It has been good driving shorter distances in Ghana compared to whole days behind the wheel in other places, after 3 hours and some dodgy directions we arrived at ‘Big Millys’. It’s a great place on the beach and after meeting and chatting with a few other people and a swim/surf in the warm water we were easily persuaded to hang around for christmas. The restaurant does some great food, and the menu looked pretty good for Christmas too, the stage was set for a christmas period to remember.
Christmas Eve - was to be the first true piss up, and our first proper one for a while. We spent the day surfing and generally putting off drinking for as long as we could. Myself and Tute popped into town to buy some ‘Waist and Power’, a decision that was to prove troublesome for Tuters later. ‘Waist and Power’ is the local spirit, kicking in at a fairly civilsed 40% it is still fairly brutal but apparently good for the muscles and penis. Not sure about that myself. Eventually we hit the bar in ernest, accompanied by our new Aussie friends Sam and Corinne who had travelled up through Cameroon, Nigeria etc by bush taxi, and by Brian from Northern Ireland who is just some bum having a long holiday in Ghana (ha ha, just kidding Brian). Big Millys put on a pretty amazing BBQ with probably the best food we have seen in quite a while, we ate on the beach entertained by a local dance troup. I think the girls were slightly more entertained by the dancing men, in true African style the women were quite large - nice if you like that kind of thing. We all got pretty well oiled, especially Tute clutching the ‘Waist and Power’ bottle. He took an early night while the rest of us danced the booze off in the local dance hall. On my return to the roof tent i found Tuters sleeping on the floor by the car, it has to be said the roof tent ladder can be a bit tricky after a few beers. I did what any good friend would and called everybody over for a photo opportunity and then went to bed. Just before sunrise the security guard woke me up, holding a bucket of water which he was about to throw over Tuters, I resisted the temptation and told him that he would wake soon, which he did.
Christmas Day - ok so the chance of a white christmas was pretty remote, but things were pretty festive. Our Aussie friends are obviously use to christmas day on the beach and we got settled in pretty well too. There was no phone in town yesterday, but it appears they had built one on christmas eve without my knowing. After looking around for a while it became apparent that although the phone was built no-one was selling phone cards, so the Christmas phone call would have to wait - (sorry mum). Tuters rose a little later than everybody else and tried a midday beer to clear the head, not sure if it helped or not as he was looking a bit like Oliver Reed on a bad day when we settled down for christmas dinner (sorry Tuters). Christmas dinner was good, not quite the same as home but a good effort, and good atmosphere. We followed the dinner with drinking games which although simple, I was finding very hard to pick up, got it in the end though. Tute unfortunately had to make an early exit, but after last nights entertainment it was expected and we let him off. The night pretty much carried on at a good pace, and allot of dancing went on to the live reggae band. Later on Sam and Corinne brought a bit of ‘Aussie culture’ into the preceedings by rolling across the stage, Sam dressed only in boxers - good effort. The framed ‘Haille Selassie’ poster also came out for a bit of a dance, much to the enjoyment of the Rastas. We eventually called it a day when the morning prayer call came on, a good time had by all. Sorry for the lack of pictures! Tute got some good video footage though.
