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My first day in Accra…
Even though I went to sleep about 12pm the night before, I was up 5am. Started to unpack and settle in. The room was small and basic, but very clean. The hotel advertises they have hot water, but I never had any…. LOL… soon to find out after many months I never ever had hot water! Something I found out that I could live without
By 8am I was ready to hit the streets but waited until my friend Kingsley come by at 10am. Please allow me to introduce Kingsley: he is a younger (maybe 24) African guy I met through a friend of a friend on the internet, actually through email. We had been emailing on average about once a week for almost two years before I got to Ghana – he became like a younger brother to me over these two years I confided in him about my love for Jamaica, reggae and Rasta – he in turn said he’d bring me to the reggae spots and that he even had one friend more my age that is Rasta (but he went to the states one month before I got to Ghana).
10:10am – Kingsley arrives with his laptop in hand! He figured I would want to check my email LOL!! I passed on the offer and we chatted for over an hour. He is much more educated, funny and attractive in person and had my niece been with me on this trip I would have encouraged someting!
I was real hungry and he knew of just the right vegetarian place to take me to… we headed out the front door of the airconditioned guest house and SMACK, the heat hit me hard! Walked to the main road (10 minutes) and I was drenched in sweat… waited along side the road for the next tro tro (local mini bus fits about 16 people max). Within 5 minutes one came along and I was soon to find out they come very regularly and are usually packed up! You can ride a tro tro for about .40 cents and can go for miles and miles too! They are very hot inside though and most times the windows can only open 2 inches… some play music, most are very silent. Usually nobody talks either…. Of all the times I rode in these tro tro’s, which was almost daily the whole time I was there, I’d say I was the only white person 98% of the time… this did not bother me, in fact it felt more welcoming than the buses right here in Canada!
But I digress… Back to the story… we arrived at this small vegetarian restaurant about 20 minutes later. The place was called Assasse Pa and little did I know at the time, this place would be my main base for eating! We were greeted in a very friendly manner and handed menus right away. Bottled water please was my first request…. Man did I ever drink a lot of that the whole trip!!
The menu was filled with mostly vegan choices and I was thrilled with this!! I had a tofu burger on whole wheat bread with a salad, both very, very good! Kingsley didn’t eat and told me to save my money for me, in fact I had no local currency then so he paid for my meal… what a sweet guy!
After my $3 filling, excellent lunch we headed back out to the street… I needed to change some money so we hit what they call a Forex Bureau – where I got .92 cents for my 1 Canadian dollar. The local currency is called New Ghana Cedis, I rounded it off most of my trip by saying for instance that 10 Cedis was about 11 Canadian dollars.
I wanted to walk around some, so we did, but after only 20 minutes I grabbed a taxi….. LOL… this heat will kill me I said to my new friend! Kingsley ensured I got back to the guest house then he went home, about 40 minutes away.
I rested some and then my dear friend Seth came by the guest house when he finished work at 5pm. We made plans to meet for lunch the next day and I chatted on his cell phone to his wife. I was very much looking forward to meeting this lady!
Stayed in that night… contemplated my first day in Ghana and started to write in my journal… some observations were:
- the heat is way more than I thought it would be
- people are incredibly friendly, everytime I had any type of contact with anyone local I was made to feel very, very welcome, in fact Awkwaba means Welcome and that word was used over and over!
- the food is very good and cheap
- had an amazing connection with both friends Seth and Kingsley, very different people yet both wonderful
- the guest house staff made me feel instantly like family
- local fruits at almost every street corner, cheap and fresh
- tro tro’s are fun and cheap to ride, but hot and a little scary
- the gutters are filled with stinky garbage
- there were not many beggars on the street
- no high rise buildings, only saw 1 hotel 4 floors high
- many beautiful colored buildings
- tons of red, green and gold
- the local ladies are dressed beautifully
After writing my heart out, I listened to the local radio and music stations on the small TV I decided then and there that my love for reggae music just may get replaced with my new love for west African music!
Took a cool shower, unpacked some more (would be at this guest house for at least two weeks) and said some prayers of thanks!!! I am in Africa, I am living my dream, I have never been happier…
Sleep soon came, maybe only 9pm… I found out this pattern of up at 5am and asleep at 9pm would be the norm most nights.
Next installment hopefully in a week or so…
Even though I went to sleep about 12pm the night before, I was up 5am. Started to unpack and settle in. The room was small and basic, but very clean. The hotel advertises they have hot water, but I never had any…. LOL… soon to find out after many months I never ever had hot water! Something I found out that I could live without
By 8am I was ready to hit the streets but waited until my friend Kingsley come by at 10am. Please allow me to introduce Kingsley: he is a younger (maybe 24) African guy I met through a friend of a friend on the internet, actually through email. We had been emailing on average about once a week for almost two years before I got to Ghana – he became like a younger brother to me over these two years
I confided in him about my love for Jamaica, reggae and Rasta – he in turn said he’d bring me to the reggae spots and that he even had one friend more my age that is Rasta (but he went to the states one month before I got to Ghana).10:10am – Kingsley arrives with his laptop in hand! He figured I would want to check my email LOL!! I passed on the offer and we chatted for over an hour. He is much more educated, funny and attractive in person and had my niece been with me on this trip I would have encouraged someting!
I was real hungry and he knew of just the right vegetarian place to take me to… we headed out the front door of the airconditioned guest house and SMACK, the heat hit me hard! Walked to the main road (10 minutes) and I was drenched in sweat… waited along side the road for the next tro tro (local mini bus fits about 16 people max). Within 5 minutes one came along and I was soon to find out they come very regularly and are usually packed up! You can ride a tro tro for about .40 cents and can go for miles and miles too! They are very hot inside though and most times the windows can only open 2 inches… some play music, most are very silent. Usually nobody talks either…. Of all the times I rode in these tro tro’s, which was almost daily the whole time I was there, I’d say I was the only white person 98% of the time… this did not bother me, in fact it felt more welcoming than the buses right here in Canada!
But I digress…
Back to the story… we arrived at this small vegetarian restaurant about 20 minutes later. The place was called Assasse Pa and little did I know at the time, this place would be my main base for eating! We were greeted in a very friendly manner and handed menus right away. Bottled water please was my first request…. Man did I ever drink a lot of that the whole trip!!The menu was filled with mostly vegan choices and I was thrilled with this!! I had a tofu burger on whole wheat bread with a salad, both very, very good! Kingsley didn’t eat and told me to save my money for me, in fact I had no local currency then so he paid for my meal… what a sweet guy!
After my $3 filling, excellent lunch we headed back out to the street… I needed to change some money so we hit what they call a Forex Bureau – where I got .92 cents for my 1 Canadian dollar. The local currency is called New Ghana Cedis, I rounded it off most of my trip by saying for instance that 10 Cedis was about 11 Canadian dollars.
I wanted to walk around some, so we did, but after only 20 minutes I grabbed a taxi….. LOL… this heat will kill me I said to my new friend! Kingsley ensured I got back to the guest house then he went home, about 40 minutes away.
I rested some and then my dear friend Seth came by the guest house when he finished work at 5pm. We made plans to meet for lunch the next day and I chatted on his cell phone to his wife. I was very much looking forward to meeting this lady!
Stayed in that night… contemplated my first day in Ghana and started to write in my journal… some observations were:
- the heat is way more than I thought it would be
- people are incredibly friendly, everytime I had any type of contact with anyone local I was made to feel very, very welcome, in fact Awkwaba means Welcome and that word was used over and over!
- the food is very good and cheap
- had an amazing connection with both friends Seth and Kingsley, very different people yet both wonderful
- the guest house staff made me feel instantly like family
- local fruits at almost every street corner, cheap and fresh
- tro tro’s are fun and cheap to ride, but hot and a little scary
- the gutters are filled with stinky garbage
- there were not many beggars on the street
- no high rise buildings, only saw 1 hotel 4 floors high
- many beautiful colored buildings
- tons of red, green and gold
- the local ladies are dressed beautifully
After writing my heart out, I listened to the local radio and music stations on the small TV
I decided then and there that my love for reggae music just may get replaced with my new love for west African music!Took a cool shower, unpacked some more (would be at this guest house for at least two weeks) and said some prayers of thanks!!! I am in Africa, I am living my dream, I have never been happier…
Sleep soon came, maybe only 9pm… I found out this pattern of up at 5am and asleep at 9pm would be the norm most nights.
Next installment hopefully in a week or so…
Respec! 
bout not many interested 
You know how it is, takes much effort to write these and if one thinks nobody is even reading them, then why bother!
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