Proposal Accepted

Securing funding for projects is not an easy task. PeaceCorps, itself, does not fund any of our projects. However, they do give us a few options where we can find funding for our projects. There is SPA Health Fund: Small Project Assistance that is funded by US AID/West Africa. This is for projects involving some aspect of health, such as teaching about condom use. The next is PeaceCorps Partnership which involves posting the project online and having friends and family donate to help you complete it. This option allows the people who donate to write on their tax forms the amount given as a charitable donation. There is another called FOT: Friends of Togo. According to the FOT the overview of the program is, "Friends of Togo (FOT) is a non-profit charitable organization. One of its purposes is to provide financial assistance for small-scale development projects, giving its members an opportunity to maintain their ties with Togo. Funds are derived from donations, subscriptions and fundraising events." Finally there is the Ambassador's Special Self-Help Fund. "In 1964 an experimental and modest self-help program began in Togo to assist communities with development projects. This program soon grew to cover the entire continent and become one of the most visible and successful assistance programs in Africa. The Ambassador's Self-Help Program is a grass-roots assistance program that allows U.S. Embassy of Togo to provide financial assistance to small, community-based development projects."

A month ago I submitted a proposal for SPA funding and a week later I was notified that they accepted my proposal and will fund my project for the amount I asked for. It will be my first funded project. The project is an English Immersion Summer Class that also educates the students on health topics from nutrition to correct condom use. Health education is severely lacking and this project will be a good learning experience. The Summer Class will run from July through August for 2 hours, 3 times a week. I will be teaching one class and the other class will be taught by a very talented local English teacher called, Jean-Claude. I'm really looking forward to it. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Back to Accra

Day 11: May 04, 2010

In the morning we woke up and immediately headed to the American Embassy to get Lorena's temporary passport. As she filled out the paperwork Matt and I waited in the lobby. It was very nice, everything was extremely air-conditioned and there was a flat-paneled TV screen showing CNN. However, it was a little depressing as well. There was a steady stream of Ghanaians who had applied for visas to the United States and were being interviewed by the Americans working there behind the glass. I heard three or four Ghanaians, answer a few questions and then told that based on the interview today you are not eligible for entry in to the United States of America. Then when they would question to why, were they denied entry, they were told to again that they were denied and to apply again if they want in 6 months. Of course the money the Ghanaians had to pay for the application and the process are not refunded. However, I have heard a statistic of something like 50% of the people for whom visas to the USA have been granted, continue to stay illegally in the United States. I need to verify this statistic, but if it's true then they have some reason to be overly critical of applications.

After the Embassy we headed to the Food Court in Osu which advertised buy 1 pizza and get another for free. After we went Gelato to get some ice cream and then headed back to the hotel to rest. In the afternoon we went back to the American Embassy and Lorena got her temporary passport, however there wasn't enough time to go to the Togolese Embassy so we went to get smoothies at the place in Osu fittingly named, Smoothy's. It was there that we met up with Sam and Annie, two fellow SED Togo PeaceCorps Volunteers from my stage. They had just come over the border from Lomé and were on their way, after a couple days in Ghana, to Egypt and Morocco.

We stopped at a bar after the smoothie place, the headed back to New Haven Hotel and walked down the street to Champs located in the Paloma Hotel. Lorena really wanted some Mexican food even if it was going to be Ghanaian Tex-Mex. The food wasn't that great, but it was fun nonetheless.

Day 12: May 05, 2010

We went to Sunshine 2 Go in Osu with Sam and being that it was our last day went all out. I had coffee, a full breakfast and a chocolate milkshake. Next Matt, Lorena and I went to the Togolese Embassy. There are some pictures on the Ghana Trip website. She got her visa for Togo, so she would able to enter the country and then we went to eat lunch at the Food Court in Osu again. It was delicious as always. Before we left we went to KOALA, the fancy supermarket and I bought a couple things. Then, at about 3 or 4pm we went to the taxi station to take a taxi to the border.

It was a great trip, but it saddened me. Why isn't Togo like this? Why isn't Lomé like Accra? Togo has so much potential.

The Green Turtle Lodge

Day 8 – 9: May 01 - 02, 2010

It took about 2 hours from leaving the hotel, 'You 84' to get to The Green Turtle. We first took a Tro-Tro (Ghanaian version of a bush-taxi, but where you don't feel like a sardine) to Agona junction was 80p per person then GH¢1 to check all our bags. We also gave GH¢1 to the guy who helped us find the Tro-Tro in Takoradi. Then from there it was 60p per person in a shared taxi to another place where we rented the same taxi for GH¢10 to take us direct to Green Turtle Lodge. What struck me at first was how many white people there were. It was bizarre for me, however the great view, pristine beach and delicious food made me love Green Turtle. We met a lot of cool people as well and even other PeaceCorps volunteers from Ghana and Niger.

Day 10: May 03, 2010

Luckily we had enough money to pay for the hotel because the total came out to be GH¢298.80 and collectively, even counting the change, we had GH¢310. In order to depart from Green Turutle Lodge you have 2 options, (1) Rent a taxi to Agona Junction where one can take a Tro-Tro to Takoradi and from there take a nice bus. (2) walk 10 minutes, along the beach to the closest beach town and take a Tro-Tro from there to Agona Junction. We chose the latter option due to our financial situation. Matt and I started walking to the town at around 11:30am and the Tro-Tro arrive around 12:30pm. The Tro-Tro took us and stopped at Green Turtle to pick up Lorena and the others who were going the same day. It cost GH¢1.20 to go to Agona junction then 80p to Takoradi.

In Takoradi Matt and I went immediately to an ATM and withdrew enough cash to cover us and Lorena. We got to the Takoradi bus station at 3:30pm and paid GH¢7.50 for a 4pm ticket to Accra. While we waited we got fried rice and chicken to eat for GH¢3. I bought a red apple for 60p and a green apple 70p. They were from South Africa, the woman showed me the box after I inquired about their origin thinking that maybe there were orchards in Ghana, they had everything else here. The bus actually left on time, at 4pm. There were only a few people on this huge air-conditioned bus so we all had a lot of room to stretch out. We arrived in Accra around 8pm and went straight to New Haven Hotel. We got one room for 3 people for GH¢55.

After we dropped off our stuff we went out to eat sushi at Monsoon's in Osu. It was delicious. It had been so long since I had eaten sushi and this was well worth it. It was extremely delicious and I even got to speak to the owner. He talked a lot so it was easy to press him about the details of his business. He left New Zealand, where he was born, over 20 years ago and has been traveling and working around Africa. He's been in Ghana for the past 7 some years and he started the restaurant soon after he arrived there. He said the secret to good sushi is having quick turnover, so that the fish is fresh. All the fish he uses, except salmon and a couple others he gets fresh that day from the ports.

We stopped at the Gelato place for some ice cream and then headed back to New Haven.

Cape Coast

Day 5 – April 28, 2010

The day started off very well. We were able to get on a direct bus from Kumasi to Cape Coast. This time the bus wasn't as nice as the one we took from Accra to Kumasi and the interior reminded me of an American public school, but it was loads better then a Togolese bush taxi. The trip took about 4 hours and the bus's last stop was within walking distance of our hotel, Oasis Guest House.

It was a nice hotel on the beach with an outdoor bar and restaurant. We got a bungalow type room with a view of the ocean. I believe it cost a little more than 30GH¢ a night. Lorena and I just dropped of our luggage and then headed out to see the Cape Coast Slave Castle, which was at most a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Matt decided to grab something to eat and rest in the room. The Cape Coast Slave Castle was worth seeing. The guided tour that we took was good as well as the museum. For more information on the Cape Coast Slave Castle go here www.website.com.

On our way back Lorena and I stopped at some of the shops selling a variety of handmade crafts. I bought a bag made out of strips of different of pagne so it looks very colorful, but it is still something that I would use in The States. I will take a picture of it at some point. Lorena bought a hat made the same way they made my bag. She's going to try to have the people she works with in Lama-Tessi try and recreate it or at the very least inspire them.

We were famished so once we got back to the hotel we went straight to the restaurant to get something to eat. An hour later, Matt met us and we all spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, talking and watching the waves. Therefore we didn't realize how quickly time passes and it was around 11pm when we paid and started back to our bungalow. The restaurant was right next our room, so it took us only 30 seconds or so to realize that all our stuff had been stolen out of our room.

The lights were on and the door was open. Pieces of the doorframe were on the ground with the remnants of some of the lock mechanism. We just stopped and stared for a moment then went to try and find one of the owners. The blond-haired owner came, surveyed the scene, than called the shaved-head owner. Lorena and the two owners, along with some of the workers at the hotel went out to see if the thieves left any of the bags. They came back not more than 10 minutes later carrying our bags. Apparently, the thieves had tried to roll my rolling bag through the sand on the beach so Lorena and the others followed the tracks and found various bags and items they had discarded along the way. Most of our things were found, but everything was thoroughly soaked. Lorena, was the one who lost the most, 2 passports (one PeaceCorps, one regular), $150 American dollars, an iPod and a digital camera. In the end I only lost my iPod and Matt was fortunate enough to come out of this with all of his belongings. In one of the bags, the robbers had taken, there was a small zipper bag of mine that had my passport, money and various other important items, but luckily when I got my bookbag back I found it undisturbed. Matt had the same thing happen to him and the robbers left his valuables untouched. Also, this was a little bizarre, I had my camera in an open case hanging on the arm of a chair in the room and the thieves totally missed it. I was very lucky. Also all the books that I bought in Accra I kept in the plastic bags that the sellers gave me, so they came out of the incident unscathed.

They repaired the door that night and so I slept in the room while the owners found Matt and Lorena another room.

 

Day 6 – April 29, 2010

The hotel was pretty nice about everything. They let us stay in the rooms and washed all our clothes for free. Granted, it was their hotel and lack of security was the reason why we robbed, but it was still nice. The next morning we woke up early and headed straight to the Cape Coast police station without breakfast. When we arrived we were led first into the waiting area for Lorena to fill out a report on what happened, then we were all led into another room which looked like something out of an action movie. There we all filled out separate police reports and were questioned by the officer there on what happened. Next he said he wanted to see the scene of the crime and he refused to walk the two minutes to the hotel so the owner was forced to pay for a cab for him. At the hotel he looked at our room for a few moments as we walked him through what happened. Next we showed him how we followed the tracks in the sand. The blond-haired owner asked if the policeman wanted to follow the tracks and see where they had found our abandoned luggage, the policeman said he didn't need to. Really it was because he would have to dirty his painfully shiny black shoes. Then the policeman said he wanted to see my rolling bag. We took him to the place outside where it was drying in the sun. He told me to take a picture of my bag as he carefully moved it around with a stick he had found on the ground, clearly he wanted to preserve the criminals' prints on the bag. Actually I think he may have watched a little too many detective shows. At this moment, I pointed out that I didn't understand how he was going to get the pictures from me after I took them. He didn't respond for a second then repeated that I had to take a few pictures, I hesitated but the blond-haired owner said that I should just go ahead and take the picture regardless of the ridiculousness of the policeman's request. So I did.

The next few hours we spent at the hotel, eating and talking while we waited for the police to give us their police report. We needed the police report for Lorena to be able to get a new passport. They said that we would get it at 2pm, but we ended up having to go back to the police station at 2pm to talk to another person, the "Crime Officer." After walking up a flight of stairs we entered his office and you could see one who was benefiting quite nicely from the corrupt legal system. We walk in and the guy is dressed in a nice shirt, nice pants and fancy shoes. He was watching a soccer game on a TV set up on the wall while listening to music from an expensive Panasonic sound system that was plugged into a nice laptop. Also connected besides the laptop was a scanner and a separate hp printer of some sort. He motioned for us to sit down and continued watching the soccer game for a few minutes before muting it and turning off the music. Then he leaned back in his leather chair, put the tips of his fingers together in front of his lips and asked, in a voice of doubt, if we spoke English. We responded, "yes." Then, thinking himself amusing he asked if we spoke French, we responded in unison, "Oui." He was somewhat nonplused after that, he hadn't expected us to be able to speak French. He asked us where we were from, and we said America and he continued to be a little bewildered. Then he asked if we lived in some Francophone country and we told him we lived in Togo. The reason being that the French we speak is not France French it is Togolese French therefore it could be compared to speaking Ghanaian English instead of American or British English.

So we continued speaking in French with him because he said it was easier for him. Really I think that he just was showing off to his inferiors. It is interesting here how people who are in positions of power are absolutely terrified of their subordinates and feel the necessity of constantly reinforcing their superiority in a variety of ways. In addition to this show of his remarkable intelligence he had book besides his laptop, very clearly displayed, that was titled, "48 Ways to Power." He was like some type of caricature. The conversation eventually changed into English as no one else except us could speak and understand French. Blond-haired owner was there with us and after arguing with the "Crime Officer," for some time I came to learn that here, in Ghana and probably all 3^rd world countries, one is guilty until proven innocent. At this point in my life I thought that things like that wouldn't surprise me, but it did. Especially since I've written papers in school on the subject, travelled to Myanmar and also having lived in Togo for nearly a year (haven't yet dealt with the Gendarmes though and really have no interest in it). However, this time being that the degree of separation between myself and a malfunctioning legal system was practically zero, "guilty until proven innocent," really struck me as being completely barbaric, archaic and illogical.

In the end the "Crime Officer," said that now because it was 5 minutes to 5pm we had to wait till tomorrow to get our report. His reasoning was that in order to get the report we had to go somewhere else and pay 5 GH¢ to get a receipt that said that we paid for the police report and because we couldn't get there before it closed at 5pm we had to wait. We were annoyed. We went back to the hotel, ate, drank, played some pool and went to bed.

Day 7 – April 30, 2010

After breakfast we headed to the police station naively thinking that it would take more than a couple of hours now that we had the receipt for the police report. Earlier that morning the shaved-head owner of the hotel went out and paid the 5 GH¢ for the receipt of the police report for us. We stayed there all day, sitting and waiting till 4:43:54pm, the policeman who "had taken our statements and investigated the scene of the crime" gave Lorena the final police report. 15 minutes earlier she had been given the police report, but she noticed her name was spelled in a variety of creative ways. Matt and I's favorite spelling was "Loranda" and much to Lorena's chagrin for the remaining days of our trip we called her Loranda. After we got the police report we headed out immediately and arrived a few hours later in Takoradi. We stayed at 'You 84' a pretty nice hotel that had A/C, hot water and clean sheets however from the construction going on outside you wouldn't even think it was a hotel. That evening we took a taxi to a seafood restaurant I believe was called Captain Hook's. Afterwards we went back to the hotel to sleep.

To Kumasi

Day 3 – April 26, 2010

We woke up and set out to find a breakfast place called, Le Petit Paris, that in a travel guide had claimed to have a nice ambience while offering a delicious array of French baked confections. Who could ask for anything more? According to the map, it was only about a 15 minute walk away, right off the main road, so we decided to walk. It is strange, the things that I never thought I'd find strange, such as, relatively intact sidewalks. Yes, one can claim that in Lomé as well as a handful of other cities in Togo there are such things, but I find sidewalks in Togo convey to the user only the vaguest sense of what a proper sidewalk should look and feel like. However, the walk was pleasant enough.

Even after asking for directions after we couldn't locate it we ended up settling for a stand that sold some croissants and similar creations. Therefore, we decided to walk back to the main road to get a taxi and head to Osu to try out at place that sold smoothies, appropriately named, Smoothy. I got an orange-banana smoothie and it was delicious. Next, we walked to Koala, a grocery store I had heard so much about from other volunteers. It exceeded my expectations when I came across the free samples of freshly baked cookies, cakes and other such baked goods. Afterwards we headed back to the New Haven Hotel to collect our things, and then took a taxi for 3 cedis to the bus station. The bus to Kumasi was 9 cedis per person and 1 cedi for each persons' luggage.

It was a pleasant 4 hour journey; the bus was air-conditioned, everyone had their own plush seat to themselves and Matt and I were able to purchase 2 spring rolls each when we stopped at a rest stop halfway through our journey. That was another thing I found odd, they actually had rest stops in Ghana. By the time we found out how delicious the spring rolls were, the bus had pulled out and was on its way. Tragic. We arrived in Kumasi as night was settling in, but even though everything was shrouded in darkness we were impressed with the city. There were streetlights, to say the least, as well as large sculptures at a number of intersections, nicely paved roads and colonial architecture. Granted Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana, apart from Accra, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Upon nearing the last stop I really found out how nice Ghanaians are. I had a hint of their thoughtfulness on the ride down. Matt and I befriended a Ghanaian who was sitting on the opposite side of the aisle. He was very nice. He assured us, before either Matt or I had even thought about questioning the integrity of his country's infrastructure, that the bumpy road would soon give way to a well paved highway. 30 minutes or so into the voyage he was totally right. His stop was a few stops before ours, in Kumasi, so we parted company then. As more and more people filtered out of the bus at their desired stops Lorena, Matt and I were left alone. Then the bus driver asked us where our hostel was. Surprised, but gratefully we told him that we are planning to the Presbyterian Hostel. He drove us to the front gate, bid us safe journey and left.

We ended up not staying at the Hostel because it was all filled up for the night, but we met a woman from Holland who was trying to get a room there as well. She is in Ghana doing some health volunteering in a small village somewhat close to Kumasi. We asked the reception for another place to stay close by and they suggested Guestline Lodge so we all headed there. It is a nice place and the guy who owns it is extremely nice as well. We checked in to a room that was big enough to put down another mattress. After we dropped off our stuff we headed downstairs to go out and get a bite to eat.

Originally we were going to a different restaurant, but the girl from Holland told us that the Café that is run by the guy who owns Guestline was really good. The owner said he was going there anyway, so we all hopped in his car drove down there together. It was a nice Café and we dined well. After we all just headed back to the hotel to sleep the night away.

Day 4 – April 27, 2010

The next day we got up and headed to New Queen's Restaurant. In the guidebook it claimed that it was ripe for people watching. On the way to the restaurant Matt and I stopped a woman with a plastic container full of spring rolls on her head to get some snacks for the road. Not more than 8 minutes later we arrived at the restaurant and finding it to be on the third floor asked till we found the steps that led to it. We chose a table on the balcony overlooking Kumasi and we weren't disappointed, there were plenty of people to watch. It was particularly enjoyable when, at one point, there was a sudden, unexpected downpour of rain. The food wasn't exceptionally delicious, but wasn't very expensive either. However, the interaction with the waitress made it memorable. It went something like this:

Lorena: "Hello"
Waitress: "Hi"
Lorena: "I would like a Spanish Omelet" Lorena points to the item on the menu.
Waitress: "We don't have that."
Lorena: "Ok…well what do you have"
Waitress: "We have eggs, onions and tomatoes"
Lorena: "Isn't that what's in a Spanish Omelets?"
Waitress: "No we don't have that."
Lorena: "What's in a Spanish Omelet?"
Waitress: "Eggs, onions and tomatoes"
Lorena: "Ok well I would like a Spanish Omelet then."
Waitress: "No we don't have that"
Lorena: "…But you have eggs, onions and tomatoes right?"
Waitress: "Yes."
Lorena: "…then I would like an omelet with onions and tomatoes."
Waitress: "Ok."

After breakfast we took a taxi to the Nationale Cultural Center. It was a nice place and there was a plethora of shops and workshops on could visit. Then in the center of the Center there was small museum explaining the history of the Ashanti people. There is still an Ashanti King, to this day, who still holds some sway over the government when there are matters that concern Kumasi and its surrounding villages. More information on the subject can be found here: www.website.com.

Afterwards we headed to the marché which is the largest in Ghana and one of the largest in Africa. It was indeed quite large with stairs winding paths through a variety of vendors. Another interesting part of the marché was the abandoned railway track that ran through the section used clothes sellers. We came across it accidentally and thought that if we followed it we would finally free ourselves from the tangle of colors, movement and voices that was making us exhausted.

Once outside we located a taxi and made our way to Moti Mahal, an Indian Restaurant that received rave review in our tour guide. However, when we finally tracked it down, it had moved to Top Martin's Complex which housed an array of fancy stores, the restaurant was closed and wouldn't open again for a few hours. So we killed time by using the internet, which was unbelievably fast in comparison with the speed in Togo, and after headed back to the hotel to regroup. In the evening we returned to the Indian restaurant and it was totally worth the wait. I can confidently say that I have eaten some truly excellent Indian food throughout my life, but the Indian food I had at Moti Mahal was some of the best I have ever tasted. It could be because I haven't eaten Indian food for quite some time, but I think that it was truly delicious. Also the people who run the place and cook the food are Indian so it is vrai (true in English) Indian food.

It was late by the time we finished and while we were waiting to hail a taxi a man in an old pickup truck stopped and offered us a ride to wherever we want to go. We looked at each other and looked at the guy, then got in. He was very nice and he dropped us off at a restaurant/bar we wanted to try called Vienna City Pub. It was an ok place. We were harassed by the bouncer outside, somewhat, for wearing sandals and he wanted us to give him a "gift" for entry, but after explaining to him very clearly that we would rather leave then give him anything he let us in. Although, in a last-ditch effort to try to glean something from us, he tried to persuade me to hand over the takeaway we got from the Indian restaurant, but we ignored him and walked in.

After a beer we headed back to the hotel because we had a long day of travel ahead of us. The next destination was Cape Coast.

Spring Rolls!

Day 2 – April 25, 2010

    What is this Asian influence that has permeated the very fabric of Ghanaian culture? Spring rolls and fried rice! At every turn one can find a woman selling spring rolls or another woman selling fried rice with choice of a piece of chicken and/or pasta salad on the side. I came to this startling discovery as we stopped a FanMilk cart outside the New Haven Hotel on our way down to the Paloma to eat some breakfast. While we bought Strawberry FanYogo, a flavor that isn't found in Togo, I saw on the top of the cart a couple of wooden shelves with what looked like some type of fried roll. I bought one for .20 cedis and once I bit into it I realized it tasted like a poor man's Americanized Chinese restaurant's spring roll. The strange thing is that besides the couple of expensive Chinese restaurants (word on the street they taste like an Americanized Chinese restaurant) in Lomé you can't find them anywhere in Togo.

    Breakfast at the Paloma was a pleasant experience. I had an omelet, bacon, toast with real butter, and baked beans. From there we headed to the Accra Shopping Mall I had heard so much about. It seems a little ridiculous to be so excited to be going to a mall, especially one that was nice, but nothing that deviated very much from the American mall norm. However, when I got there it was pretty awesome especially since there was a movie theater in the mall. We bought tickets to Clash of the Titans and then went exploring the mall at our own leisure. I headed upstairs to a book fair that had been going on a few days and was ending that day. I thought I might find some materials for my library and the English course I'll be teaching in the summer. It was small. A mix between a couple publishing companies selling their books and a couple people selling new looking used book. I bought quite a few and by the time I was finished it was time for the movie. The movie theater was so cold that it was almost painful, but I liked it. It had been so long since I had been that cold, but it didn't matter because the seats were comfortable and I had popcorn. I also bought a ice cream bar as well.

    The movie was pretty terrible. I enjoyed the special effects and I like ancient mythology, but the movie fell short. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching a movie in a movie theater immensely. Afterwards, we headed to the food court and I ordered a chicken sandwich. Then I went out to check out the brand new Apple store to see if they could repair my iPod, but turned out they don't do repairs there. We headed next to the beach, being that Accra is on the coast, and stopped at the hotel, Labadi, to have something to drink before we headed out to walk on the beach. There was a problem, however when we tried to go out on the beach there was a guard and he said that being we were not staying in the hotel we would have pay something exorbitant, like 20 cedis apiece, to simply go on the beach. We tried to explain all we wanted to do is stand on the beach, but he wouldn't hear it. So disgruntled we left and walked down a ways and tried to enter by another route, but there we had to pay 10 cedies apiece. Lorena and Matt W tried to reason and coax the guards there to let us in for free, but to no avail so we headed to get some ice cream.

    This time at the gelato place I got a donut along with 3 scoops of ice cream. By the end of that "meal" we were all pretty full so we decided to walk a little ways in the direction of our hotel to let our food settle. However, during our stroll I caught sight of Papaye. I had heard that Papaye is supposed to have the best chicken in Accra and possibly even Ghana. It is packed at all hours of the day with people downstairs getting food to go or upstairs, sitting in a booth for a quick bite. It was pretty delicious chicken. I enjoyed it, but nothing that different from Chicken Republic. A side note, Chicken Republic's slogan is, if I remember right, "Extraordinary chicken for extraordinary people."

    We headed back to the hotel after that to call it a night because the next morning Matt Whalen, Lorena and I would head to Kumasi. Kumasi is the second biggest city in Ghana after Accra and 4-5 hours North. Matt Hix was just going to stay another night in Accra then voyage back to Togo because he had some things he had to finish up.

The Trip to Ghana: Strayed from the Itinerary Slightly

Ok, well the trip to Ghana didn’t turn out exactly how we planned it, but I will come to that.

Day 1 – April 24, 2010: Arrival

The four of us, Lorena, Matt Hix, Matt Whalen and I set off from the PeaceCorps office in Lomé at 10am in a taxi headed for the Ghana border. I was under the impression that it was a lot farther away, but it actually only took a couple of minutes. If I didn’t have some heavy bags I could have probably walked there in 30 minutes. A few weeks before, April 12^th, I had come to Lomé to buy a multiple-entry visa to Ghana for 60,000 cfa which is about $120. It was pretty expensive, but will allow me entry into Ghana for the duration of my PeaceCorps service. Otherwise each time I would have to travel to the Ghanaian Embassy and get a one-time entry visa for 20,000 cfa.

We crossed the border with little difficulty and while fending off an ample amount, but not an overabundance, of a variety of hawkers preying on tourists we located a small bus that was going to go to Accra. Each of us paid 6.5 cedis ($4.65) and we were on our way. The difference between taxis in Ghana and taxis in Togo is that Ghanaians seem to understand that one should only have the number of passengers a vehicle has been made for because, well, for a myriad of reasons ranging from safety to comfort. Therefore, it was a relatively pleasant 4 hour ride. It is interesting, after 10 minutes on the road you could already see the difference between Togo and Ghana. Everything looked a little tidier and I realized as I traveled further into Ghana discarded water sachets and plastic refuse that mars the landscape of Togo gradually vanished into lush surroundings. In addition an hour or so on the road, the normal Togo Route Nationale type road gives way to a stretch of unblemished pavement which ran for the rest of our journey to Accra.

When we arrived in Accra the sky was already getting cloudy and the air felt heavy with the impending rain so we quickly got into a taxi and headed to our prearranged lodging, Joska Lodge. When I say prearranged, I had heard that it was good place to stay by a volunteer I mean on the taxi to Accra I found it in a West Africa travel guidebook that Matt Whalen had brought along and because of its close proximity to a number of delicious sounding restaurants I thought it was a good place in which to be based. However they only had expensive rooms left, so we decided to try the place where Matt Whalen stayed at before. The rain was just starting to come down hard so on the fly we decided to scratch the hotel for now and head to Tip Top Chinese restaurant and wait for the rain to stop. It turned out to be a great choice.

Afterwards we headed to the New Haven Hotel. There turned out to be two rooms available and each of which had both air conditioning, a fan, a small fridge and a television. Then a few steps down the hall were two showers with hot water and two flush toilets…pretty wild stuff. Each room cost 40 cedis ($27). Once we had showered and donned our apparel we took a taxi back to the Chinese restaurant to start our exploration of Osu. Osu (pronounced oh – sue) is a section of Accra where the majority of Western and Eastern restaurants are located. In addition there are computer stores, an upscale supermarket, a free-trade store called Global Mammas (www.globalmammas.com), expensive liquor stores, etc.

In the first taxi we had taken into Osu we saw a brightly lit, fancy looking place where it claimed it sold gelato. So we set out in search of it. We were not disappointed. It was delicious, with flavors ranging from the mundane to the exotic. They even had donuts. After I had polished off 3 scoops of ice cream, each of which was of a different flavor and costing a total of 7.50 cedis ($5.50), a few of us, Matt Hix and I were feeling a little peckish after we left the ice cream shop and so we decided to try a chicken sandwich at the Chicken Republic which was a few doors down. Matt Whalen got a few pieces of fried chicken and Matt Hix and I split a sandwich 5.50 cedis ($4). It turned out to be so good that we decided to split another. The place felt and looked just like a fast food joint in the states, it even had air-conditioning. It was a little bizarre and with everybody speaking English it seemed even more abnormal to us.

We left the Chicken Republic in search of something to wash down the immense amount of food we had consumed within a few hours. We found “Hemingway,” illuminated in a pink light radiating from its name in neon above the door. When we walked in we saw 3 or so roulette tables and a number of slot machines that took up most of the room. The rest of the space was taken up by the bar and a couple of round tables where one could presumably sit. It was definitely a step down from Tip Top Chinese Restaurant, however it was an interesting establishment with orangey pink chandeliers hanging above us that looked to me like they belonged in a brothel from the 1800s. In addition they maintained the illusion of a much larger space with walls of mirrors surrounding us as we sat and drank.

We didn’t spend much time in there. The drinks were overpriced and the atmosphere didn’t seem to encourage such activities so we took a cab from Osu back to our hotel. The New Haven Hotel is located down the street from a relatively expensive one, called the Paloma Hotel where I have heard rooms cost about $75 a night. In the Paloma there are three restaurants, one called Champs, which is an American Sportsbar, another one which the name escapes me, and an outdoor restaurant. We attempted to get into Champs, but there was a mandatory open bar that night which was 20 cedis, so we decided to relax at the outdoor restaurant. I ordered the local Star beer and then seeing that there was a freezer with different ice creams, I chose one and ordered it. Surprisingly, beer and ice cream don’t go very well together, but I stayed the course and finished them. Then we left and walked back to the hotel.

Ok, now I assume that as one reads this they are becoming more and more disgusted with the amount of food and ice cream that I ate. This of course continued for the rest of the trip and when Matt Hix departed for Lomé, Matt Whalen and I picked up the slack, much to Lorena’s bemusement. However, in my defense, besides this being vacation, for the past 11 months I haven’t had either ice cream or chicken sandwich. The bizarre thing is that in The States, while I did like my ice cream, I never cared too much for fast food chicken sandwiches. I liked them, but never would go out of my way to find them. Interesting the things Togo does to you.