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| The Beach |
Heading to destinations further West toady. Had to go hit up the ATM before leaving
and unfortunately it would only let me take out 400 Cedi, which is about 190 US
dollars. Hate it when I can’t take
out the max allowed.
Going to the Hideout
Lodge near the tiny fishing village of Butre. I get the impression the only reason
Butre is even known to tourists is the Hideout Lodge and the nearby town of
Busua. (later on my travels I find
that no one I meet has actually heard of Butre).
We took a taxi to the Tro
Tro station for points West (end point Takaradi). Waited about 20 minutes for our tro tro to fill (2.5
cedi). It took about 1 1/2 hours
to get to Takaradi (large town that
is an in-between for many destinations…. one of those places you end up in to change
buses, tro tros etc). We jumped
off the tro tro a bit before the main station and grabbed a cab (30 cedi total)
to Butre, which is about 30 minutes away. A good bit of the drive is a rough,
dirt road through the jungle. The
trip was made much easier having Obehi with me as he has done the trip several
times before so I didn’t have to go all the way to the main station and what
not or ask for direction to the Hideout Lodge which got it’s name for good
reason.
Once we turned off the main road and hit the dirt path that
leads to Butre I knew why you have to pay a bit extra for the taxi. Can’t be good on a car and the dust
alone would require an inside and out clean out.
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| Tro Tro to Butre |
We past a couple small settlements along the way. One thing that I have noticed in these
smaller villages is that various aid organizations have come in and build
toilet blocks for the community to use.
They are simple mud huts with drop toilet. Ghana has come along way in the past years especially
compared to most of their neighbors but the human waste sanitation is one that
is still in the works. Going to
the beach or to a nearby space to take care of business is standard practice here,
as most home have no toilet facilities.
The sight of these community toilet blocks has to be improving health
here greatly. The name of the organization
that provided the toilets is painted on them.
I can’t imagine Butre even being found by a traveler. The town of Busua about 4 km away must
be the only reason. Butre is a
very small fishing village with only a couple little makeshift stores that are
really just someone’s home. You
can get basic things in these shops like water, snacks, even flip-flops if need
be.
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| view from Hideout Lodge |
As everywhere I have been in Ghana so far goats and skinny
dogs roam far and wide here. Our
taxi dropped us down by the rickety old footbridge that leads over a small
lagoon to a beautiful, long beach.
Over it we go. We pass a
tiny lodge run by a couple Rastafarian guys with what looks to be three tiny
rooms to rent and a wee restaurant.
Obehi says he hangs there often drink coffee or Milo so he can get the
phone signal which allows him to use his Internet.
Less than a half-mile down the beach we come to the Hideout
Lodge. It is a peaceful, palm tree
covered space with a lovely ocean breeze.
One of those places you can sit for hours writing or reading a
book. Actually after a day I
realized it is the ideal place to sit and stare off into the expanse.
There are probably 6-8 self-contained huts with private
bathroom and fan and several tree house set ups with shared bathroom. The tree house accommodation looks to
be simple rooms with wooden stairs up to the trees house. Very cool really.
My room is lovely, it is an oblong hut painted a soft
orange/pink color. The fan works
perfectly especially with the breeze from the ocean. I do love falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. The bungalows have a small deck area too
which will be great to chill at when the beach is too much…yeah, that won’t
happen.
The grounds around the Hideout Lodge are full of comfortable
chairs and tables for relaxing and the best part is all of them are shaded
which thrills me. I am quite
certain I could stay here for a very long time.
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