CAR NAPS, BOMB SNACKS, and HOMECOOKED MEALS || NINGO || GHANA || AUGUST 2018

Day 16 – Saturday, August 4th, 2018

At this point, I’d had all the spiritual education I could handle for the trip and was ready to head back to the beach! We began our journey back go Ghana in the morning, driving back through customs between the Benin/Togo border and then between the Togo/Ghana border.

This took quite a bit of our day, but it was a nice opportunity to nap in a vehicle while it is moving; one of my favorite past times! We also had to change buses back to the original one we started on. That means we said bye to Baba Morpheus and said hello to Uncle and his team. By this time, it was bittersweet because we got to build a bond with Baba Morpheus and his family but also missed Uncle and his team! I guess it was generally a family affair… you know how black people do; we all family! Aunties, uncles, play cousins, etc… that desire to create familial relation to each other originated in the Motherland.

The first stop we made, however, after crossing the Benin/Togo border was to get ice cream because PRIORITIES! I spent about 30 minutes tryna use the location associated with the ice cream picture in my iCloud to triangulate the exact location of this particular shop, but I couldn’t figure it out, so I moved on. But the ice cream was really good and refreshing in the heat! I do know the ice cream was in Togo though because the labels were in French and because the picture was among other pictures labeled in the Cotonou - Sodjatinme-Quest and Dantokpe regions of Togo.

Once we crossed the Togo/Ghana border, after driving for several hours, we stopped for some food. We stopped at Eli-Eli Rest Stop & Lodge in Sogakope and got some bomb suya! This was the second time I had suya on the trip. I liked this Suya better, 1. Because I was sober so I could actually taste it, and 2. They had a goat meat version which is my favorite!

At first, my pastry chef friend and I shared a plate, then we each got another order of our own because it was so tasty! I also ordered more jollof rice *face palm emoji*. I just love rice okay; judge yourself! If you wanna read the story of how Ghana jollof made me sick, click here.

Once we had our fill, we traveled a little bit longer to Ningo, Ghana. It was dark by this time and we pulled up to this gorgeous mansion, the Tchambassi Guesthouse. Our host was so gracious, welcoming, and also Jamaican auntie from Brooklyn like that we were all immediately comfortable. We walked into the house which was immaculately clean and got our room assignments. The floors were so clean and cool that it was refreshing. Once we dropped our bags and freshened up, it was time to eat. Our host cooked y’all, like home cooked food! We had got plate and ate family style. She made jerk chicken, grilled fish, curry cabbage, fried plantains, and white rice with groundnut soup.

Jerk Chicken, Grilled Fish, Curry Cabbage, Fried Plantains, and White Rice with Groundnut Soup

Wanna learn a little about ground nuts? Click here.

We got to spend time with and talk to her family; daughter, grand-kids, and friends of the African diaspora community while we ate. We just chatted about our travels so far, their experience living in Ghana, and of course got nuggets of wisdom from the elders, as is typical of a gathering such as this one.

Once we had our fill again, she arranged for a drum and dance troop to perform outside before we headed to bed. We all gathered to watch the performance and slowly trickled off, retreating to bed as it got later and later. Good night…

Here is where I’ll stop for today. We’ve got one more day before heading to the airport. I’ll tell you about that beautiful day during the next travel blog.

Until next time…

Thanks for reading all these words!

Love ya!

Taste Tutor

TRAVEL BLOG THURSDAY - NINGO (part 1) || GHANA