"No, we like tourist"

Jan, Jermel, and kids wanting candies.
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From Butre, we moved westwards towards the town of Beyin. The town itself had little to offer but a small tourist information center where we could find out about the stilt village called Nzulezo near by. It was a village built on a lake, where the houses were joined by a platform, and we were going to be able to spend the night there! We were very excited, especially as we had missed a similar type of village in Benin. We met a guy from L.A., Jermel, and we set off with him and the guide. We were to walk a little to the river, where we would embark on a canoe and ride about 30 minutes to Nzulezo.

Jermel, Margie and Jan at Nzuelzo.
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We walked and walked, and had to stop as we reached a small water mass that was not yet the river. The guide said, in very broken english, that we now had to take off our shoes, walk across this "pond", and keep on walking. Uh... no. Bilharzia, a parasite found in still water, is definitely one of those african "bibites" that no one wants to have and everyone is warned against. No matter how western we felt about it, there was no way any of us were going to cross that water. Wishing we had been warned about this earlier, all of us walked back to Beyin, dissapointed.

We weren't ok with the idea of our guide carrying us...

The pond we refused to cross and had to be carried over.
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It was getting late, and soon the sun was going to set. We had no choice but to spend the night in Beyin, in the only hotel in the village (huts on the beach). The owner was kind, the place had it's charm, but the beds, the mosquitoes and the bathroom weren't so great. None of us slept very well, but we were still happy we found a roof. The owner discussed with us the pond issue that we'd encountered. He said he had been a guide to Nzulezo for over 10 years and had often carried people across the pond in order to keep going. We weren't ok with the idea of our guide carrying us (I don't think I need to explain why)... This caused a big problem for all of us. In the end we accepted, thanking the guide tremendously and leaving him a very good tip (he was happy).

Eating fufu in Beyin. Yummy.
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So next morning, we walked the same way, got transported over the supposely-bilharzia-free pond, and got to the canoe. The ride was absolutely magical, due to the torrential rain that started falling on us. We went through a little canal across a thick swamp and later arrived to a big lake that we needed to cross in order to get to Nzulezo. We were all totally drenched, but completely amazed at the sights all around us. The rain only stopped when we got to the village.

Nzuelzo stilt village.
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We got onto the village platform and began our tour. This village was built in the 15th century, by Malian settlors guided by a snail (their God). It's one of the touristy places in Ghana, but unfortunately we did not feel at ease. All the people that lived there seemed to be very unhappy with our presence. We questionned the chief, told him we did not feel comfortable, but he said "They like tourist". We felt like we walked into people's lives and home, shot pictures, and made them feel exploited by doing so. The whole experience was interesting, although we made sure to communicate to the chief that we did not think it was appropriate to bring tourists (paying quite a bit of money for ghanain standards) to places where they were not wanted.

Little house reserved for the snail god.
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The ride back was more peaceful, but just as pleasant. We got back to Beyin, and immediatly took the three tro-tros connecting us to the first big city around, Takoradi. From there, we wanted to leave to Kumasi right away but had to spend the night due to the late hour. We set off the next day to the home of the Ashanti Kingdom and that of the biggest market in all of West-Africa: Kumasi.