Obese Goats, Dried Animal heads, Trucks in condoms
Trip Start
Oct 03, 2005
1
56
57
Trip End
Feb 28, 2006
Kumasi, Ghana
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
I did, however, go to the Marche des Feticheurs(market of the fetish people)...
It was quite an experience - the Lonely Planet is right when it says that you can smell it as you approach - and it's not a good smell! The sight is horrific - about 10 stalls clustered together in a row in front of a big empty lot(they're preparing to expand the market) with fetishes and dried animal parts arrayed on large mats in front of each shop. Crocodile and snake heads seem to dominate, and you also see hundreds of dead birds with insects crawling all over them - owls, parakeets, parrots, you name it - and what makes it even more grisly is that a lot of them are headless. A guide took me on a tour of the tiny market and explained how the animals are ground up and mixed with herbs to make fetishes, and then took me into one of the shops. Again, animal welfare and rights concerns, but you've got to turn that off in Africa or you will spend all your time in tears.
In the shop, he tells me that the seller is the voodoo chief. The voodoo chief shakes 4 conch shells in his hand, touches a big fetish/statue(they apparently consult this statue for guidance) and prays, asks for my name, and gives me a blessing. He then proceeds to show me an array of fetishes. The ones I remember:
1) A fetish for travellers, to ward off bad spirits and to protect yourself and to make sure your travelling is smooth. Ask it to protect you then throw it away...Maybe I should have gotten this one!
2) Another fetish to improve your memory - put in under your pillow for a night then throw it away.
3)A love festish - rub it on your hands 7 times, whisper name of the man/woman you want, and throw it away. He/She will start dreaming about you that night. I thought somebody should love you because you're you, but of well...
4) A fetish to protect your house - kind of looked like an owl carved out of wood, with 2 feathers stuck in the head. Apparently you have to give it one cigarette a year, and it smokes.
5) A fetish to protect against bad voodoo and to give you good luck. I got this one just in case I pissed off anyone who knows voodoo.
There were 2 others, but I don't really remember them! When asking for the price, he put them in a bag with the conch shells, touched the statue, chanted again(probably consulting the fetish for a price), threw the shells down, and gave me a price(they told me it was cheap because I was a student...) - Just got one, number 5, and was getting a bit of the creeps, so left. I think the statue is called the "juju man."
There is this awesome billboard in Lome that I noticed on the way back that I wish I had taken a picture of - it was a billboard advertising 3 ways to prevent AIDS. On the billboard there were 3 drawings of roads alongside each other. The first road says: "Abstinence", and has a truck going along the road by itself. The second road, the one in the middle, says "Fidelity", and shows 2 trucks going alongside each other, very close. The 3rd road says "Protection", and has this massive truck going along in a condom! While the message is serious, I could not help but laugh!
Lome's coastline is beautiful - it doesn't look as polluted or crowded as you'd expect from a city beach, and for the short time I was there, seemed quite relaxing.
One thing I will remember about Togo and Benin is the obesity of the goats/sheep - they honestly are really really fat, and much shorter than the goats/sheep you see in the other African countries I've been in! The first time I saw them from behind, I thought they were pigs, and so did Tony and Benjamin. They are an attraction in themselves I think - if you come here, look for them.
Again, the people were generally fantastic - Gaston, this young kid comes to mind - saw me walking from the market, saw the necklaces I had bought, and ran home and got me 2 bracelets and didn't let me pay for them. The people, especially in Benin, seem to smile a lot too - people in Togo not so much, but I think that's in part because they've had political troubles there relatively recently(their ruler is a bastard dictator in all but name).
The food is also much much better than Ghana, especially avocado salad in bread, which is really cheap too - Ghanaian bread is horrible - it's sweet and gummy and doughy, while the Francophone countries know how to make good baguettes. And Togo and Benin better food in general than Ghana(at least for vegetarians!).
Got back to Accra last night after having my bus break down halfway again. I know breakdowns and stuff are part of Africa travel, but wonder if my trip has had a higher-than average. I've also had a couple minor bus breakdowns that I haven't mentioned on here!
A big regret of mine is that I should have followed African media much much more - it is intensely entertaining! At the border, I saw a frontpage newspaper article - apparently, in Accra a couple of days ago, there were huge crowds around the central police station because there were rumors that somebody had turned a man into a fowl, and he was in police custody! I loved the way the article was written - "The station was besieged with people who had nothing useful to do" or something like that. I wish more newspapers would write in that style(ie. calling things as it is - calling the people useless when they are), and we would have more events like that in Australia/Bangkok. To top things off, I saw the front page of today's paper - it had a big color picture of a man, and apparently it was suspected that he was turned into a fowl. Don't you wish sometimes that the Bangkok Post/Sydney Morning Herald was like this?
Last night while talking to Faiza was also watching a soccer show on African TV - there was this Ghanaian anchor and this British guy talking(I think of Ghanaian origin). They were talking about the African Nations Cup, which is being held in Egypt right now, then went over preparations for the African Nations Cup 2008, which will be held in Ghana - they went through footage of work being done at the stadiums, a bit of the plans, etc. - as i looked at the footage, I was telling Faiza - with the number of people you have there, and what has already been done, there is no way they will be ready on time...and things like that. The show comes back to the studio, and the anchor asks the guy on the show, who I will refer to as Kofi(a very common Ghanaian name) - so, what do you think?
Kofi starts laughing semi-hysterically, and says, "Oh, you're having a laugh!"
Anchor(looking very perplexed): What? What do you mean?
Kofi: There's no way it'll be done in time! Look at how few people are working on it! And they have nothing done! They're still demolishing, and haven't even started constructing! Hahaha(remember this is on Ghanaian national TV).
Anchor: But...but...maybe our anchor didn't capture the right pictures and videos to show work is progressing well.
Kofi: No.
Anchor(trying to move on): So do you believe we can equal, or even exceed the tournament in Egypt?
Kofi: How is that going to happen? The stadiums probably will not be done in time!
They then get into a discussion - Kofi says the stadiums need to be done 3 months before the tourney and tested before mass use - the anchor keeps on saying it's 1(I think Kofi is right, by the way), but just - the way the anchor was stuttering and looking so flushed was classic. And the things this guy was saying on Ghanaian TV - Ghanaians are very patriotic, and I'm trying to imagine the number of people who want to kill him right now, or feel ashamed. I definitely am going to watch more Ghanaian TV before I leave!
Anyways - have come up to Kumasi, and my bus didn't break down, but was 2 hours late - will be going to Kramokrom to meet friends tomorrow. Less than 1 week left!
