A Quick Recap Of The Last Week Or So

1. Hey all, this is a short little catch up on our first week or so here. My name is Kai, and I have known Leks since middle school, back in Gainesville, FL. We have been talking about taking this trip for at least four years now, so its amazing that it is actually coming together. Hope you enjoy the blog.
2. Ada Foah

   So, I think I am going to start doing something new. I will post a song that I listened to during the series of pictures that follow. This way you can get into the mood a little more. Todays song is by Cheb Khaled, many of you probably know it.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2DPa1eGMpo

   We left yesterday for the tiny fishing village of Ada Foah (http://bit.ly/cFx2go). Ada is home to Ghana’s National Sailing Club, which although not huge, hosts over twenty Hobie Cats, probably all of which have been imported by ex-pats. We arrived in the early evening yesterday, and shortly after when to go get dinner at a nearby restaurant. We were the only ones there, and it was directly on the water, so it made for a very relaxing and peaceful environment. Dinner consisted of rice with a whole Tilapia, and a tomato sauce. I really was not feeling well, as I came down with what I am sure will be the first of many bouts of travelers diarrhea. I will spare the details, but not pleasant. I feel better today, and ate a full dinner and still feel good, so hopefully it has passed. After dinner we went back to the club and played poker. I retired early due to the way I was feeling, and unfortunately missed a nice bottle of whiskey and a moonlit kayak trip. No worries, many more adventures to come. Today we spent the day hanging out at the club, sailing a small dingy, kayaking, and swimming as well. This village was located on river Volta, which hits the ocean just a couple of kilometers away.

   

   Fishermen (or boys rather) laying out nets. Oldest was no older then 15, and the youngest probably about 7.

   

   Young fisherman bringing in his net.

   

   Paul and Miriam in the Blokkie, their bathtub of a sailing boat. It can actually pick up some good speed though.

   

   A push-up lizard, named after the action it does to wow potential mates.

   

   Miriam using a raft that Oscar and Paul built.

   

   From left to right: Mitch, Miriam, Paul, Leks. Sitting around snacking.

   

   A Moose yawn. I enjoyed it.

   

   A man relaxes during the midday heat.

   

   A cluster of houses near the village. Some with thatched roofs.

   

   The first of what I am sure will be many nights spent under mosquito netting. Double bunk beds housed the four of us boys last night.

   -love/hate-I will progress.-
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   The First Days Here

   So Leks has been showing us some some the sights here in Accra. We drove around two days ago through terrible traffic, which meant we didn’t see to much, but we did manage to get a good sense of how huge Accra is. It has a population of about 4 million, and just sprawls for miles and miles. We went to the national square, with the famous Black Star National Monument, as well as to see the stadium they newly remodeled for the last African Cup. Yesterday we woke up early in an attempt to secure some additional World Cup tickets, but despite promises, Fifa’s website crashed once again. We did manage to get another ticket to a game in round 16, which will hopefully be England vs. somebody. It is a bit of a guessing game to see who will make it that far once you get to that point. We then went to the biggest market in Ghana, and possibly all of Western Africa.

   

   Makola market is anything but clean and tidy. Its very crowded and there are piles of boot-legged items everywhere.

   

   Moose munchin on a mango.

   

   This lady is selling slices of watermelon, and Leks in the distance.

   

   Pigs feet and other meats. Women very gracefully carrying big containers filled with various things on their head.

   

   Moose to the left. A woman almost buried in the ginger and other items she sells.

   We did not stay to long though, as it was incredibly hot and we needed grub. We hit up Leks’ favorite spot, called Papaye, for some friend rice and chicken, picked up a couple beers, and headed home to relax in what we have come to call the ice box. Its a nice room in the house with a very good A/C unit, and when you close the door it becomes delightfully cool. The weather here is in the 90’s, but the humidity, believe it or not, is worse than Gainesville.

   Today was incredibly interesting. We woke up early to attend the funeral of a former employee of the family, who was only 38 when died. Me and Paul, the father in the family, were talking about how strange the culture is surrounding life in general here. None of the family would step forward to help him when he was sick, but they all came together for his funeral and spent a ton of money on the ceremonies for it. It seemed a bit strange that they would not put that much effort into saving his life, but they would into his funeral. He died of something like a stomach ulcer or a perforated bowel, its not quite clear. The funeral was interesting. There was a lot of praying, and speeches by the kids, wife, and grandchildren of the deceased. Then there was the viewing of the body, which they had put into a nice suit, with lots of gold jewelry on, and a gold coin in his mouth. Definitely not a pretty site. The deceased was being buried with his brother, as it was a joint funeral (they died 3 wks apart). The man we went to go pay respects to had been dead since March, and his brother three weeks after that. So the bodies had been at the morgue for all that time, with occasional power outages…not a good combo. We were then fed some Ghanian chicken and slightly spicy rice, which was delicious. All in all an interesting experience. No pictures unfortunately, as I did not want to offend anyone and the protocol was not well established.

   

   A bit dark, but some puddles and mounds of dirt, and beyond the ocean. Shot out of the window as we drove by.

   Thats it for now, more to come.

   -Walk slowly, so as to make friends-

   
   
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   And It Begins

   So the adventure begins. I landed last night here in Accra, Ghana. The flights here were really smooth. From Orlando to London my flight was so empty I could lie down over three seats. I stopped off in London for seven hours, and was able to take a train to go grab a quick brunch with two of my lovely cousins, Amelia and Freya. I then headed back to the airport for another smooth flight to Accra. I ran into a little trouble coming through immigration, as I did not have Aleksis’ address on me, so the officials made me go find him. He as not there yet, so I just got an address off another Ghanian, and put that down instead. It all worked out.

   

   Aleksis met me at the airport, and we headed home, by which time it was about 9 p.m. We hung out with the family here, which includes Paul (father), Hannah, Oscar, Miriam, Aleksis, and Marjatta (mother). Aleksis has been a good friend of mine since middle school. His mother is here working with a non-profit group helping assist in sustainable agricultural enterprises, while his dad works as a physician for the CDC here specializing in infectious disease. It’s a nice set-up to be working for the government (U.S.), as they are paying their rent at this nice house, the utilities, and certain amounts of the cost of shipping things over from the states. There is also a house keeper/cook, and a guard during the nights. It’s a great house, with a small zoo in the front. An African parrot resides in the front, along with two large tortoises, two guinea fowl, two dogs, and some cool looking lizards (wild).

   This morning we picked up the rest of the crew, A. Mitch and Moose. On the way home, we allegedly merged from a turn lane at an intersection into the going straight lane (me and Aleksis are fairly certain it was a go straight or turn lane). We got pulled over by a cop standing in the middle of the road, who asked why we did such a thing. We told him we didn’t see any signs, and he insisted there were at least ten signs…definitely not the case. Anyways, he made us let him get in the car so we could drive to the police station so he could write us a ticket. Upon pulling up to the station he said he forgave us, asked if we had any dollars as a bribe, and upon a negative response left us alone. Pretty clever way of getting a ride back to the station…haha. Although hassling foreigners is definitely a part of life here I will have to get used to , the Ghanian people are incredibly kind. From the Ghanian in Gainesville I met who offered her sister, who is a police officer, to escort us around, to the nice guy on the plane who gave me his number so he can show me “his” Accra. Very cool. I feel bad in a way as there is no way I would ever be able to take all these nice poeple up on their offers.

   Its going to be an adventure. More soon.