Rising Stress, and I am Trying to Walk Slow in Elubo Ghana

Rising Stress, and I am Trying to Walk Slow in Elubo Ghana

I am living on the third floor of the Hotel Cocoville in Elubo, Ghana, the room has Air Conditioning and a nice balcony. As I was standing next to Bah, looking at the river yesterday, I said,
"This is beautiful."



I searched a little trying to discover the name of the river, and I have to accept that I do not care to work that hard to discover the name of the river.

My friend Wade, the owner and writer for VagabondJourney.com says slowly, often and without a push or shove,
"Walk Slowly."

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Elubo, Ghana West Africa --- Monday, January 31, 2011
by Andy Graham of HoboTraveler.com | Read Gadget Profile
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| Ghana Hotels - West Africa
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I Search for Intuitively Easy Paths to Follow
Bah and I walked down to the river later in the day, on the way down the path to the river she says,
"Stop, go slow, there is trash."

She did not use those words, she speaks French most of the time, but this is what she meant, she wanted to either stop or go slower, there was too much trash on the path. It was her idea to walk down the path; I looked up at her and said,
"What did you expect, something beautiful?"

We worked our way slowly down a ravine full of old wood charcoal, trash, more or less a natural ravine that leads from the city to the river. Trash and garbage has an uncanny ability to find water, it is as if water is a natural place to dump the garbage of the world.

This is a video from the movie American Beauty below, where the young man and woman were admiring a piece of trash swirling and floating in the air. I am thinking about this scene in the movie, because if you watch it slowly, you say to yourself,
"Go slowly, do not disturb the moment or it will end."

In a way, I did not want Bah to remind me that in reality, we are sleeping in a trashed out hotel, with trash everywhere, and an extremely beautiful river in front. I want to exclude from my thoughts the thoughts of trash, and look at the majestic river passing by the Hotel.







The Hotel Cocoville is a magnificent Hotel located directly on a beautiful river; this place was built as a Hotel. It has an area for a restaurant, a large reception area, every room has a balcony. It is truly a wonderful building; a person can walk up to the roof, look around and see for miles. The children and families playing all day in the river is relaxing, they swim, wash clothes, and generally take their time, they have no responsibilities that makes them stressed.

I was looking down at the courtyard yesterday, I said to Bah,
"If they had a swimming pool there, it would be great."

Walk Slow or the Dream will Disappear
A reader wrote me the other day very angry and spiteful, saying that I was bad because I wrote about making money, this destroy his romantic view of Hobo Travel, therefore he was unsubscribing.

What is this "Romantic" view of travel? I want to ease you into another term, I will explain it before I write it, so you walk slowly into the meaning and implications. We make choice, some good, some bad, and in the end, we search for self-stimulation. We want to become happy because of stimulation of our senses.

Touch it.
Smell it.
Hear it.
Taste it
See it

We want to feel good, this can be called Mental Masturbation, as we massage our brains to feel good. Some people cannot stop, they continually live in a dreamy sense of masturbation, doing it repeatedly, never ending search for more feelings.

Readers come to this this site expecting to read stereotypical and cliché information about travel, they want mental masturbation that is romantic travel. When they are not able to masturbate, they are angry.

I had another friend say the other day,
"Andy, you are living the dream."
Yes, maybe I am, and maybe I am not, I really do not know what that means. I think it was a compliment, saying to me,
"Andy you are doing what you want to do, when, where and how, on your own terms."

The Hotel Cocoville is Dump
I am in a wonderful dump, some magnificent hotel that has had no maintenance done for at least 20 years. The owner or owners are slumlords; the owner does just the minimum to extract the most amounts of cash, for the least amount of work.

Yet, I am living the dream, I can run, I can escape, I can complain, however I am here for one reason in this Hotel, because I want to be here. Moreover, I am in no hurry, I am walking slowly; I will only leave when there is an obvious good reason. I asked Bah,
"Do you want to go to Cape Coast and stay in the Sammo Hotel?"

She said something like,
"Cape Coast is noisy, full of horns, and busy, this is a small village and is calm and relaxing."

Convincing Bah to Cook for Fun
She does not have anything to do, so I am trying to convince her to cook, she is like a prisoners in a jail, they all volunteer to work as trustee, to keep busy and not think of why they are in jail.

It is stressful for me to live with another person, I am happy by myself, I can do the proper mental masturbation needed anywhere on the planet to be happy. However, Bah is restless; there is too much time in the day, and nothing simple for her to do.



I asked Bah to bring some books to read, she brought two magazines and a Bible in French, not what I wanted.



I am presently reading this book, by Wilbur Smith.

Bah asked,
"How many books do you read per month?"
I said,
"I do not know, maybe 1-4, depending on what is happening in my life."

I am reading about the Nile, Egypt, that whole area of the world from the time perspective of a when they were building the Pyramids. This man Taita, talks in first person and explains the adventurous story of love, intrigue, war and death, all wrapped in a semi-historical package.

Presently in the first Book in a three part series called "River God," Taita a slave to his mistress Lostris. He is working to keep her happy, she is getting pregnant by the Pharaoh, but is truly in love with Tanus the male hero of the book. Taita is in danger of being killed by the father of Lostris, as everyone fights for control of the Egyptian lands.

I am reading along in this Historical Adventure Soap Opera, I am happy and content. Bah picks up her bible, starts to read in a subvocalization manner. I am happy, this last for 15 minutes, she puts down the book and wants to find something to think about that is enjoyable.

Rising Stress and Tension
I am clear a couple of points in life,
"I am responsible for my happiness."
"I cannot make you happy."
(Oops, and I cannot make readers happy.)

I live in a world of very forceful people. Bah is getting annoyed at the locals, as we walk along the road, children and adults scream,
"Abroni"

More or less, a never-ending and continuous screaming at me,
"White Man"

Abroni means White Man in the Ashante language of Ghana. She said, it has to bother you, I say no, only the adults sometimes, because they say it with mockery. The children are children, and the adults are just large and mean children. Well, she is becoming angry, she is tired of being a constant center of attention, she is shy, timid, and does not want people looking at her, unless she wants it. I said to her,
"Everyone is always looking at me, this is normal."

I think she believe I can stop it, this unrealistic view of life is stressful for me, I cannot change her, and she is wanting to change something that is not changeable.

I am frustrated with her and this Bible crap, why is it so difficult for people to understand the Bible. The Bible is a book to help guide and assist people in enjoying life, it is a guidebook, and it is read for guidance. It is not entertainment, it is work to understand, and it is challenging and trying to think about.

I worry about people who bring Bibles on Vacation and not a few fun books.

I have accepted people need to stay busy, cooking, cleaning, running errands, and buying things or they will go crazy. This is the mental masturbation that can heard, spoken, and acted out when people say,
"I am too busy."

I am living the dream; however, I know freedom is not mentally healthy for most people. My stress levels are rising daily as Bah pushes and shoves for something to occupy her free time. I think the idea of "Walking Slow" said by Wade truly applies here. I need to slow things down to a stop because Bah is trying to Walk Fast. She wants to push and shove, to force something great to happen.

Nothing great is going to happen today, and that is just fine with me.

Rising Stress, and I am Trying to Walk Slow in Elubo Ghana