Water Bags

In Europe the drinking water is either in bottles or from the tap. Here there are bottles and the tap water as well (but only Africans drink from the tap since it is not safe for us foreigners to drink), but here they have something we don’t have ins Switzerland: water bags! A water bag is a square thick plastic bag that has half a liter of water in it!
So how do you drink it? You bite a small whole into the corner of the bag and then drink the water in the bag. It sounds really easy, but it actually really hard to bite a small whole into the bag with your teeth and not spill any water (we have spill water on ourself (and the floor) dozens of times!). The water bags are really cheap (about 3 rappen a piece) and you can find them everywhere! So you are you can always drink fresh (and usually cold) water where ever you are.
However, there is one major problem with the water bags: if your drop or rip them, you have water everywhere! We have accidentally dropped a water bag on the floor, where it then burst like a water balloon. So you have to be very careful not to drop or squash them! You also have to be careful not to spill your water bag once you have opened it (since you cannot close it) . But in a whole, water bags are a really cool and practical way to keep/drink water! Also they are really fun to drink from :-) . We will miss them when we come back to Switzerland!

Cape Coast

On the 1st of March we headed to the ocean to a place called Cape Coast. Since both of us don’t drive here we had to take a bus. There is a service here in Ghana called Intercity STC (bus company). We drove to the bus terminal with a taxi. After we bought our tickets (which were about 8 Sfr for a 4 hour drive!) we got on to a nice airconditioned bus. We drove for about 4 hours until we reached Cape Cost bus terminal. From the bus terminal we took a taxi to the hotel.
The hotel was located in Elmina which is a small fishing village by the sea. Only 25,000 people live in Elmina, but it is the oldest settlement (a village) in Ghana. Also, Elmina was first area of Ghana which was colonized by the Europeans in the year 1421. It was the center for the trade of gold, ivory and later slaves during that time. Under Portuguese rule in 1482 it became the center for slave trade in Ghana. Elmina Castle was where the slave trade took place. It was also a important supply point for explorations. Bartholomeus Diaz and Christopher Columbus both used the castle to stay at on their journeys and for getting new supplies. You can still see and visit the castle’s museum.
But now Elmina is a fishing village. You can buy everything from fish to lobster to squids on the market. This market was extremely busy! The market was packed with people selling, trading and buying fish (also there was A LOT of fish at the market! It smelt great…). The harbor in the lagoon was full of boats going in and out all day and night.
Elmina is also really close to a rain forest national park called Kankum National Park. We did not go there on our trip to Cape Coast, but we heard it is really nice! There you can see elephants, buffalos, wild pigs, antelopes and other African animals if you’re lucky. This park also has a Canopy Walk which is a bridge that is in the tree tops! So you are walking up in the tree tops looking down through the rainforest! Cool! After staying 3 days in Elmina we travelled back to Kumasi. We took the bus (which was an hour late!) back to Kumasi. We got back to our place exhausted after that very busy and long day!

Washing our Clothes by Hand

Back home in Switzerland it’s rare to find a household without a washing machine. Here in Ghana it’s the opposite: it’s rare to find a household with a washing machine. The reason being the cost of the machine itself; however, more importantly it’s more effective to wash out the dirt when washing by hand. The surrounding we live in has a lot of sand and wind, therefore the sand/dirt tends to stick to the clothes like glue. In order to keep the clothes clean and wash out all the sand/dirt, it’s easier to wash the clothes by hand. It’s not as easy though as it might seem. Ibi’s sister Samira showed us how the wash by hand. When she does it looks really easy since she has been doing it for years! But when we tried we struggled at first. However, after practicing it a couple times we are slowly but truly getting the hang of it.
Here, Asia (Ibi’s niece) does the washing for most of the house. It’s quiet impressive watching her do it. She does it fast and effective. She is 18 years old and still goes to school, however, she washes the clothes every Sunday and cooks for the whole house sometimes. It’s admirable how she manages to do all of this, while still going to school.
It takes us a lot longer than her, but we will continue practicing until we will perfect our washing skills!