Whew, if you haven’t read up to now, please don’t start in the middle.  Go back and read PART 1 and PART 2.

We continued our tour by continuing through the male dungeon, where a priest and shrine were located.  Prior to the construction of the castle, those grounds contained a place of worship.  The locals wanted to reclaim the land, but due to the historical significance of the castle, it would not be torn down.  Instead, the locals were allowed to utilize the grounds as a place of worship.  Inside, we gave a donation and the religious leader said a prayer for us.  We continued our visit by seeing the female dungeons, punishment chambers, death chambers, and then the door of no return.  This door was symbolic because it represented a place that both brought finality to the slave dungeon experience, but began an equally (if not more) dreadful part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  We walked through that door and emerged on the other side.

The other side once was where the captives were boarded into small boats, then shipped further into the ocean to be transferred into larger vessels.  Large vessels weren’t allowed to pull up to the castle.  Now, that area is transformed into a small fishing village.  From the outside, the door has a new wooden plank.  It is engraved with the words “Door of Return,” representing the welcome home of all members of the diaspora.

We then toured the upper portion of the facility and saw where the British held church, in a room directly over the male dungeon, where slaves could hear the British get promises of Heaven while they themselves lived in an earthly hell.  We also saw their living quarters; spaces for the then Governor, for just one person, were nearly the same size as one portion of the dungeon meant to hold 200-300 captives.  At the culmination of the tour, we left and sat at a nearby restaurant to have some water and juice.  As a family, we took a moment to put a voice to what we had seen and discuss our thoughts.  If they care to share, they’ll make their own posts.

While we were sitting there, I noticed Patrick on the phone, his face slowly changing to a look of confusion, stress, and disgust.  Here comes the BS…

I asked what was wrong and man was I shocked.  The Airbnb host had contacted him to notify him that the owner wanted us to pay more money that the agreed upon rate, because we had left the air conditioner running for the past 4 hours.  They were upset that we had left the air conditioner on while we weren’t in the apartment.  As a result, they told us the only way we could continue to stay was to pay “more money.”

So first off, that’s not at all how Airbnb works.  The intent is that you rent a home, and get hotel like amenities (bedding, television, toiletries, and whatever else the property advertises).  This is an all inclusive rate.  If you recall, I specifically searched for a facility with air conditioning.  Nowhere in the listing was there any reference to limits on the electricity or A/C usage!  The electricity hadn’t simply turned off overnight, it had been TURNED OFF!  Apparently, air conditioning (which uses a lot of electricity) is something that they did not anticipate us using!

The host proceeded to tell us we needed to pay more, but would never say what “more” was.  I immediately told Patrick to contact Airbnb.  They thought that because we were Americans, we were simply going to pay up (remember, we’re rich); but not us.   Our last name may be Bentley, but we drive Fords and Chevy’s!

I asked Patrick to make sure that Airbnb knew that the only way we would pay anything more was if they agreed that they would be the ones to pay it.  And if we needed to move I expected that it be at no additional charge.  Unfortunately, all of this had to be said via email, because we refused to spend money making an international call to handle this.  As we awaiting a response, we continued to sit at the restaurant and catch the breeze before heading back to Accra.  We saw kids playing on the beach, took a few photos, then began our ride back to Accra and Osu.

On the way back, we got stopped by the police.  We had already been stopped twice by the police on the way to the slave castle.  Again, the drive insisted he wasn’t doing any wrong (of course he was), and again, he paid the officer through closed fists and we were on our way.  We had been told that the police were corrupt in areas.  But to simply be able to pay off every officer we encountered is definitely not a thing in the US.

We finally got a response back from Airbnb agreeing that the treatment from the host was in fact unacceptable.  They agreed that we should not pay any additional money and stated that they would be contacting the host to convey the same to her.

After the long day, we got back into town late in the evening and were ready to eat.  We went to a restaurant called Celsbridge and had fish and banku, with an okra stew.  We had tried to order a few different items, to which we were told they were out of at the moment.  The food was good, but we were tired.  On the way home, we stopped by the bar to get drinks on the way home, and went in for the night.  Upon arriving, we saw the gate guard run to the back of the facility.  It seems that while we were out they simply cut the breaker and turned off all electricity, but turned it on so that it would be on by the time we made it up the stairs to the apartment.

Once we got in (thankfully it wasn’t too hot), we kicked back, watched some TV, and enjoyed our drinks.  We soon headed to bed, as we wanted to be fresh for the next day.  We planned to spend the next day in Accra as we continued enjoying the sights!