Around Accra

On Monday night, a group of us went to the Accra Mall, just a short taxi ride away from our hostel, where we ate dinner. The mall is a large international area where people from all different countries hang out. They have some typical stores like a Levi’s store, shoe stores, an Apple store, and a full grocery store. We ate dinner in a fairly Americanized restaurant, but it was very good.

Tuesday was a long day! We started our day by taking a bus tour of Accra with a stop at the Ghana Federation of the Disabled. They talked about recent policies that have been developed, but have not really been implemented – sounds similar to America. Everything they talked about sounded very similar to the efforts made in America in the 1990s.

After our site visit, we went to lunch at an authentic restaurant with our tour guide. While we were waiting to get our lunch, we visited with a street vendor and her four children. Her youngest daughter was adorable – I wish you could have met them, Wendy! She was selling cooked yams & plantains, so Dr. Eisenman purchased a plantain while we took pictures with the children. I tried the plantain and it was my first time eating one cooked in the peel – very different than eating them cooked out of the peel. Afterwards, we all had traditional meals of noodles, rice and beans, plantains, and either beef or fish. It was very spicy – at least too spicy for me – I need to build up my spice tolerance for the rest of this trip!

After we ate lunch, we continued our bus tour of Accra. We drove through Osu street, which is full of street vendors 24/7. Then, we drove to Independence Square and got out to see the square & the beach!! The beach here was amazing. It wasn’t much different than the beaches at home, but it was very quiet and the water was so warm. We just put our feet in the water, but we’re planning on going back when we have free time later this week. I can’t wait to swim in the ocean!!

Our last stop on the tour was a market. The market was very similar to markets in Jamaica. (I went to Jamaica in high school & it is similar to Ghana in many ways so it has been my frame of reference as I process the culture.) All of the vendors were very pushy and very eager to make a deal. It was difficult to walk through the market without being hassled. Some of us just went on the bus to avoid the trouble, where we found it was actually quite advantageous to make deals through the bus window as vendors approached the bus. (It was hilarious – I have about 8 minutes of it on video but it went on for about half an hour.)

I took a nice nap upon returning to the hostel. Our tour guide invited a design student to our hostel tonight and she is making custom dresses for all of us. She is very talented! I also purchased a beautiful blanket from her and she is making me a pillowcase to go with it. She also made some other things that I may or may not be sending home to my mom & sister – get ready to receive a package, Mom & Dad! : )

For dinner, we went to Frankie’s, a popular restaurant here in Accra. After dinner, we went to a private beach/bar. They had chairs and tables on the sand & we were the only ones there. (No one in Ghana goes out until around midnight and It was the middle of the week.)

Today we had off for majority of the day. In the morning, some of our group went to the Archaeological Museum on campus, but I chose to sleep in until 11 (it was much needed!). Some of us went back to the Accra Mall for lunch and we did a little bit of shopping. I went to the Apple Store and was able to purchase 30 minutes on the internet for 1.25 cedis (about $1) – a very good deal!

We had a class session this evening & then dinner. We had a nice buffet of chicken, fish, stew, rice, potatoes, plantains, salad, and watermelon. Everything was delicious! After dinner we met up with another group from UD and watched Emmanuel’s Gift. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see what Ghana is like! Emmanuel was born with a twisted, shorter right leg. His mother never gave up hope on him, and he went on to bike all the way across Ghana to raise disability awareness. He then came to America and participated in a triathlon and then was fitted for a prosthetic leg. He came back to Ghana to build wheelchairs for people in Ghana and further spread the message of disability awareness. It was a very moving story & tomorrow we are going to Emmanuel’s village to meet him! We will be spending some time with him and then eating lunch together and going to a bead market! I’m excited!! : )

PS – We just got internet in our hostel. It is super slow but it’s better than nothing!