Accra for the Night

10/17/08

After the presentations, since it was Market Day, we were able to catch a tro-tro to Ho at 11:15am. Once we got to Ho, we saw a guy we recognized (Ernest) from our tro-tro that broke down three times one night. He led us to where the busses meet before heading to Accra. We had a Cliff bar for lunch, and at 3:30pm we boarded a Metro Mass Bus heading for Accra. These busses are 5 seats across, separated by a narrow isle. I sat by the window, leaving Denise to have a lengthy conversation with the man to her right. I wasn’t feeling particularly social so I lost myself in the passing scenery. It’s a 3 ½ hour drive to Accra and after a short rainstorm when my window leaked all over me, I was glad to shut everything out for a bit while I read my book and listened to James Blunt, Norah Jones, Duffy, and Elvis. I could hear Denise and the guy but pretended to be absorbed in my music and book to avoid being pulled into the conversation. The most interesting thing during the bits and pieces of the conversation that I did pay attention to was a place up north—Paga—where you can feed a live chicken to a crocodile and then pet the crocodile, sit on it, take pictures with it, etc. Denise was appalled at this idea but I was intrigued, half wishing we were headed to Paga instead of Accra. Apparently, if you don’t feed a live chicken to the crocodile, he might bite your hand off. This is easier for me to comprehend because I don’t humanize every farm animal I come across with names. Obviously, I wouldn’t feed Koko to the crocodile…

I should mention here that Denise had become increasingly ill over the last day and a half. Her slight cold from Jessica had turned into a full-blown sinus infection. I really sympathized for her because it really sucks to be THAT sick and far away from anything familiar, including modern medicine. We decided that while in Accra the following day, we would try to find her a doctor before heading to Cape Coast.

When we arrived in Accra, we asked the few people left on the bus where we could catch a taxi to our hotel. Two guys on the bus, about our age who go to college in Accra, offered to show us the way. They led us threw some pretty seedy areas that I definitely would not walk through alone. It was dark by then, when good chop bars by day turn into prostitute hang-outs by night. Street vendors lined the sidewalks, their stands lit by kerosene lanterns and small canisters with flames otherwise designated for catering chafing dishes. The boys flagged a taxi, negotiated a fair price of 3 cedis, and accompanied us to our hotel. This was really kind because the taxi driver dropped us off in a fairly sketchy alley where some people were lurking in the corners by the road. The boys walked us to our hotel and once we checked in at reception, they wished us luck and went on their way.

Our hotel room was probably the worst hotel room I’d ever stayed in (up until that night), but definitely a treat in the scheme of things. The staff was really friendly, AND our room had a ceiling fan! The room had 2 screen windows that opened one to the hallway and the other to the stairwell, which proved quite noisy throughout the night and in the morning. There was a mirror and a chair and dark blue curtains with a white pattern. The two twin beds had both a bottom AND a top sheet and I had a nice squishy pillow. The shared bathroom down the hall was fairly clean, had a small sink with running water, the toilets actually flushed (if you weren’t running water in the sink) and one stall had its own toilet paper! The showers were 2 stalls, raised about a foot above the rest of the floor, which we didn’t use, but all in all, I was quite pleased with our $9/person accommodations.

We walked to a Chinese restaurant (with arctic AC) for dinner, and on the way a random guy asked where we were trying to go. We told him and he offered to walk us there. He waited until we were seated, found a piece of paper to give us his email or phone number or something (I can’t remember because I didn’t really look at it before I threw it away) and left. It’s strange, you meet really friendly people who are more than willing to help you out or show you the way, but afterward they want to be best friends, and exchange phone numbers, even if we’re not going to be in Accra again. What am I going to say? How’s your family that you’ve never told me about? Very odd. In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and I had coffee! They had real cream that I could add which made it delicious. I had 2 cups of the instant coffee and mixed in sugar and cream, and was in such a good mood to start the day.