Watching the Total Eclipse of the Sun, 29 March (2006)

Traveling from Cote d'Ivoire to Ghana

Pamela and I traveled overland Tuesday from Abidjan to Takoradi, Ghana. We got up in the pouring rain with our neighbor Sissoko, who drove us to the makeshift "station" on the far end of town. We took a 9-person Peugot station wagon (504) to the Aboisso station and then a 20-person van to the border town of Noe. All of the passengers were Djoula women and one of them had "forgotten" her paperwork at a stop behind Aboisso. She paid off the first police check and then got dragged from the vehicle at the second. Otherwise, I nodded quietly through the dense vegetation and we were at the border before 10. At Noe, we were supposed to meet up with some border guards that our colleague Robale knows so they could negotiate our passage, but the "gbaka" dropped us out in front of the customs maze, so we were done and in Ghana before we could make the call.

Noe is a bright loud shopping town where stuff from both countries sells for either currency. Money changers call to you and the bright sun taps painfully on the red taxis lining both sides of the road and the white vans scattered around the taxi stop. Ghana is instantly cleaner and people more polite. In less than 5 minutes, our second van miraculously filled and we were en route to Takoradi.

Wednesday, after breakfast we went outside to see what the hotel staff was doing. The TV in the lobby was showing a play by play of the eclipse from the beach the Embassy folks had opted for. Big crowds and drums and funny "moon clothing"'. Our staff had all assembled in the hotel parking lot, passing half a dozen moon-glasses between them. We joined them for the half hour it took the moon to pass over the sun, with running commentary -- "look it's getting smaller; there it goes!!" The air got eerie and cold. The intense sun of the morning faded, like a storm brewing without clouds. Suddenly, 9 am was sunset. The day was plunged into darkness. Everyone clapped. For four full minutes we stared at the sky without any glasses at all. The sky had become a photograph from my 6 grade science text. A hazy ring of white light was all we could see of the sun behind the moon. Within minutes it passed again and the first sliver of sunlight brought full light to the parking lot again. We clapped again and hugged one another and all felt like we had just accomplished something incredible.

And then life resumed. We changed into our suits and walked down the beach. We lazed away the day in the sun.