February 7, 2011
When I woke up this morning (after sleeping on the ship), a group of friends and I made our way towards Accra, Ghana. Because our port is located so far from the actual taxi station, we had to walk for about 15 minutes until we were finally able to get a taxi. Because our group obviously contained about 8 Americans, the prices for everything posed by the local Ghanaians were much higher than what they should have been. Luckily for us, we had our friend Esenam, who actually lives in Accra, with us. Esenam is an interport student that has been on our ship with us since Manaus, Brazil. During the time leading up to each port, Semester at Sea invites on board an interport student and sometimes, an interport lecturer. Both individuals participate in discussions regarding their country, which is open to the ship. A few of my friends and I had been eating lunch and/or dinner with Esenam frequently, so a friendship was formed amongst us all. Because of those reasons, she invited my friend Kayla, roommate Ian and I to travel with her to Accra, and to meet her family.
In Ghana, you negotiate a taxi fare before actually getting into the cab, so there arent any surprises when you get a extremely high fare which is calculated by the mile, like in the United States. The taxi driver tried to charge us 5 $GH (cedi, which is their currency; $1 US = $1.43 GH). Esenam immediately knew that fare was too high, and we ended up paying $3 GH TOTAL for a ride to the bus station. Though we planned to take a bus to Accra, the wait time turned out to be longer than expected. Because of that reason, we took a 15 passenger van to Accra, paying $9 GH a piece, which wasnt bad. The 4 hour van ride wasnt too bad for me because I sat in the front seat, but I cant say that the same is true for my friends.
When we arrived in Accra at the bus station, I immediately recognized the Keneshi Market that I had once saw on this past season of the Amazing Race. People were scattered everywhere, trying to sell anything from raw fish, to razors, phone cards, etc. It was at this point when our group of friends split to go our separate ways, due to our separate agendas in Accra. In my group Esenam, Ian and Kayla remained. Because Esenam doesnt have a license (and probably due to the crazy drivers in Accra), her parents had their driver pick us all up and took us to our hotel. Along the way to the hotel is when I was really able to observe Accra. As the wind blew in my face through the window I smelled a mixture of freshly baked bread, burning oil and urine. A lot of people had on pants surprisingly, but even more to my surprise I saw men sitting on the curb completely naked. I saw both men and women carrying large buckets on their heads, filled with large bottles of water, bread in some and even fruit in others. The entire time I was wondering how someone could carry that much weight on their head without hurting their neck and/or back. Im sure that theyve all gotten used to it and probably have the best posture, free of back problems than anywhere else.
Once we finally reached our hotel, we deliberated on what the price was before finally settling into our room. To our surprise, 3 people werent allowed to stay in one room (out of the nine rooms in the entire hotel), so we had to book two. The two rooms connected and the door read D&G, which we nicknamed the Dolce & Gabanna suite. We were all relieved that there was WiFi at this hotel and would later be able to communicate with both family and friends.
Next, we headed to a local market area that very much so reminded me of the Alley in the Los Angeles Fashion District, located downtown. The biggest difference was that this market in Accra, or series of booths/shops, was located on a main street. By this time we had all gotten some money from an ATM, so we began to buy gifts for both ourselves and others. Up until this point I hadnt bargained much, but between the 4 of us in our group, we definitely sharpened our skills, which will be needed for the countries to come.
After a long day of traveling and shopping, we finally made our way over to Esenams house for dinner, which was prepared by her mother and cook. Upon entering her home, we were welcomed by her mother. It is traditional in Ghanaian culture for the host family to provide their guests with water upon entering their home. The water is strategically distributed from right to left, which was explained by her mother as she gave each of us a bottle of water. Following this, Esenams mother disappeared to help set up the table, as we talked to her father for about 10 minutes. Her father shared with us that he was born in a village about 400 miles away from Accra, but ended up moving to the city after meeting his now wife. He shared with us that he currently manages about 5 branches of the electric company in Ghana (equivalent to a district manager). Esenams mother runs a school for pre-K through 3rd grade right in their home. They had a guest-house turned into a classroom, backyard into a playground and other classes within their home. I found this to truly be astonishing to me, and shows that her mother genuinely cares about the education of Ghanaian children.
Once the food was ready, we went into a different room to eat dinner. Esenams mother came into the room with a bucket of water, soap and a towel for everyone to wash their hands (which is traditional in their culture). On the menu was a light soup with beef, fried plantains, jolouf (Esenams favorite dish), some type of stew, fried/baked chicken and steamed vegetables. The food was delicious and I was excited because I LOVE fried plantains. While at dinner, her father explained to us why it is rude to use your left hand opposed to your right. In Ghanaian culture, the right hand is deemed the clean hand, and the left is dirty. Reaching out to shake someones hand, calling a taxi, stopping a car during traffic and other things alike with your left hand is seen as being disrespectful. I had been told prior to reaching Ghana that I should shake peoples hand with my right, but sometimes it can be difficult when you have a camera out and EVERYBODY wants to shake your hand while walking down the streets of Accra.
Following dinner we ate Ghanaian strawberry ice cream, which was good. After talking for a bit more, Esenams mother drove us back to our hotel. Because we had free WiFi, Ian, Kayla and I were on our iPhones/iPod touchs using Facetime, Skype, Facebook, HeyTell, Textfree, etc. We spent a good 2 hours that night catching up on all of the things that we couldnt before since we dont get free internet on the ship (though were able to send emails for free; mine is jamurkey@semesteratsea.net by the way ;) I took a shower before going to sleep and brushed my teeth using a bottle of water. So far my Ghanaian experience has been amazing and Im excited to see what will come about in duration of the remaining days.