Serenity

This past weekend was just amazing. A group of 8 of us went to Akosombo, a town about 1 1/2 hrs away from Accra that sits on the Volta River, one of the largest man made bodies of water in Ghana. So we leave Accra Friday evening and reach our hotel by about 7:30-8pm. And on the way to our hotel, we had decided to reduce the price of the hotel room and stick 8 people in 2 rooms. Originally I had booked 4 rooms so we told them we didn't want 2 of them and we just wanted one room with AC and the other without. They did not like this idea at all and it took a couple minutes of arguing and coming to a compromise before they let us put 4 in a room. So there is a 100,000 cedi (approx. $11) difference between the room with AC and the one without. However, it was much more than not having AC. The room with AC was a cute little bungalow that had a porch looking out on the Volta River. It was air conditioned, nicely decorated, had hot water, a door...stuff like that. Nice place for a honeymoon, in my opinion. And breakfast is included with the room. Now the non-AC room is a nice place for a porn video shoot, if you ask me. The walls are rough and look like they had just been plastered. It was located in their garden behind some weedy-looking plants. And there were 2 naked green light bulbs in the corners so the only lighting in the room was a fluorescent green. The bathroom had no door, there was only cold water and the shower was set up to easily flood the bathroom. Definitely a porn video shoot location. So my 3 friends and I saw our room and decided the only thing to do was call it the Green Light District and start taking crazy pictures without flash in the green light. They came out pretty cool because it's mostly silhouette that you see. Afterwards, we went next door to the nice and more expensive hotel to have dinner and spend the rest of the night hanging out by the river and talking.

The next morning, a couple of us got up really early to watch the sunrise on the river...just beautiful. I sat there in silence and just watched everything being slowly lit and the canoes that floated by peacefully. It was so serene and at the time, I couldn't remember the last time I had felt that way. And it was only the beginning of the day. So after the sun rose, I went back to sleep for a little and then we all met up for breakfast by the water. Afterwards, we rented a boat for about 2 hours and took it up and down the Volta River. We found nice areas to dive off the boat and swim around (at least until a dead goat was found near our swimming spot). And we just took the boat around for a little, waving at the villagers as we passed by their homes that were made of clay, mud, leaves, straw and everything else that existed in nature around them. It was incredible to see the way they lived. And again, as we all sat on the motorboat and it was speeding by, I was incredibly at peace with myself and everything around me. I hadn't had that feeling since arriving in Ghana just because Accra is so hectic and you're constantly aware of everything around you. But this isolation was great...it felt a little like I was in a lagoon that no one knew existed. I wish we had been able to pull over and interact with the villagers, since they were calling us over, but we were paying for the boat and had to keep it moving.

After we got back from out boat ride, we ate lunch by the water, I bought some hot (and extremely heavy) earrings. If I had brought more money with me, I probably would've bought all of his jewelry...they were so nice. Then we were walking back to our hotel room to take a nap when we saw a tree swing...the kind that you swing into the river. So of course we had to do it. After a couple hits and bumps (literally), we were all swinging and jumping into the water and just swimming around for a little. By this time, it was late afternoon and since 4 of us were supposed to leave Saturday night, we went back to the hotel rooms. But by that time, we were all completely satisfied with our time spent and decided we didn't want to spend more money on another night at the hotel so we all ended up leaving and we got back to Accra in about an hr, where we then went out to dinner and I ended up joining another friend at this random beach bar until late Saturday night.

So my friend, Katrina, had gotten her hair braided on Friday and I absolutely loved it so I decided I would get it done. And since we had gotten back from Akosombo a day early, I decided to get my hair done Sunday, except I was going to a place where it was cheaper. I took a taxi (which I haven't explained how they work here but I will later) to this hair salon and get there and they wanted to charge me too much, probably because I am an obruni (which is twi for foreigner or white person...a white person is more likely to be called an obruni than I am, even though I technically am a foreigner). So I leave this hair place and walk up a couple blocks to this crazy market where they sell everything from dried fish to dyed fabric. This other hair place was closed because it was Sunday so I walk back to the hair place I originally went to and showed them my money and told them I don't have the money they wanted but this was what I had and I need them to braid my hair. After a half hr of negotiating and waiting, they finally agreed and I decided to get small twists in my hair that now reach almost to my waist. 5 hours later, I'm still sitting there ready to scream, shoot somebody, jump up and down, cry, run a marathon...basically anything because my butt hurt from sitting for so long and there were 4 women tugging on my hair and twisting it at lightning speed. Soon they ended and I had to take a tro tro home (another form of transportation I'll explain later) but I got lost and this really nice Ghanaian woman helped me find the right tro tro until I reached home.

So that was my weekend. My hair is really heavy because of the hair they put in and my scalp is pale and sensitive but the hair looks cool. I look like an authentic Ghanaian now and I was told, all I have to do is walk around mute and everything will think I am Ghanaian and not an obruni. Go me :)

So...just a little quick explanation about local transportation. Most people take either a taxi or tro tro. A taxi here is so different from NY taxis...everything is negotiable and sometimes taxi drivers try to change the price that you had agreed on during the car ride. And because we are foreigners (and foreigners are usually equated with money), they immediately charge us exorbitant amounts. Here is a typical taxi/passenger interaction:

Me: Hi, I need to go to Legon.
Taxi Driver: Legon?
Me: Yeah...25 (as in 25,000 cedi, roughly $3)
Taxi Driver: Oh no...give me 40.
Me: 40! You must be crazy, I went to Legon yesterday for 25, I know it's no more than 25. Stop trying to cheat me, I live here.
Taxi Driver: I'm not trying to cheat you. Fine, give me 35.
Me: No, 25.
Taxi Driver: No.
Me: Fine! :::start to wait away to find another taxi:::
Taxi Driver (grumbles): Okay
Me: Okay what? 25?
Taxi Driver (nods head): Get in

So that's more or less a typical taxi interaction. Some of them have been much worse than that and some have been better. But all I know is that I have a complete distrust of taxi drivers here since I saw their true cheating nature several weeks ago and I argue with a taxi driver at least once a day. Also, I feel like because of taxi drivers, I now have a better handle on my bargaining skills and can almost always get the price I want. It's good times.

Then there's the tro tro, which is significantly cheaper than a taxi and is basically a beat up van with the windows open and tons of people crammed in with their hands/heads/other various body parts hanging out. I took my first tro tro Satuday night back from Akosombo and the one I went on on Sunday was ridiculously packed but it was a good, if short, experience.

And that's about it for now. This weekend, we have a group excursion to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana (after Accra) about 4 1/2 hrs north of Accra. So this weekend should also be fun. The next couple of weekends will be packed with traveling. I have a day trip to Ada (about 1 1/2 hrs our of the city on Friday with my Reporting II class) and I am going to the West African AIDS Foundation on Thursday which will definitely be an experience. As for what I wrote earlier...I think it's getting better. I'm feeling more in control of my experience these days and have started to see more of Accra and not just the same 5 places where the same 20 people always are. Hopefully, it stays that way...