Fufu and Love

You may be asking, what on this bountiful blue planet is fufu?

It's a staple of the Ghanaian diet, and other parts of Africa besides, that involves mashing boiled vegetables--plantain, cassava or yam--in a huge wooden mortar with a 4-foot long blunt-ended pole hewn from a tree until the vegetables become a sticky pale ball. It takes two people. It takes a long time. (Sounds like a relationship). The ball is then dropped in a spicy soup--palm, light or groundnut--and scooped up in the right hand and swallowed (not chewed - heaven forbid) whole.

And many humans could be forgiven for asking what makes a good relationship too?

Well, I was privvy to this tidbit of wisdom a couple of weeks ago at the marriage between a Ghanaian and Canadian couple of friends.

The analogy in Ghanaian folklore follows that creating a good relationship is like making fufu: one partner is the cassava and the other is the plantain (or yam if you're up north).

When you pound cassava and plantain into a sticky ball of fufu, which ain't easy, like you're average long-term relationship, you hit lumps, like you're average long-term relationship.

So, what next?

Ghanaians believe that it is the sole responsibility of the two to address the issues--those lumps--in the relationship. In other words, to discard those things that don't help the relationship, and keep pounding away at the rest. And to solve it yourself...

"So we are the caterers in the kitchen of relationship fufu, then..." I said out loud.

Culture and language - endless balls of fu....fu....n!!!

(Oh, and I chew my fufu...)

I love this T-shirt. Sums it up pretty well.

Cape Coast, Ghana, a photo journey

This is an old favourite from last year. If you're traveling to Cape Coast or Elmina, check this out. By the way, that's an STC bus in the picture directly below and this picture shows the corner of Hotel Junction off which Elimax's place lies.

When these women carrying beams of timber on their head passed me this morning I decided to chronicle the journey to work in pictures--it takes about 20 minutes in a share taxi (when it doesn't break down, take a detour, or get pulled over by police at barriers)--so join me in 20 minutes in the life...

...of my journey from home to work that starts here, on the side of the highway, where I flag down a share taxi and still catch myself awed...

...by the women (it's mostly women--and they usually have a baby wrapped on their back to boot) who carry heavy loads on their heads because there's no other way for them to get it from A to B: these women have Pure Grace, the slogan emblazoned on the mini bus's rear windscreen, as they are on almost every vehicle in the country that...

...stops to set down passengers who need a break...

...and almost exclusively have windscreens that look like cystallized spider's webs...

...with side mirrors to match...

...so it's best to gaze out the side windows to see the fishermen carrying nets for mending....

...where piles of Gari--ground cassava--sit in neat stacks on tables across the highway from the Ewe fishing villages...

...and fishermen's pirogues (for fishing is a male domain) sit awaiting their next dip into the ocean and nets sit stretched for mending...

...for several kilometres along the highway...

...and children sell "pure water" from aluminium basins on their heads by the highway where the Atlantic waves pound the beach...

...and billboards advertise the ubiquitous game...

...before you come upon the village where pirogues set the scene...

...and lone fishermen take stock...

...and communities of fishermen participate in a communal hand-over-fist dance to haul in the nets...

...before coming upon the lagoon at Bakaano where a thin strop of sand separates the lake from the sea...

...and you shortly find yourself entering Cape Coast proper where you can buy a timber bed frame on the side of the road...

...and avoid falling in the open sewage trenches...

...and buy an onion from a street hawker and mind the firewood that will soon become charcoal that most people use to fuel their small coal braziers over which they cook almost everything, including...

...pancakes that will soon be sold from that little green shed by a lady who piles them up in a glass case and wanders along the road until they're "finished"...

...and do a spot of chair shopping before the day gets going...

...and make a call for 25 cents from the yellow umbrella stand...

...and stop at the blue painted shop that sells stales like milk, of course, and sugar, rice, single tea bags, and other food stuffs in small portions from 5 cent sizes to $1 or more...

...and a bite of wakye (wah-chy), a dish of rice and red beans and sold in those large silver bowls along streets all over Ghana...

...so you can fill your stomach for a day at the office!

That was a 20 minutes in the life from Elmina to Cape Coast...

Download a free sample of our Travel Guide to Ghana see inside the guide before buying.

Trotro mate for a day: Photo

This slogan speaks to my directional decisions. That's me in the sunnies outside my old house in Elmina and my friend and former volunteer buddy. We were trying out being mates for a day, even though we weren't going too far in that old rust bucket. Kind of like many a trotro trip...!

Download a free sample of our Travel Guide to Ghana see inside the guide before buying.

AIDS is looking for you on this highway in Ghana

An image along the highway on the outskirts of Bolgatanga. There was a political logo in the centre that I decided to remove since it just doesn't look too crash hot. Ghana has a serious dose of the funny signs, although there are very few in Bolga--this was my first. Incidentally, we don't believe AIDS is funny. The sign, however...

"Only in Ghana" as Mr KSM would say!

Hey, you've been warned!

Download a free sample of our Travel Guide to Ghana see inside the guide before buying.

Photos: Volta, Akosombo, Beads, Ghana

These brilliant photographs are courtesy of Raysto at Flickr. He has developed a brilliant folder of Ghana photos taken this year.

The transparent blue and blue-green beads in these photos are made from recycled glass bottles which are first pounded, then melted and set in moulds. The colourful, dot beads are individually hand-painted by beadmakers too. This tradition is focused in the Eastern Region between Accra, Koforidua and Kpong in a kind of triangle. You can visit bead makers and watch them at work. We have a lot of information about this in our post Ghana Highlights Part II: Eastern and Volta Region

This is a stunning photo of Lake Volta from around, I think, Akosombo Bridge or somewhere high in that vicinity. If you stay at Aylo's Bay you will be privvy to this amazing landscape and you can also paddle a canoe along the river for a few hours if you wish!

I want to say thank you to Raysto for making his photos available to share. If you want to sneak a peek at something brilliant, but a little naughty, check out this very African lady.

Download a free sample of our Travel Guide to Ghana see inside the guide before buying.

My town: Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, Ghana

-->

Continuing the theme of places I've lived, I'm sharing photos that tell a little story about life in Bolgatanga. 

 

 

My Town: Cape Coast

I've started a small series of posts on the theme My Town based on places I've lived around the world in which I post images that tell that town's story, not necessarily what you see in tourist brochures. Living is anything over 4 months...for me. Some of these photos were taken by a friend and former volunteer, Tina. Some were by me. My photos aren't too crash hot, but Tina's are fantastic.So welcome to Cape Coast:

Over the rooftops towards the ocean by Tina. Cape is a hilly town and there are wonderful views if you can handle the sweaty walk to the top.

By Tina. Funerals are a common site on Fridays and weekends all over Cape and Ghana for that matter. This was right outside my former office.

By Tina. Along Jackson Street (Coastal Forex is in that building in the background on the right). You'll meet cheeky children like this everywhere.

By Tina. Fishermen pulling in the nets outside Oasis.

 

By Tina. In the other direction, boys playing football on the beach. Cape Coast Castle in the background.

  

By Tina. Another view of hilly Cape with the ocean in the background

  

By Tina. My favourite jollof rice lady, sitting opposite Melcom, on the main street of Cape Coast

 

These cleaning and tooth paste advertisements covered the whole wall of the building by the one main traffic light in town some years ago.

Baobab photos and sunsets in Bolgatanga

A gorgeous sunset through the baobab tree in Bolgatanga.