A Day At The Beach
Trip Start
Mar 11, 2005
1
10
28
Trip End
Mar 27, 2005
Accra,
Ghana
Monday, March 14, 2005
Kailey Sleeping Under the Mosquito Net
. Andrew ordered chicken and fries, Sylvester ordered chicken and rice but got chicken and fries. Kailey ordered just fries, but she got chicken and rice. After lunch the man who I bought the necklace from came back again and the restaurant lady tried to shoo him away. She asked me if I knew this man, then proceeded to tell him what for! He argued with her and then another man from the restaurant appeared along with our driver and the necklace man admitted defeat and moved along. A Rasta man tried to sell me a painting - "just for the money for the weed - I just need the weed you understand, nothing else". Next he produced a coconut purse - it was actually a coconut shell with a zipper in it! One other guy approached me while I was picking shells up on the beach. He initially tried to sell me a batik print or a doll, but soon was more interested in chatting. He was a refugee from Cote D'Ivory. He had been to Canada in 1984 he said. When I challenged him on this, I asked where and he said in Edmonton. This surprised me, as most would have said Toronto - the only place they know. When I asked him what he was doing in Edmonton, he replied he had gone to watch a hockey game. Ah-ha! Now I had him. I asked him who was playing and he told me the Edmonton Oilers and the New Jersey Devils. Wow, this guy wasn't kidding! He had not heard of the NHL strike and was disappointed to hear the Devils were not playing, as they are his team
Marian putting out the laundry
. He had followed them to Canada to watch them play - the Oilers won. He told me he had been living in New Jersey, on a scholarship in interior design. Since he was a refugee in Ghana, he was not allowed to work in his trade, so that's how he ended up trying to sell things on the beach to make a living. Shawn had his first Star beer - but it got warm before he could finish it, as it is so big. We left the beach and needed to change money again. Since today was Monday, I thought we'd just go to the nearest Forex but Sylvester took us back to the same place as yesterday. The rate for US today was 9050, CDN was the same at 7000. Changed $300 this time and got 2,800,000. Nothing like being given a black plastic bag to carry your money out in. Rather obvious what is in there coming out of a Forex. The easiest way we figured out the conversion when we wanted to buy something was to think about moving the decimal places 4 spots to the left and it roughly equals the price in US $. This means something that cost 800,000 would be about $80 US.
Back to the supermarket - here it is called the House Max or something like that. Of course you could do your shopping from the car window. Every time the car stops, whether at a traffic light or for people wandering in the streets - and they certainly do - it's a wonder there aren't dead bodies all over the roads
Star Beer
. Between people in the street and crazy, crazy drivers we were amazed we only saw one accident the whole time we were there. From your car window you can buy anything you can think of including fried plantain, popcorn, toilet paper, bread - in two different sizes of loaves - apples, steering wheels, caution triangles, briefcases, religious pictures, Q-tips - you name it! You can't help but notice that Ghana is a very religious country. The store names all relate to God somehow such as God Willing Computer Repair. You can thank the British for bringing trade and the bible to Ghana. English is the official language of the country but there are 75 languages within the country. The shops have names bearing scraps of scripture such as Get Jesus Salvation Beauty Salon and Just Obey Furniture Store. All of the tro-tros have names on their back windows too such as Hallowed Be Thy Name. At the store we bought spaghetti and a jar of sauce and ice cream. We also bought some juice and cereal for breakfast - plus there were still some eggs and ham left over at the villa. Oh ya, broke down and bought a plastic bottle of Heinz ketchup. Another stop to buy some Star beer - they don't sell beer in stores but they do at gas stations - guess they don't worry about drinking and driving. Maybe that's why they all drive like they are crazy - they're all drunk! Actually we saw very few Ghanaians drinking, only those few who could afford to stay at the hotels during Easter weekend. Along the same line, I only saw 2 Ghanaians smoking the whole time we were there.
On the way back to the Villa, Sylvester said he would take the boys to the internet café so I decided I had better go with them. The first café was full, so we went to another where a guy with a baton chased Sylvester to move the truck . Turns out they had just painted the lines in the parking lot. All the computers looked like they were being used anyway. A guy guarded the third place we tried with one mean looking shotgun. We were able to get into this place although it was some sort of "internet club" for members only. It cost 3,000 for 30 mins. We each got a computer but the versions of the software for MSN and Hotmail wouldn't run on such slow dial-up. It took 14 minutes for me to connect to AOL! I just about finished an email when everything just disappeared. Oh well, time to get out of here. Sylvester had said something about being back in 5 minutes so I thought he was waiting downstairs. We went out and the door locked behind us - and no Sylvester! The truck was gone and so was the guard. Suddenly three white people tried to blend into one body. The boys were very nervous and I wasn't liking it much either. No one said anything to us or approached us, but we were getting a lot of curious looks. Poor Sylvester was quite excited to find us standing outside alone. Turns out Marian had sent him to pick up laundry soap so she could wash our clothes. This was supposed to be a service that the villa provided for free but somehow it cost me 27,000 for soap! All I was able to get from Sylvester's babble was the first place he went to had only liquid soap, the second place had the wrong kind so he had to go to a third place but he finally got the soap. He did offer to take us to another café since we didn't have any luck with this one but I was ready to go home.
On the drive back to the villa we noticed the streets look very different at night. All the little stalls along the road are still open but they have a flame burning for light. I think they must be little kerosene lamps or something. Boy the people dressed in dark clothes are hard to see along the roads! No way would I ever drive here - day or night.
After Marian made the spaghetti (boiled in water NOT palm oil), she offered to wash more clothes so I made the boys change out of what they'd worn all day at the beach. It was like pulling teeth - they were even attached to their socks! While chatting with Marian I asked her how many children she had and she laughed - she doesn't have any yet - she's not married but amid giggles did admit to having a boyfriend and that they might get married next year. She has the most beautiful hairdos - all braids that she gets done at the hairdressers and it lasts about a month. Each day she had them styled differently. She offered to take Kailey to get her hair done but unfortunately we are just about out of time for our villa stay.
