PHOTOS

The car continues to attract attention and I (Paige) still enjoy explaining our unique car and trip to the crowds. Everything comes from fields just a few meters away.   Freshly picked yams, cassavas, avocados and bananas are in abundance along the roads. Buy a single banana or an entire stalk.   Palm nuts are in season. Lots of palm wine will be produced in the next few weeks. We stopped to see what we thought were smoked turtles only to find they were smoked grasscutters (what we call groundhogs). They were also selling freshly killed antelope at this roadside stand.   Nearly everything in the fishing industry in Ghana is handmade including the nets. The fishing boats are carved from a single log.   The formidable Elmina Castle was built to protect the massive profits from gold and ivory, which the Portuguese discovered here in the middle of the 15th century. Elmina, a fishing village of 20,000 people, was a lovely introduction to Ghana.   Elmina Castle was the first of 30 forts built along the incredibly rich Gold Coast (Ghana) beginning in 1482.   PAIGE'S NOTES   17 April 2000 - A wonderful way to enter Ghana is the fishing village of Elmina with common sights of long fishing boats - made from a single log - and hand-sewn fishing nets in progress. Impressive Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese in 1482 to protect their gold riches, is the star of the small coastal town. The view from the upper floor, where the Governor once lived, is superb - strategically and aesthetically. The old 16th century Portuguese church remains inside the walls. The Dutch used the church as a market for gold and ivory and later sold slaves from it. Twenty-nine forts remain along the Gold Coast today. Designated a World Heritage site in 1979, the former fort with two moats juts out into the Atlantic. The Smithsonian and other NGOs have given money for the castle's preservation.