We depart our lovely stay with our gracious host, Alex from Yendi, and head off towards a town called Bimbila. Fortunately enough, Alex maintained a close relationship with a friend in this next town we were going, who happened to be a Catholic priest. Father Joseph would be helping us with our next accommodation, and we were indeed grateful for this occurrence. The way there, though, was quite a different story. We continue upon unpaved, dirt roads for a good 70km, though the conditions were not quite as bad as those in the north. We made a good pace, and in being fairly maneuverable it turned out to be quite an enjoyable ride. During this stretch we encountered some good climbing—up and down hills seemed to be our only direction—yet we made a strong effort and finally arrived in Bimbila. The first place we went was the Catholic Parish, where we would meet our host for the night. Expecting that we would most likely stay with him in his area of residence, we were relieved just to meet him and sit on a nice comfy couch as we conversed for a little while, while our rooms were being prepared for the night. Turns out there was a guest house right next to the church, and also belonged to the parish. Father Joseph is proud to offer us complimentary accommodation in this guest house, and we couldn’t be more thankful. After bathing and relaxing for a bit, we head towards town to check out the area. It was a quiet, small town with not too much commotion going on, maintaining a pretty calm atmosphere. We kept running into this lady, who had initially led us to the parish upon arriving in Bimbila, several times as she went about her day on her scooter. After munching on some popcorn and delicious fried banana bread for a bit as we sat and watched the world go by on the most bustling street in town, we slowly made our way back to meet Papa Joe for dinner, after Margarita’s failed attempt at catching baby goats and chicks.
Tired and ready for a proper meal, we wait around until it is time. We make our way over soon enough to his place, and meet the other two priests who live in this place of residence. Father Joseph was a very nice man, and certainly not what we expected from a Ghanaian religious official. He seemed very open to a wide range of different ideas and perspectives, and not once were we even asked as to what our religious affiliation was, something pretty uncommon in Ghana. We sat around for a while and had very interesting conversation with these three priests about life and religion in Ghana, specifically the interactions between Christianity and African Indigenous Religions, and heard some new perspectives which we had never before encountered. It was especially intellectually stimulating for me, being a Philosophy & Religion major, and we went about the rest of the night in good, plain old fashion, drinking beers and cracking jokes for hours. Apparently we were such honorable guests that Father Joe felt the need to open up a bottle of Glen Levit scotch whiskey, which he had brought back from Scotland and had been holding on to for the past six years (!). I think we were special guests, since it was a change in the normal routine of things even for them. Disappointed in Frazer for not drinking enough whiskey as a Scottish man should, we then proceed to eat a wonderful meal of banku with some groundnut soup and guinea fowl (or more appropriately, Ghana fowl, as they preferred to call it). Being tired and perfectly satisfied, we then proceeded to make our way to the rooms to rest for the night, only to wake up and do it all over again. Quite a pleasant evening, I would say.
By
Armando Vargas
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