Christmas Vacation Part 2 of 4-Elmina & St.George's Castle

**Note: My friend Morgan is an incredible photographer so I'll direct you to his blog to check out the scenes I've described in the blog below. His address is: http://thefatbuddha.blogspot.com/

We had incredible luck getting out of Butrea. Victor had made friends with a taxi driver so we arranged to be picked up early in the morning and dropped off at the tro-tro pick-up heading to Elmina. (I got really used to travelling in tro-tros during the trip-the experience can be compared to travelling in a sardine can without any shocks. Come to think of it, those vans are so beat up they probably aren’t much thicker than a sardine can. Haha)

We arrived in Elmina in time for breakfast and took our Nescafe at a neat restaurant that had a great view of the bustling lagoon with its colourful pirogues, painted red turquoise and yellow, flying sails made of flour sacks sewn together. We all watched the hustle and bustle on the docks with fascination- small girls balanced tin platters on their heads piled with oranges or buckets filled with pure water; women swiftly strode by carrying metal bowls on their heads filled with various kinds of fish and sea creatures, while others had wooden boxes on their heads with glass walls that displayed African pastries or fried dough. Men carried equipment down to the boats and some just moved with the crowd, stopping to buy something from the “petty traders” or to chat with a friend. Overlooking this whole scene from the grassy hill across from us was St.George’s Castle- the oldest European structure in West Africa. The castle was first built by the Portuguese and later overtaken by the Dutch. It was originally a post for gold trading and later became a slave trading post where hundreds of African people were imprisoned before being loaded onto ships headed for the Americas.

After breakfast we went on a tour of St. George’s Castle-a disturbing but educating experience. Our guide shared some of the history of the building with us as he led us into the male and female dungeons, through the main court complete with a church, up into the bedroom and sitting room of the governor, and down to the door of no return- where those imprisoned took their last steps on African soil before being crammed into the slave chambers of the ships awaiting them. It was a sobering experience and as we left the guide made sure to point out the following sign:

"In Ever Lasting Memory

Of the Anguish of our ancestors

May those you died rest in peace

May those who return find their roots

May humanity never again perpetrate

Such injustice against humanity

We, the living, vow to uphold this"

After the castle we headed down to the shores to check out the central market. The scene here was much like that of the docks by the lagoon, only more intense because of the greater area. I enjoyed looking into everyone’s bowls to see all the different fish and sea creatures. The market was crowded and loud with the strong scent of fish amidst the salty sea air. We ducked into a local drinking spot where we were able to watch a bunch of fishermen working amongst a big cluster of pirogues pulled up on the sand. Some were repairing their nets, some were sewing new ones, and some were fixing sails. Children ran all amongst the boats, and we caught a great shot of a small boy soaping up for his morning bath.

We spent the afternoon wondering about the main streets of Elmina and hiking up to a Catholic Church on a big hill where we could see the whole town. The Brandt Book explains Elmina best when it describes the paradox you see in town which has a mood so inherently African, but an urban landscape that has been molded almost entirely by exotic influences. It’s intriguing to see how the old colonial houses and European structures have been adopted and morphed into various living accommodations and businesses within this fishing town.

Late that afternoon we caught another tro-tro and continued on to Cape Coast….TBC