasselled umbrellas. We could walk about and take photos or sit in a covered area with locals dressed in their finery. It was very colourful but Mr C had to go out as it was too loud. On the way out we got caught in the crush of crowds of young people in blue T shirts advertising the name of a politician.

In the van we headed for the coast, very slowly as it took ages to get out of Kusami. The temperature is rising every day and that’s not just centigrade. We are cross about being left without a guide and with no means of contacting him. It cost £12 to make and receive the 2 calls I had to make to Mr C. I’m intending taking that out of his tip. If he gets one.

The drive to the coast was horrible as the driver could not read the road and see high speed bumps or holes in the road so we’ll have bruises tomorrow. It took 5 hours as there were speed bumps all through the many villages.

Our room is on the sand but behind others - we could hear the sea from the place we had our meal but as it’s dark at 6.30 we haven’t seen it yet. We leave at 8am so we might get a quick paddle before we go.