On Tuesday we left Accra and headed west along the Accra-Cape coastal road to Cape Coast. Like all roads we travelled on it was rough and bumpy but because of a lesser police presence for patrol these add rumble strips about every 10 miles or so that are two sets of three bumps that make you slow down a little. Then any time you approach a village of a certain size they put a speed cushion in place that requires a speed of about 7 MPH in order to navigate it without damaging your vehicle. Add in, every so often, a police check point where they can randomly pull you over, and it makes for a long trip.
At one point we did get waved over by the police. He showed us a radar gun indicating a speed which was, not surprisingly, over the speed limit. It was, in fact, a fairly unbelievable speed, but "official is official" and our driver and Percy, whom is responsible too because he has hired the driver, get a speeding ticket. The scary part for us is, the police may suspect you are trafficking children, then it gets ugly pretty fast. Fortunately for us, they were happy with just the speedning ticket and we were on our way again.
As with any drive in Ghana, along the way were street vendors selling everything from coconuts, ground nuts (peanuts), water, and even wild roast rat flattened on a bamboo frame. This is the rain forest area and Ghanians could simply go into the forest and harvest what they could find which was bountiful. Mangos. Coconuts. Wood. Bananas. Figs. Pineapples. Sometime we would see a group of people working together to retrieve them from the forest, creating large piles of them up along the road.
We were driving to Cape Coast to meet with the lawyer that works for the Ghana Department of Social Welfare (DSW) in order to prepare for our court date set for tomorrow morning. Did I mention no AC in the car? By the time we arrived it was late in the afternoon and it was getting hot. We were holding the two kids, Jena had Nala, and Mick had Noah, and all four of us were sweaty from the constant contact. They did sleep a lot at least but we arrived tired of being in the car so long and the last thing we wanted to do was have a meeting in a hot room as there as no AC there as well. Since we were late we had to wait even longer because he was in a meeting, but the view was beautiful, at least. This is not our picture, but this was nearly the exact view from the hill to the Atlantic coast:
Down town Cape Coast from the hill, looking at the Atlantic ocean.
Big waves were crashing into the shore and we were very impressed with Cape Coast as opposed to Accra. Very scenic city. Cape Coast is the capital of the Central Region which is the same as a state here in the USA.
News from the Court
We were informed that yes, officially, the courts were closed and that the judge would not come in to handle the adoption on Thursday due to the state funeral. That was followed up with the news that the next week was the beginning of a long holiday period where government (and the whole country basically) operated at about a fourth of its regular capacity, so it was entirely possible we wouldn't get a court day for a while. When we asked, "When it is over?", the reply was "late October". Remember that blinking reaction?
So we found ourselves in Ghana without any real purpose to be there that would help our adoption along. We would know Monday if we could still get into court the next Thursday. It was Wednesday. We'd need to wait five days just to see if we might get a court data. No matter, as we had the kids and we were there to enjoy them as well.
Jukwa
Our place of residence for the remaining time in Ghana would be the Rain Forest Lodge in Jukwa, Central Region, Ghana. We piled back into the car, now hot and disappointed and hungry, and departed Cape Coast, heading west again. Then a right turn and the sun was to our left. North it was. After about 25 minutes of bumps and dodging other vehicles, we arrived. This time the road led us into thicker and thicker forest with very dense undergrowth, increasingly larger trees, and green everywhere. To the right was a standard Ghanian village which turned out to be Jukwa, we made a quick left turn and there we were, home for next few weeks.
We loved the RFL. It was a complex of buildings surrounding a grassy courtyard. There was pool, a restaurant, and lots of wild life. It was a great place to just enjoy being a family. One building had five rooms, another had 3, and then there were four separate buildings, each housing two bedrooms, two baths, a living room, and in our case a little "kitchenette". The kitchenette had a sink with no hot water, a counter and cabinets for food storage. You'll notice I didn't say "oven" or "range" as there wasn't one. It was coming, supposedly, which was fine as we still had no food on day four. We two adults were getting hungry as the food we had so far was basic and we couldn't eat fresh vegetables due to water concerns. Everything had to be cooked. We were excited to be cooking again soon.
The courtyard. Across it was the business center and conference room. Our little cottage is to the left off frame.
The restaurant on the left and the business center with the red roof. Jena and Nala are off strolling to touch a tree that caught their eye.
There were some absolutely gorgeous flowers in the courtyard.
The walk went all the way around so we could make it in a circuit. One little walk led to the backyard. It was an arch covered in a passion fruit vine where some weaver birds had made a colony. They were small black and white birds with orange beaks. We liked to go stand under the arch and listen to them.
Mom and Nala looking for the weaver birds.
The hanging passion fruit and one of the weaver nests.
The nests looked very haphazard but there was a neat little circular entrance on each one.
The view form our front porch to the pool and cabana bar which was never in operation.
Yes those are coconut trees. U C M Coconuts?
That night we ate at the restaurant and found we liked the food a lot. Like all places in Ghana it took a long time as everything is completely hand made. We had vegetable noodles and the twins had rice and grilled chicken skewers. We learned this night that they can eat a lot and they love white rice. It was the one thing we could always count on them eating. Problem was, especially for Nala, it was plain white rice. If there was any sauce of any kind that turned the rice any color but rice, Nala would see it on the way in and refuse to eat it. We finished our meal, and went to bed exhausted that night.
We got up the next morning for breakfast, as it was complimentary and we decided to try it. Eggs, bread, and a little ham with grilled veggies. Still nothing for us but the kids loved the toast and eggs (most of the time anyway).
Here's some photos of our first family breakfast out:
Noah, waiting on the food .. we got better at this!
Nala and mama having fun stylin' the bib her auntie Jana got her.
Noah loved the eggs and wanted to share.
One side of the restaurant was the proverbial "ramp" which both enjoyed walking up and down. For Nala this took help from someone as she's not yet walking. We probably went up and down this ramp 100 times each.
Same ramp, same mama, and Noah colliding with them as he came back up the ramp.
Once done eating we started around the courtyard. Over the next 12 days we would this courtyard a lot and we enjoyed it. There were lizards everywhere running across the side walk in front of us, rooster with their little flocks of hens running around, goats, and an occasional dog and some very beautiful birds. Lizard chasing turned out to be a great way to pass the time.
The prey.
The hunters.
Me too!
Lizard hunters on the move:
One thing we noticed right away, the kids were somewhat afraid of grass. It was foreign to them. Jena and I talked a little about it later on, and realized that other than the center of roundabouts we had seen very little grass. There was almost no grass in Accra or Cape Coast at all. Their yard at the fosters is concrete and instead of grass there is simply bare dirt. So Nala, and at times, Noah, didn't want to put their feet in the grass at all. Mama kept trying though:
No way are my feet touching that, Mama!
Here we are just hanging out later in the week. It was amazing weather and we spent almost all our time outside doing something:
Also inside, after a trip to the pool. They were after mama:
Here in Jukwa we met some great people, had some great food, and most of all started being a family.
