2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

So the rest of the evening and night with the person in Cape Coast went fine, the whole family was so nice to me, they wash my dish, they feed my fish. Had some yam balls with dinner, they totally reminded me of timbits! Before leaving, I tried to offer them some money, especially since I would have spent it on hotel and food anyways, but they refused. There are many generous people here. Though of course there are many greedy people also. That is the way with every country I've been really.

Headed up to Kumasi, dropped my stuff at the hotel. While heading out, saw a couple locals I talked to when I was in Kumasi before, they said a group was meeting at a certain restaurant and all going to the game together. I went there, but the restaurant was not even open, kindof annoyed me. So I continued trying to go to the stadium by myself. Started walking that way, near a big intersection a trotro with people obviously going to the game (wearing bright ghanaian colours), shouted back and forth a moment to confirm this, and I hopped on board. On, not in. It was completely full, so I joined the two other people standing in the sliding door entrance to the van, holding on as tight as possible. I know it could be considered pretty reckless, but it was pretty fun, and we didn't ever go too fast (or more importantly, stop too suddenly). At the stadium, I could head towards VIP seating for 40000, or regular for 20000. Didn't know much difference, except vip is covered. I imagined a better view too. So I headed in that way. Turned out to be amistake. All the seats there were full already, just standing room at the back. Which still offered a decent view. The problem was that it was jut a bit after 1;00, and though the game was scheduled for 3:00, it had been changed to 4:30. So that meant over 3 hours standing in one spot (I figure if I moved, I'd end up later behind the standing people) before the game even began! If my mind had worked faster, if I had been more decisive, I would have tried to move to the regular seating, which although it was not shaded, at least I would have had a seat, and that would have been much more valuable to me. But alas, I did not, so I stood for hours, then was crammed between other standing people trying to see the game. Thank goodness I'm tall (the first time it's been a benefit in Ghana rather than a liability, normally tallness just leads to discomfort in beds and trotros). Anyways, I don't know much about football (soccer) but Ghana scored 10 minutes in, and then again 5 minutes later, and generally dominated the game! It was quite exciting. Felt a bit bad for Uganda, being surrounded by thousands of people wanting them to lose. After the game, people celebrating, many people jumped fences to be on the field... if I had been with anyone, I probably would have tried to do the same just for the heck of it, but I wasn't prepared to do so by myself. Later, someone decided they wanted to be my friend and help me get transport back to my hotel. But he didn't seem to really know what he was doing, or to understand me very well, so it got really annoying. Eventually ended up in a taxi heading that way, that wanted more money than I said I'd pay when I accepted the taxi. And apparently wanted to fight even when I paid more than I said I would and walked away. Some other guy who somehow ended up with me covered the difference to avoid a problem. I think maybe the reason the driver wanted the extra money was for this other guy anyway (thought we were together), not just me. I'm not sure where he came from, but he accompanied me for the rest of the evening, even though I didn't really want him to, and wasn't paying him much attention. Had some food and tea while this guy just sat and did nothing, then returned to my hotel, just as i had told him I was doing, but he still wanted to follow me around anyway.

So today will be a pretty relaxing day, not much planned, just hang around and will see G&E sometime this evening I suppose (no idea when they'll arrive). Looking forward to not travelling alone for the next couple weeks. Though coming home still seems really far away. I feel I've seen / done enough for this trip, I'd be fine to head back any time, just staying cause I might as well, hopefully will have some good times. Also will be interesting to see other people's travelling style, what they do, I bet I'll learn a few neat things (like maybe how to do laundry better!)