Caboose

The plan was to get up early and head straight to Busua but Dave had got a text from Susan (a Ghana VSO he’d met at training in the UK) saying that she was trying to find rooms for us close to where they were staying.

This meant that we didn’t know whether to head for Busua or Butre, so we went out to get some breakfast but everywhere was shut. A bit later we tried Bocadillo’s and I had two pain au chocolat and real coffee for ¢30,000 (£1.65).

We took a tro-tro to Agona junction for ¢5000 each but still hadn’t heard from Susan about accommodation. After a while we got a text saying she had organised three beds but with no mention of the cost! We were trying to decide whether to look for accommodation in Busua (where there are more options) or head to Butre to be with the group of Ghana VSOs.

(“Do not urinate here!” sign at tro-tro station in Takoradi)

Another text revealed that the beds at Ellis Hideout were at their special Christmas rip-off price of ¢100,000 (£5.50) per person for a bed in a five-person dormitory. We agreed to go to Ellis and got a taxi to Butre for ¢50,000.

We arrived at Butre, walked across the bridge to Ellis Hideout, met Susan and checked in. Dave and Marebec then started dithering, the dorm wasn’t great with no sink and sharing two toilets and showers with some other rooms. Marebec seemed concerned about the cost but as far as I was concerned the decision had already been made and I was not leaving to find somewhere else.

I washed my clothes then walked along the beach to Fanta’s Folly, where the other VSOs were staying. It’s run by a Nigerian woman and her French partner. I had a couple of Sprites to rehydrate, met the other VSOs and walked back along to Ellis’s for dinner. I had Swedish meatballs, the owner of the place is Swedish, very good.

The Raleigh International staff had also gathered here for Christmas so we spent the evening chatting. Later on people were sitting round a bonfire on the beach playing drums and singing, led by Ellis himself. I wandered off to bed around 11 and then kept getting woken up in the night by mosquitoes, my bed didn’t have a net.

The next morning (Christmas day) I woke up fairly early and had breakfast at 8.30. Ellis Hideout is in a beautiful location on a quiet beach to Butre, the only neighbours on the beach are Fanta’s Folly and a small village. It’s very peaceful, the only sound is the pounding waves.

I chatted with some of the others and later walked along to Butre with Marebec and Dave to buy water. We tried to work out how to get up to the ruins of Fort Batenstein, it seems you have to register as a visitor for ¢20,000 and then pay a guide. We didn’t bother and I went back to Ellis’s for a swim.

The waves on Butre beach are very powerful, easily strong enough to knock you over. Once you wade out past where they break it’s not so bad but the occasional big one breaks early and catches you out. It’s a bit scary being knocked over and pinned to the seabed as the wave washes over you. Dan from VSO Ghana had been hit by a big wave and hurt his neck [It later turned out that he’d cracked two vertebrae].

I made some phone calls home from the bridge to Butre, the only place to get a decent signal on areeba. After phone calls it was time for lunch, lovely fried octopus and chips for ¢50000.

Service at Ellis’s was mostly good, unless Ellis was serving. He seems to be permanently stoned and had no idea where anything was or how much it cost. A nice, friendly guy but probably shouldn’t be behind the bar.

We’d booked Christmas dinner at Fanta’s Folly, so we walked along there around 4pm. Dan and Lucy had brought crackers and there were also balloons. I had fish carpaccio as a starter then kassava fish in lobster sauce with sauteé potatoes. Dessert was lovely mixed fruit ice cream. The food was fantastic.

The Ghana VSOs did their Secret Santa thing and Dan gave everyone bead bracelets. There was a bit of dancing, some drinking and lots of talking before we walked back along the beach around midnight.

We sat by the bonfire for a little while before the sandflies got too annoying and I retired to bed.

I got up fairly late and had a small scrambled egg and toast for ¢25,000 (£1.40) before checking out.