if you ask a Chinese if something is within walking distance, they will never say yes
if you ask an African if something is within walking distance, they will always say yes
19.3.07
14.3.07
Willy - final chaper
i emailed Kristin to ask how Willy was - wondering who would take on the responsibility of his nourishment
i hadn't even been gone 2 weeks, and they were wanting to dispose of him!!
a few of the expats had a Morning Meeting to discuss Willy, which resulted in Willy getting stuffed into a sack with very tiny breathing holes - this sac was going to be given to one of the national staff to take care of
fortunately for Willy, Kristin came to the rescue - she was outraged, and she released Willy from the sack and found him a new home with a French woman who already has 7 cats
Good luck Willy.
12.3.07
Accra
i hate negativity, but there is just something about this place, and i need to go on some more about just how much i do not like this city. i don't think i have ever been to a more inhospitable city in all my travels - so god willing, i will be on a bus outta here tomorrow morning to Cape Coast
this is nothing like i experienced in Benin or Togo... and these are only some of the wonderful experiences i had....
at the Casa Dansa hotel in Porto Novo/Benin, the staff always came up to shake my hand when i came back at the end of the day
at the Auberge de Grand Popo/Benin, the staff stood up and cheered when i arrived with my bag (I'm not joking - no wonder I stayed 3 days)
at the Auberge Bafana Bafana in Kpalime/Togo i was always greeted back with a bon arrive - and the proprietaire bot me a coke and spent the entire evening telling me about life and politics in Togo
at the Safari Hotel in Agbodrafo/Togo Christophe walked me back to my hotel after i had spent the afternoon wandering around the town
at Kokomlemle Guesthouse here in Accra, the staff waved me away when i said that i needed a new light bulb in my room - they said they would fix it tomorrow
I was wondering how i would fill my day on a very lazy sunday on Lome - Yao, university educated botanist/herbalist/voodoo practitioner, took me for breakfast. when i arrived back at the hotel, beautiful young rasta Rene took me to meet his family, then to his bedroom to chat with his roommate about life and love and then we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling on the beach talking more about love (he is such a sweet young idealist :)) while he tapped on his tamtam and sang lovely songs for me. then Yao came back to get me to have dinner at his home with his 2 sons
I was wondering how i would fill my day on a very hot sunday in Accra - life comes to a practical standstill on sundays in west africa. i am having a difficult time finding food in Ghana, or food that even looks appetizing, and on a sunday there is nobody selling anything on the street - so i started by having a couple of pancakes at the Canadian owned Paloma hotel. then i went to the Cdn High Commission where my guide says Canadians are welcome to enjoy the bar and the pool - however they stopped doing this 4 years ago. so then i went down the street to Afrikoko, the hot spot for food and music on weekend afternoons - there was nobody there. my guide also says that we are welcome to read newspapers, magazines and watch BBC TV at the British High Commission, however you now need a yearly membership. getting desperate, i hopped into a taxi to go the the Novotel Intl Hotel - maybe i could find a newspaper. after the taxidriver and i finally agreed on a fare, i hopped in and we rode in silence until he barked at me "what is your name?" then "are you married?", after i replied that indeed i was married and i was meeting my husband at the hotel, the taxi driver said that he liked me and wanted to marry me (this isn't so unusual, i get at least one proposal a day - and not because of my wit and charm), so i again told him that i was married, so he asked if i liked him to which i replied that i didn't even know him, but he was so aggressive about wanting to marry me that i just about hopped out of the cab - we finally arrived at the hotel and i dashed into the aircon lobby and ordered a very expensive glass of wine and chilled. i never did find any food and i wasn't interested in the very expensive hotel menu, but on the way home i bot a bunch of small bananas to be eaten with a small bag of peanuts. i finished the day in my dark hotel room reading with my headtorch
that is enuf for now - as i said, i hate negativity so there is no point in going on and on about what i have experienced in the short time i have been here.... i have my fingers crossed for the rest of the country
this is nothing like i experienced in Benin or Togo... and these are only some of the wonderful experiences i had....
at the Casa Dansa hotel in Porto Novo/Benin, the staff always came up to shake my hand when i came back at the end of the day
at the Auberge de Grand Popo/Benin, the staff stood up and cheered when i arrived with my bag (I'm not joking - no wonder I stayed 3 days)
at the Auberge Bafana Bafana in Kpalime/Togo i was always greeted back with a bon arrive - and the proprietaire bot me a coke and spent the entire evening telling me about life and politics in Togo
at the Safari Hotel in Agbodrafo/Togo Christophe walked me back to my hotel after i had spent the afternoon wandering around the town
at Kokomlemle Guesthouse here in Accra, the staff waved me away when i said that i needed a new light bulb in my room - they said they would fix it tomorrow
I was wondering how i would fill my day on a very lazy sunday on Lome - Yao, university educated botanist/herbalist/voodoo practitioner, took me for breakfast. when i arrived back at the hotel, beautiful young rasta Rene took me to meet his family, then to his bedroom to chat with his roommate about life and love and then we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling on the beach talking more about love (he is such a sweet young idealist :)) while he tapped on his tamtam and sang lovely songs for me. then Yao came back to get me to have dinner at his home with his 2 sons
I was wondering how i would fill my day on a very hot sunday in Accra - life comes to a practical standstill on sundays in west africa. i am having a difficult time finding food in Ghana, or food that even looks appetizing, and on a sunday there is nobody selling anything on the street - so i started by having a couple of pancakes at the Canadian owned Paloma hotel. then i went to the Cdn High Commission where my guide says Canadians are welcome to enjoy the bar and the pool - however they stopped doing this 4 years ago. so then i went down the street to Afrikoko, the hot spot for food and music on weekend afternoons - there was nobody there. my guide also says that we are welcome to read newspapers, magazines and watch BBC TV at the British High Commission, however you now need a yearly membership. getting desperate, i hopped into a taxi to go the the Novotel Intl Hotel - maybe i could find a newspaper. after the taxidriver and i finally agreed on a fare, i hopped in and we rode in silence until he barked at me "what is your name?" then "are you married?", after i replied that indeed i was married and i was meeting my husband at the hotel, the taxi driver said that he liked me and wanted to marry me (this isn't so unusual, i get at least one proposal a day - and not because of my wit and charm), so i again told him that i was married, so he asked if i liked him to which i replied that i didn't even know him, but he was so aggressive about wanting to marry me that i just about hopped out of the cab - we finally arrived at the hotel and i dashed into the aircon lobby and ordered a very expensive glass of wine and chilled. i never did find any food and i wasn't interested in the very expensive hotel menu, but on the way home i bot a bunch of small bananas to be eaten with a small bag of peanuts. i finished the day in my dark hotel room reading with my headtorch
that is enuf for now - as i said, i hate negativity so there is no point in going on and on about what i have experienced in the short time i have been here.... i have my fingers crossed for the rest of the country
10.3.07
ghana
i have been in Ghana for 2 days and i can't wait to leave - too bad, cuz this is one of the countries i plan to spend more time in as i move north to Burkina
it is an english speaking country, so i thought things would get easier (not that things have been tough) - but man, do i miss the french!! french keeps coming out of my mouth, and i have no idea what language the ghanians are trying to communicate with to me, but it is a rare moment when there is mutual understanding. this is also supposed to be a fairly educated country, yet it is rare when i get answers to my simple questions. and i really really miss everyone saying bonjour to everyone - it is so friendly and welcoming and for over 15 months everyone has been bonjour-ing me and i have loved it... people don't seem to greet each other here the way that they do in the neighboring countries
and it seems that this trip will be troubled with currency issues - after finally getting access to my money (perhaps too much) in Togo, i now have different issues in Ghana. Ghana is the only country i plan to be in that uses a currency other than the cfa - so when i arrived in Ghana i thought i would change some of this excess into cedis. however, bad decision on my part, but i spent my first night in Akosombo to see the big dam on the volta river and it turns out there are no banks in Akosomobo. but i was told the big splashy Volta Hotel would change currency - sure enuf, they do, but only euros. when i asked why they wouldn't change the currency of the countries that they are surrounded by they didn't have an answer. so i didn't stick around to splurge on a drink in their restaurant and gaze out at the magnificent view
i am traveling with 4 different currencies, yet i only had the equivalent of $30 in cedis to get me thru 2 days hotels, transport and food into Accra - i made it of course and the first thing i did was go to a Forex Bureau to change 50,000 cfa - they gave me my 1,000,000 cedis in a plastic bag! and hotel is about 100,000 cedi/night - so i will have to find extra hiding spaces to carry all this money
after spending about 10,000 cfa/day, it is hard to get used to this new currency - it hurts when i am asked to pay 6,000 cedi for water
wandering around in the scorching heat of the afternoon, i found a place that had airconditioning and sold smoothies (yes, I know this isn't very ghanian) so i went inside to take a break and look at the map. Accra is a huge city, yet there was someone i knew! Wybe, the FinCo in Brazzaville whom I replaced, is living in Accra with his girlfriend - so now i have a dinner appt for monday
i am sure things will get better, as soon as i get out of Accra
it is an english speaking country, so i thought things would get easier (not that things have been tough) - but man, do i miss the french!! french keeps coming out of my mouth, and i have no idea what language the ghanians are trying to communicate with to me, but it is a rare moment when there is mutual understanding. this is also supposed to be a fairly educated country, yet it is rare when i get answers to my simple questions. and i really really miss everyone saying bonjour to everyone - it is so friendly and welcoming and for over 15 months everyone has been bonjour-ing me and i have loved it... people don't seem to greet each other here the way that they do in the neighboring countries
and it seems that this trip will be troubled with currency issues - after finally getting access to my money (perhaps too much) in Togo, i now have different issues in Ghana. Ghana is the only country i plan to be in that uses a currency other than the cfa - so when i arrived in Ghana i thought i would change some of this excess into cedis. however, bad decision on my part, but i spent my first night in Akosombo to see the big dam on the volta river and it turns out there are no banks in Akosomobo. but i was told the big splashy Volta Hotel would change currency - sure enuf, they do, but only euros. when i asked why they wouldn't change the currency of the countries that they are surrounded by they didn't have an answer. so i didn't stick around to splurge on a drink in their restaurant and gaze out at the magnificent view
i am traveling with 4 different currencies, yet i only had the equivalent of $30 in cedis to get me thru 2 days hotels, transport and food into Accra - i made it of course and the first thing i did was go to a Forex Bureau to change 50,000 cfa - they gave me my 1,000,000 cedis in a plastic bag! and hotel is about 100,000 cedi/night - so i will have to find extra hiding spaces to carry all this money
after spending about 10,000 cfa/day, it is hard to get used to this new currency - it hurts when i am asked to pay 6,000 cedi for water
wandering around in the scorching heat of the afternoon, i found a place that had airconditioning and sold smoothies (yes, I know this isn't very ghanian) so i went inside to take a break and look at the map. Accra is a huge city, yet there was someone i knew! Wybe, the FinCo in Brazzaville whom I replaced, is living in Accra with his girlfriend - so now i have a dinner appt for monday
i am sure things will get better, as soon as i get out of Accra
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)