May 2... Still...
So yeah, I've arrived. As I was about to get off the plane I realized that I was never given any customs forms to fill out, so I had to ask for them as I passed the flight attendants at the front. And then on the bus shuttle a lady chastised me (but in a way meant to be helpful) and told me I should've filled them out already. My bad. I passed through everything no problem and met Keegan outside. And thus began the adventure! He tried to order an Uber but they kept cancelling on him so he gave in and we took a taxi. First off, what a fun riding experience. Lots of honking, the seat belts didn't work, overall 10/10. We dropped off my stuff at his friend's (for context, I had a medium sized suitcase, a kinda big luggage backpack, and a small duffel bag, all full to the brim with crap. I pulled out my smaller school backpack from my big travel one and turned to leave and Keegan goes "That's it? That's all you're taking for a week? I'm impressed." and that made me feel really accomplished) then hopped back in the taxi to get to the hostel. When we arrived there were some police officers outside who decided to conduct a search. Well, they searched Keegan's stuff. The others tried flirting with me. Yikes. And once they determined Keegan was good to go (aka we were good to go), the taxi driver overcharged us--even though they'd haggled and agreed on a price before we even got in the taxi in the first place. Oh well. Time for bed cause we're getting up bright and early in five hours, updates to come!
May 4
I just read over what I wrote the night I arrived and I must say I've learned a lot since, even though it's only been a couple of days.
- the taxis NEVER have seat belts, in fact you're lucky if your door works well enough that you can open it yourself instead of the driver finagling with it
- they're really big on greetings and in smaller villages everyone seems to know everyone, so there's lots of saying hello to the people you pass on your way
- give and receive things with your right hand only--this also applies to waving hello which is hard for a lefty like me
- there are lots of police checkpoints along the roads--usually the driver just has to show some papers but if we're searched it's safe to assume they're going to flirt with me
- transportation is big on trust--trust the vehicle not to break down, trust the driver not to crash
- driving is really chaotic (seriously, is this GTA?) but there's a method to the madness and since they ALL drive crazily, they're careful enough and expect the incoming traffic to be crazy as well
- the roads are shit, hence (some of) the crazy driving--all the drivers try their best to avoid potholes, only sometimes there are so many that you can't avoid them altogether, just try to find the path with the least (even if this is on the opposite side of the road)
- generally people are very reliable and give good directions and tips, but may overcharge if they can get away with it
- Ghanaians get up EARLY. Too early. And so do roosters. Obnoxiously loud roosters.
- they pretty much have all of the technology that we have, just old versions
- they patch things up well, very innovative
So what have I been up to? Lots of traveling around--hours upon hours of tro, taxi, and moto rides, and I'm currently on a ferry. But all the rides come with something to see. A view of the city markets, rural villages, beautiful tropical scenery, or the mountains arising over it all. From Accra we made our way to Keegan's friend's site. It took quite a long time and we made a pit stop along the way to find one of Keegan's student's Dad and get the kid's insurance card from him. This took a lot of rerouting and reminded me of a quest on a video game, but thanks to our trusty moto guide, it was relatively easy. Speaking of our moto guide (and by moto I mean motorcycle taxi) it was a complete blast riding with him. He took us around to the house and the drive was so so pretty. Honestly it rivaled riding around São Miguel Island it was that beautiful, only the ride was SO much more peasant than the ATVs we had in Portugal. Faster, less bumpy, and tons more trust in my driver (sorry guys). Ghana 1, Portugal 0.
Also, short story time! So as we were on the road yesterday the police stopped us and decided to search. The officer was mostly looking through the things of the man who'd been sitting behind me but eventually made his way over to Keegan and I in the front. He asked us to get out, only we couldn't open the door, and get this! The driver decided to walk off a few yards and have a nice little pee break. So we had to wait for him to finish up before he could come over and open the door for us. But once we got out they didn't even search any of our things, just asked us some questions. Eventually things led to--
Police Officer: You're not married?
Keegan: She's 19!
Police Officer: *small pause of silence*
Police Officer: Welcome to Africa
And that was the end of it, we got back in and continued on.
Once we got to Trek's (that's Keegan's friend) we took a casual stroll into Togo and picked up some bananas before returning back to his house and settling in. He had a projector that he'd brought from home, so we watched movies all night. Three of 'em. Oh and he made us tacos! Yum!
In the morning we went for a little hike. Here I am, in my jeans, in the hot humid Texas-y grossness, hiking. But it was still enjoyable and the pants really paid off cause the trails weren't completely cleared and we had to push our way through the plants. We didn't go too far but even so it was really tiring, so when we got back to the house I cranked up the fan and sat under it to recuperate while the boys played some arcade game.
Since then not much has happened, we're currently trying to make our way to Keegan's village and we're about halfway along on the journey so it's just been lots of travel again. Lots of travel, and lots of waiting to travel. For example we waited on this ferry to leave for like an hour after we got on, which was after an hour of waiting for it to arrive because there aren't really solid time tables here. And whenever we get a tro or taxi we wait for it to be full of passengers before it'll leave because you pay by person here.
May 6
So my flight out got cancelled. That was a pleasant surprise. I was supposed to leave tomorrow night, but I was rescheduled to one two days later. Which would work, but since Keegan's classes start up again, that would mean I'd be spending at least an entire day here alone. Which I'm sure would be fine, but freaks me out a little. So I spent around an hour on the phone last night trying to reschedule my reschedule. I had successfully avoided any bug bites until last night (you have to be outside to get service), so if I happen to come down with malaria or some other bug-transmitted disease I officially blame TAP Portugal and Expedia. But back to the point, I got the matter settled and now I'll be leaving two days from now, which is only one day later than I'd scheduled originally.
Yesterday Keegan took me on a tour of the village in the morning and then we spent most of the day inside his house because even though it's hot inside, it's still better than being out in the sun. His life here during school breaks is pretty mundane, especially since he has no electricity. Make food, wash dishes. Listen to podcasts. Read. Nap. Repeat. Eventually I busted out the cards and we played some games and in the afternoon we went into the town nearby to look for a seamstress and some fabric. We didn't find either. But we did go to get food at a stand run by one of the other teachers at Keegan's school. He was pretty cool and I enjoyed listening to them talk. Plus his food--absolutely delicious. Once we got back into town we also received some food from one of the women here that likes to cook for Keegan every so often. It was a potato dish and also quite good. And then came my favorite part of the night--class! Keegan teaches some of the kids extra at night so I got to sit in as they learned how to work some ratio problems. (Ex: There are 80 pupils in a school. The ratio of boys to girls is 3:5. How many girls are there?) They were pretty rowdy and had a lot of personality which might get a little annoying when you're teaching but I thought it was a rather fun time. After that came the flight fiasco and a really rushed shower because it started thunderstorming and I was not in the mood for electrocution.
I slept most of the day away today, did some laundry (I officially hate washing things by hand and I suck at it too), fetched some water (more accurately watched Keegan fetch water), caught up on the video I've been making, and had a good brother sister life chat. Nothing too eventful today, but I quite like how peaceful everything is here. Everyone's doing their own thing, whatever needs to be done with no complaints or hesitation.
May 7
We woke up at 4 today. FOUR. And we still didn't make it to Accra until around 12:30. Today was probably the worst day of travel yet--the cars are always packed. And hot. And stuffy. Oh don't forget dusty! One time there was such a large pothole that the bounce it caused made me slam my head into the ceiling of the tro. Oh and I fell into a river. That was fun. So keep in mind I was also sitting in my wet jeans and soggy tennis shoes for most of the journey.
Once we made it to town we got food (yay for jollof--it's simple yet so so yummy) and went to the Peace Corps office so Keegan could pick up some things my mom had sent. We spent a few hours there enjoying the AC, functioning toilets, and the board game Sequence. Keegan said it wasn't strategy based enough for him so he didn't like it, but I think he was just being a sore loser cause I beat him 3-0.
May 8
Last night Keegan and I went out, first for a drink--at which point I almost sat on a preying mantis and my life flashed before my eyes--and then to a casino! I'd never actually been to a casino before so I was maybe more excited about gambling some money away than a teenage girl ought to be, but that's beside the point. I started off with slots and lost ten cedis in the blink of an eye (but to put it in perspective that's roughly 2 usd so no real harm done). And then it was time to get serious. Roulette! We both started out with 60 cedis. Keegan had a really good winning streak but slowly lost everything he'd managed to win, so he tapped out when he broke even. Around this time I was on top of the world, raking in money and I'd almost tripled my money. But as they must, the tides turned and I started losing again. I decided to call it quits when I got back down to double what I came in with, so all in all I think we had quite a successful night.
We returned to the hostel and I popped into the shower (finally washing off all that river water) and then when I came back into my room one of the ladies asked me something. Except, I didn't realize she was talking to me and I couldn't understand what she was saying because of the accent. She got a little huffy with me and eventually I figured out that she was asking "are you done bathing" at which point I gave a panicked yes and she went to take her own shower.
And as if I wasn't a mess already, I was trying to open a bag of water inside a tro by biting off the corner (yeah, that's how water works here) and I spilt it all over my lap. As well as the lady next to me. My badddd. She gave me a wicked side eye as I apologized profusely but hey, it was valid.
So yeah, now that my failures of the day are out of the way, Keegan and I had waakye for breakfast and then went to the main market in Accra this morning and it was just... Overwhelming. So many people selling so many things in such confined spaces. It wasn't for me. Especially because a few guys grabbed my arm as I passed trying to get my attention and that didn't settle well with me. Once we left, we tried to take a tour of the castle at the edge of the city, but it seems they're not doing those anymore and the place had a really intense security setup so it seems it's been repurposed somehow. Next up? The mall!
At the mall we went to Woodin (aka the fancy schmancy fabric store) and I finally found some I liked! Wahoo! We bought that and made a lap around the rest of the building (they had a Payless?? And an Accra monopoly game which reminded me how much I really wanted to buy the Bonn version but thank goodness I didn't because I do NOT have room for that in my luggage) before heading to get a taxi to pick up my stuff and go to the airport. At security my stuff got searched again, what's new. It's because I had an (empty) water bottle in there, so once he found that he put everything back and let me pass. Oh also, the lady who checked my bags was super duper nice! She asked me if I wanted window or aisle and then said proudly "I gave you the best seat, you'll see!" How sweet! In other news the dude at the coffee place insisted they have no wifi (even though I found the network AND Keegan's friend told me about it when we got my stuff from her place) so looks like I'm just out of luck until I land in Lisbon tomorrow morning. Which is fine except I never cancelled or changed my hostel reservation and I was supposed to check in there about... 8 hours ago? Whoops.
So yeah, to sum it all up I'm really happy I came. Keegan's village lifestyle isn't exactly a good fit for me because even though the village itself came with a real sense of community and family that I loved, the standard of living is just too far from what I'm used to. But the more urbanized cities didn't seem so bad. Will I come back? Join the peace corps myself? Mmm probably not. But I'm glad that I got a small window into what it is like and got to spend a few days with Keegan as well. I feel like we haven't really sat down and talked to each other for years, first off because I'm just not a talker, but also because no one really does that when they're younger and once I'd reached late high school/college he was off and traveling the world so there was never much time. But I think we both share a similar taste for adventure so I completely understand. If you're reading this I love you bunches!
Random takeaways:
- Storms come out of NOWHERE and disappear just as quickly
- Carrying things on your head is a lost art form in the first world and honestly looks so so convenient
- If you ever need a confidence boost, just go to Ghana. Seriously I've gotten so many compliments it's insane. Granted it's just cause I'm white, but hey, they think I'm pretty even when I'm drenched in sweat and covered in dirt which is fine by me
- Fanyogo. Is. The. BEST. Seriously, I motion that we bring it to the states asap I'm sure it would sell super well.
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