West African Days

White Sands Beach is about 15 minutes past Buduburam, and next to the fishing village of Gomoa Feti. It's on a cove and protected from the incredibly strong undertows and rip currents that usually make it impossible to swim along this coast. The beach area was developed two years ago by a Lebanese entrepreneur, who put up some tables and palapas, a barbeque grill for kebabs, and a wood-burning oven for pizza. He also somehow got rights to make the beach private, and so there is an entry fee of 25,000 cedi (around three dollars).

The entry fee means that hawkers aren't milling about the beach, and it means the beach isn't being used as an outdoor toilet facility, which is the case with most public beaches here.

We bought our entry tickets, quickly claimed a palapa, spread out our towels, and plunged into the waves. We got in some good bodysurfing, swimming, naps, and snacking on hummus, calamari and fries (they're "Mexican fries" here, not "French fries" and most definitely not "Freedom fries"). We even rented the 3-person catamaran for an hour, a bargain at 80,000 cedi, which is about nine dollars.

It was a blissful escape from the dust, heat, grime and stressful hum of everyday life here. Of course, there were still African moments, like our kebab order taking three hours to be filled because there 'are no kebabs' they said, even as platters of kebabs continuously streamed past us.

Interestingly, a Ghanaian company was holding its five-year anniversary celebration at the beach (on Easter?!), and the employees set up under the palapa next to us. They cavorted in the waves, held beach footraces, and staged a hilarious game of tug-of-war in front of us.

Every day I'm reminded of the parallel universes I inhabit here. I spend my days with Ghanaians and with Liberian refugees, who have rich cultures and impressively strong family ties, but are often scraping along to just barely get by in pretty dire circumstances. But I spend many evenings -- and today -- with expats like me, who can afford three-dollar pina coladas and four-dollar pizzas, and who have access to air-conditioned cars with deliciously tinted windows and two thousand songs on an iPod.