kumasi - Page 2 of 3 - Ghana For 91 Days

A Day at the Stadium – Asante Kotoko Asante S.C.

Although I’m sure the two were related, I don’t know whether we were at a football match which devolved into an insane dance party, or whether this insane dance party just happened to take place next to a football match. Regardless, our visit to Baba Yara Stadium for an African Confederations Cup match between Asante Kotoko and Zambia’s Nkana FC, was probably the most fun we’ve ever had at a soccer game.

Adinkra in Ntonso

It’s impossible to spend any time in Ghana without encountering an Adinkra symbol at least once. These enigmatic patterns are a cultural trademark of the Ashanti people, and can be found worked into textiles, furniture, walls, or anything else that might be improved with symbolic embellishment. We visited the capital of Adinkra production, in Ntonso, near Kumasi.

The Bodwease Shrine

There exist travel experiences which are objectively awesome, and everyone has to agree. If you don’t, you’re simply wrong. For example, if you claim that traveling to the bottom of an Icelandic volcano wasn’t very special, you’re wrong. It was an amazing opportunity, and you definitely loved it. You don’t get an “opinion”. Other experiences, though, are more subjective. And the Bodwease Shrine, outside Kumasi, fits squarely into this category. We had fun here… but if you didn’t, we’d totally understand.

The Mountain of Mercy

Mountains are frequently adorned with intimidating adjectives, meant to warn off anyone foolhardy enough to consider traversing them. Those hills are... ominous! Unforgiving! Treacherous! Cruel! But in the middle of…

The Ethnicities of Ghana

It wasn’t until we started exploring outside of the big cities, Accra and Kumasi, that we understood the extent of Ghana’s multiethnicity. Over 70 ethnic groups make up the cultural fabric of the country, each with their own language and customs. Get your notepads out, there will be a quiz on this later.

Ghana Food Journal – Part III

Ready for more delicious Ghanaian cuisine? Then step right up to the For 91 Days Chop Shop, where we’ll slice and dice everything so nice! There’s no better fufu pounders in the country! You want rice-bean mash slopped out of a cooler with an ice scoop? Saucy noodles plopped into a plastic bag with a piece of dried fish? We got you covered! Take a seat! We’ll have your food ready in an hour and twenty minutes, just relax!

Kente Weaving in Bonwire

As soon as we got out of the trotro in Bonwire, we were approached by guides. It seems there’s exactly one reason for foreign faces to appear in this town — and that’s “kente”. Without even bothering to ask what we were there for, a guy indicated that we follow him. He brought us to the town’s main production hall, and gave us a quick tour. It was so efficient and straightforward, it didn’t bother us not to have any choice in the matter. And the guy was super-nice.

The Culture of the Ashanti

Our two weeks in Kumasi provided us with a crash course in Ashanti culture. Even though the people have embraced Christianity to a suffocating degree, ancient traditions and beliefs are still very much alive. We’ve touched on the history of the Ashanti, but thought we should also highlight some of the coolest idiosyncrasies of their culture.