Monday, July 21, 2008
History Unrefined in James Town
This weekend was the most enjoyable, rewarding and productive yet. Saturday, after treating ourselves to the first relaxing morning of the trip, a few of us embarked on an unchartered trip to James Town, a decrepit section of Accra with stunning remnants of British colonialism, abject poverty, and an entrenched coastline. Upon our arrival, we were aggressively deterred from photographing our surroundings by locals hoping we would pay them for the opportunity to snap a shot from what was clearly a lookout point. The contrast between our foreign luxuries and their hunger was painful and at times quite difficult to navigate. We declined to climb the lighthouse, for the man sleeping at its base insisted on charging us the outlandish price of 10 cedis to enter, twenty times the amount we paid to enter Elmina Castle last weekend. Needless to say, we opted for a stroll instead. Far more successful was our maneuvering of the entry into Fort James, a striking Portuguese slave fort, crumbling with neglect and preserving several layers of history. I was immediately enraptured in this eerie historical treasure, and wandering through its nooks and crannies left me speechless. This was BY FAR the most fascinating time capsule I have ever experienced, doubling as a prison through the beginning of the twentieth century, left for ruin, and recently appointed for preservation and tourist development. Unfiltered and unrefined, its walls alone told so many stories, revealing various stages of human interaction. The caretaker told us of Kwame Nkrumah's stay in one of its cells before explaining his own plans to mold it into a tourist attraction, complete with guides and entry fees. For the time being, they said that we could take all the pictures we wanted as long as we gave them money for a soda - we were happy to oblige.
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