Ghana time! Well it was definitely much different than any other place we’ve been to. Even in India there was stuff to do and here there really wasn’t too much. We were dock in Tema and were about an hour outside of Accra. Neither city had much to do but Accra had a little bit more. They told us that if you were staying overnight anywhere or had an overnight trip you had to get your passport, yet you couldn’t pick them up until after 12. Austin and I thought that meant we couldn’t get off the ship until then…but we could. We finally figured that out and got off the ship around 10:30 and met up with Kevin and Rebecca. The ship charged us $10 for a shuttle service from Tema to Accra. They supplied 3 shuttles that were supposed to be alternating, two from Tema to Accra and one from Accra to Tema, except all three were left Tema at the same time which means you weren’t waiting an hour in between you were waiting 2. After waiting about an half an hour the 5 of us, Abby, Ausitn, Kevin, Rebecca, Alyssa, and I decided to take the shuttle from the ship to the port gate and grab a taxi to Accra. Once we got to Accra we went to this ice cream/hotel/restaurant place called Frankie’s. We got some ice cream and walked around a bit…noticed that there wasn’t too much to do and that we were hungry. We decided to go to this place that the interport student suggested called Osanka Local. Kevin got Banku, which was this doughy ball that, with your right fingers, picked up and dunked into this soup of meats and whatnot. It looked and smelled interesting. I wanted shrimp but they didn’t have any. So then I wanted chicken but they didn’t have any. So then I was like, fine, I’ll have some fried fish…they didn’t have that either…so I ended up getting French Fries. It took forever to get served. We were there for 2 hours. There were a bunch of other students there with these really cool backpacks. Rebecca and I really wanted them. They told us about this crafts markets and then we booked it there.
This was different from any other outside market we’ve been to yet. In China, Vietnam, and India they were really pushy, but this was absurd. They would try to make friends with you first and then in return ask you to come to their shop and if you didn’t they would get a little upset. They attacked you…worse than the other places because it was both women and men and they would grab your arms and almost drag you to their stand. It was nuts. A few girls came back with “boyfriends” and “married.” Abby got her but grabbed a bit. We bought so much and a few of us wanted more so we left, went to an atm and came back. I got a drum with my name carved in it, that really cool backpack, a wooden carved Mancala set, and a mask. After our shopping we went back to Frankie’s to a have a drink and some food. It was like 6 o’clock and then we met the “free” shuttle and headed back to the ship. Austin and I both had overnight trips the next day and had to be up and ready at 5:30. We opted to not go out and just hang in, eat more food, and relax.
I will also finish this one a little later…plus my 3 day trip in Ghana is a story to be told in person, as well haha...especially how I spent my 21st birthday.
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