last night/today

last night was awesome. we went to a reggae concert on labadi beach. the taxi dropped us off in front of a ticket window where we had to pay 5 cedi to get in. it was set up sort of like a fair, where after you walk in there is a big parking lot and lots of stands. once you pass through onto the beach, the huge stage was to the left, tables and chairs were set up on the sand and there was a restaurant on the right. the ocean was the backdrop. we got there early before the concert started at ten to eat dinner. i thought we were going to stick out, but surprisingly there were as many white people as black (or about). i've never seen so many rasta-men, or such ridiculous ones. it was hilarious. once the music started, everyone was dancing. there was an old old grey-haired-dred-wearing man on stage who just waved the ghanaian flag the entire concert. when we needed a break from the music, we could walk down along the water. it was gorgeous.

today we had a free afternoon since it was a national holiday, republic day or farmer's day, and the children didn't have school. we decided to go back to the beach. for whatever reason, we all thought that the beach would be mostly deserted as it was last night. were we ever wrong. driving in we realized that every person in ghana was going to the beach today. we paid five cedi like we did last night and joined the crowd. i'm not sure i've ever seen so many people in one place before. they were only allowed to swim in a certain area of the beach because of the rip tide and you literally couldn't see the water through all the bodies. this time we were pretty much the only white people on the beach. it was crazy. there was music and dancing and horses to ride on and kids performing. this one family was performing what we were informed was "black magic". their faces were painted and they contortionists. they put on an insane show. i've never seen anyone twist their bodies the way that man and his two boys did. we didn't stay too long because it was overwhelming and we had to get back to the hotel but it was a great experience. ghanaians really know how to celebrate their holidays.