Saturday, I felt like absolute shit. I felt strong mentally but my body was not catching up. Every movement during the bike ride felt lethargic, even the slightest lifting of my hand to wave to people. I had warned Dubu that I would need time off when I started to menstruate as I was more prone to fainting/vomiting from the heat.
We made it to Bunso which was way farther than I expected to make it. We ate a big lunch of fried rice then I started feeling faint. We had zero luck finding a room, once again due to the election along with a funeral occurring in town.
We met a local who suggested we try up the road, only to hear the receptionist again say, “We ah full.”
I didn’t have it in me to be in the heat, let alone camp in it. A woman who resided in the hotel noticed I wasn’t feeling good so she offered me her bed to sleep in for a few hours.
“It has AC,” she said.
I immediately took her up on the offer. Dubu went searching again for one more hotel only to come back to find me curled up in the fetal position to tell me there was no luck. I slept a few hours then woke up to find the woman who had given me her bed laying on the floor. A tear rolled out of my eye as I thanked her for what she had given me. She laughed and reassured me it was no big deal whatsoever. Then, she offered me a cold drink.
Dubu became close with the hotel management while I was asleep. They worked something out to which someone was able to check out and we were able to take their spot. They had us look at the room before we got settled in.
“It’s perfect,” I said.
There was a fan, but no AC. I was fine up until I wasn’t. After about an hour, I started getting really intense heat flashes and my heart began pumping. I cried, feeling so beyond shitty and knowing there was nothing I could do about it.
We walked around at night to get some fresh air then I asked Dubu if we could check the ‘fancy’ hotel again to see if they had anything available tomorrow.
“We have availability tonight,” the receptionist said.
“Well, why did the other girl say there were no rooms available when I came here a few hours ago?” I asked.
Nobody knew. We ended up booking for two nights as I really needed to cool off and get sufficient rest. We went back to the other place to get our stuff. I wanted to put an invisible cloak on, but everyone saw us leaving and stopped to ask us what went wrong. I explained it was nothing personal and that we loved it, but they still appeared sad. Some guy even gave Dubu a bunch of beer and several bottles of cold water to take with us, once again free of charge. Their kindness made it so much harder to leave. We didn’t ask for a refund as it was only around $9.
So, after another day in town, Dubu and I were laying in bed when all of a sudden he said, “Freyja, we need to talk.”
He opened up about experiencing a lot of difficulty in the heat and that he wanted to go over some options. He suggested we could either take a bus to the next town or head back to Accra and explore the coast. He felt really regretful for not being able to ride in the heat without struggling, but I assured him it wasn’t something to be taken so seriously.
“Dubu,” I comforted, “we can take a bus, then ride, then take a ferry, then ride. It doesn’t really matter to me which form of travel we use to see Ghana. I’m just here for the journey.” I was also here to learn how to chill out and not make it into some sort of race with myself.
Then, we ate ice cream by the gas station as we watched a massive flock of birds fly over us—it had to be a million, assuming they were migrating.
“What do you miss about America?” Dubu asked as he took a hit of his cigarette.
I pondered it for a long while. “Honestly, I can’t think of anything.” It felt like such a great state of mind to be in, to enjoy what I had in front of me rather than experiencing a feeling sense of lack. I had a way of adapting to different places/experiences/cultures.
By Monday, we made it to Kumasi. There, we stayed at a place called Daddy’s Lodge and the owners of it were so wholesome to be around. They were naturally chill and enjoyed spending time with us. They even drove around town and found me some bofrot as I was experiencing a big craving for it.
Tuesday, Dubu and I took some time exploring the city after it cooled off some. I bought some grilled corn on the cob that was so rock hard I could barely take a bite out of it. Then, we ended up getting lost and somehow came upon the busiest part of the town. It all became super overwhelming. Two guys stopped to talk to me then tickled the palm of my hand with their finger. Some shouted they loved me while others lured me in by complimenting how sweet I was, and as usual, the kissy sounds were endless.
We were shown where the prostitutes hung out and I joked, “I bet I would make a lot of money here as a white girl.”
People flocked to us, two guys especially were on our asses. Dubu placed his hand on top of the zipper to the backpack. I grabbed his other hand to get us through the ‘shoulder to shoulder’ traffic. Suddenly, a local woman passed by us and quickly told us to move our bag to the front because they were trying to steal our stuff.