Well, I left you on Friday sweaty, hot, dirty and tired - but nothing a little R&R couldn't cure, so Kirsten, Babita (my two NBFs - not really true Ruth C!!) and I packed our rucksacks and headed for the capital. One thing we've learned is that life starts very early here so the fact that we met up at 9.30 was a bit of a mistake as by the time we got to Accra, the traffic was good enough to rival Cairo, Naples etc. Next time it'll be 7 a.m. (Yes, I've been converted to the "early bird catches the worm" brigade, largely aided by the friendly roosters that I've spoken of in an earlier blog).
One of the aims of our weekend was to watch a drum and dance show - pretty spectacular, put on by the guy who taught me those skills on my orientation week, so we got VIP treatment. The pic I've uploaded doesn't do it justice at all. The music was amazing, the dancing was mesmeric and we stayed for a couple of hours spellbound and enlightened.
We then met up with my pal Forgive (yes, that's really his name - Give for short) and his friend Sharon (male, of course!) both of whom work for TV3, one of the main TV channels here. Sharon is a co-presenter of a show similar to the X Factor that goes out on a Friday night and he's invited us to watch in the studio when we've got time to travel from Swedru. Give makes documentaries and is very keen to come and visit our orphanage ... and meet Madame and her side-kick Asamoah, the Nigerian Mafia man.
Having asked Give prior to the weekend to book us into a hotel (Kirsten, Babita and me, that is!) he came up trumps and found us a hotel/lodge on the beach which just happened to belong to a friend of his and Sharon's and which was the equivalent - when you're used to bucket showers and non-flushing WCs - of a 5* hotel. Tiled floors, running water, patio outside our room, running water, admittedly a lone cockerel that still managed to wake me at 5 a.m. but still, we had running water ...
Dinner at Nineties consisted of chicken and fried rice which is a local speciality and we actually downed some wine - the first alcohol I'd tasted for two whole weeks. Then in true Ghanaian style - I know about these things of course, I've already been here two weeks - we went clubbing. Me and my much younger pals (though age seems irrelevant here mainly because - amongst the volunteers at least - we're all here for a common purpose, to help in whatever way we can, those who are less fortunate than ourselves). So there we were dancing the night away till 2 a.m. when we left and I promptly fell feet first into a huge hole in the pavement! For those of you who've been here, you may well feel a little nostalgic about the state of the roads and pavements ... First of all, I want you all to know that I'd only had a glass or two of wine during the earlier meal, so I can't blame this lack of awareness of the hole on my state of my sobriety. Never one to make a fuss (!?), I was happy to be washed down by some kind man from the club and apart from the obvious obnoxious smell, managed to get back to the hotel in one piece. Thank goodness for the running water.
Sunday dawned and we realised the truism TIA This Is Africa. We met up with our "hosts" who said breakfast would be served in 5 minutes. Suffice it to say that it was more like an hour and 5 minutes. But worth waiting for. Tried out something called Kenkey, which fits into the category of "tried that, no need to try again, Thank You!".
Breakfast was followed by some hours on the beach, swimming in the ocean and soaking up the sun, which was a bit shy admittedly and only peeped our here and there. I'm sure you're all really sorry for me ...
Time to head back to Swedru so Give gave us a lift to the tro tro station. We got on the t-t that was heading our way but it didn't leave until it was full (Wendy, remember that?!) so we hung around till 5.30 when it was starting to get dark and you don't really want to travel when it's dark due to the aforementioned state of the roads. However, we arrived back "home" in one piece and back to our host family and a lovely bucket shower ...
Accra is a definite possibility for next weekend ...
Wendy - Knorr is still there and I've given banku a wide berth though I gather that Kenkey is similar. Swedru is vibrant, busy and noisy in a different sort of way from Accra, being considerably smaller. And I agree about your comments on being called Obruni. What's even madder is that we call back "Obibini" translated as "black person". Imagine shouting that down Pinner High St! We're also aware of the Obruni prices at the market stalls and now try to take an Obibini with us!
Thanks to you all for your fab comments. I'm delighted to know that you have found my trip thus far, to be of great interest. Wish you could share it with me ...
