Concluding Remarks and Miscellaneous Notes

There was a minor complication with the flight, as I learned on checking in. Namely, there was a fuel shortage in Accra and we were going to be diverted to Lagos, Nigeria for refueling. I was concerned about the delay this would entail. But I suppose it's nicely ironic in light of having chosen British Air over Lufthansa specifically to avoid Lagos.

In the end, we got to Heathrow about two hours late, which still left me enough time for a quick stroll around the terminal, as well as ducking into the business class lounge to check email. My flight to Washington left a bit late, but arrived on time. All in all, British Air provided excellent service and I think I'm going to have to make sure I keep building up my Alaska Air miles to take advantage of it again.

Immigration and customs at Washington Dulles is always quick and efficient. I decided to treat myself to a taxi home. Normally, the only cabs at Dulles are those run by the Washington Flyer, but their drivers were on strike, so the other companies were allowed in. I didn't think of it at the time, but I wonder now if the bus to West Falls Church was even running. At any rate, a half hour and some forty bucks later, I was back at home.

There are also a few odds and ends I wanted to mention and didn't find a good place to within the text. So here's a rather random assortment of observations along the way:

• Astute readers might note that, in the Ghana section, I used the term "Asante" rather than the more familiar one to most of us in the West of "Ashanti." My reason for doing so is simple - it's just more correct. By the way, the Asante are one of the rare ethnic groups who can trace their origins precisely. Essentially, Osei Tutu united a number of local states into a confederation in 1697, assuming the title of their paramount king. The legendary version involves a priest, Okomfo Anokey, summoning a golden stool from the sky to land in the lap of Osei Tutu, indicating his magical authority.

• There's an interesting and elaborate style of handshaking in use in this region. It starts with an ordinary handshake. That's then followed by a sort of upward grasping handshake. It concludes with the two people linking their index and middle fingers together and then snapping them apart. I didn't entirely figure out just how widespread it is or what it's significance is, beyond seeming to be a particular mark of friendship. I came to think of it as the Secret Ewe Handshake, but that's just me.

• This is a minor annoyance, but it's worth mentioning that whenever I went to markets, there were lots of children shouting "yabo! yabo!" which, apparently, means "white person." Unlike in some other places, few of them were begging, but it still made me uncomfortable. I think I'd have preferred to think that was the word for "hello" in the local tongue.

• While I'm on the subject of children, it's striking that there are so many everywhere you go in this region. The schools look busy and overcrowded, for example. But I couldn't figure out school hours, as I saw children in school uniforms and clearly not in school at various times of day. By the way, there is a real push to educate girls. In Benin, for example, the school fees are lower for girls than for boys.

• Remember the chocolate that I so carefully brought back for the office, seeing as how all anybody there knew about Ghana was that they grow cacao there? It turned out to be pretty dreadful. My theory is that there's something they do to make it survive the heat which makes the texture oddly grainy with poor mouth feel. I told everyone just to think of it as a cultural experience but I've already been informed that I need to atone for this when I go to Brussels in May. Oddly, the next day, one of my colleagues told me that on the Blue Line train that morning, he'd heard a man from Ghana telling an Eastern European man how good Ghanaian chocolate is. And, to be fair, the chocolate bar I'd bought at the Ghana pavilion at Expo in Japan last summer was good. Of course, it was horribly hot and humid in Japan, too, which adds credence to my temperature theory.

So, would I recommend a trip like this? Certainly, the eclipse was truly awe-inspiring and worth the journey. I'm not sure that I would become an eclipse groupie, but if another upcoming one is in an otherwise interesting place, it could affect my travel scheduling.

Ghana, in general, I can recommend highly. In fact, I think it would be reasonably doable to travel there independently, though that might not allow as much interaction with traditional villagers. There was a bit more shopping than I'd really have preferred on the tour, but I recognize that's a minority opinion. I felt a real sense of accomplishment by overcoming my terror and doing the rainforest canopy walk at Kakum. And the Asante funeral was a surprising highlight.

I'm far more hesitant about Togo and Benin. The tourist infrastructure in those countries is definitely underdeveloped. I didn't think the cost of the extension (admittedly higher as it was just me) was good value given the accomodations. However, the destinations were interesting and for people like me, who enjoy being out of their comfort zone, it's worth enduring some discomfort to see things like the festish market in Lome, the stilt village of Ganvie, and the masked processions in Benin. I'd add the museums at Abomey and Porto Novo to the "worth-seeing" list only if you're fond of saunas. (I left Benin contemplating a trip to Greenland. In December.) Seriously, why can't the museum directors at least open windows for air circulaton? All that heat and humidity can't be good for the artifacts either.

My frustration with having an allegedly English-speaking guide who couldn't understand enough English to know that questions that start with "when?" or "in what year?" require answers that have to do with time, marred my experience. People who speak French will, obviously, have an easier time of it. I was also annoyed about the continual underestimation of how long things would take. I don't think those were intentional lies, so much as Georges trying to tell me what he thought I wanted to hear and getting it wrong. Or maybe he doesn't know his numbers in English either. The continual struggle to communicate was the most irritating one I've ever had - and I've been to many places where I speak even less of the local language.

The one thing I would definitely recommend if you plan to go to these destinations is to get all of the visas in advance if at all possible, regardless of what anybody (including embassy staff) tell you. While I didn't have an actual problem exiting Benin, things were more stressful than they needed to be. I prefer to be a law-abiding person.

I guess the brief summary is that I like everything except my guide for the extension and two of the hotels in Benin. That's probably not too bad overall as things go.

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