Ghana!!

It's Sunday and I have a lot to catch up on so brace yourself.
I had difficulty sleeping Friday night. There was a lot of music going on outside and people talking and banging doors inside. I watched TV as I tried to doze. At home we have what we call the "Law & Order Channel." It has a lot of those kinds of shows. I found something that was a good substitute here called Zone Reality. It's really a lot of reality shows strung together so I got to see several real-life murder mysteries on that channel that were just like Scorned and Who the Heck Did I Marry except with British and South African accents.

I was awakened way before my alarm went off by a neighbor somewhere who was Skyping with someone but not using headphones. So she was speaking loudly and the computer was responding loudly. At one point in the conversation I hear her say, "Huh?" The person on the other end repeats, in Portuguese. Again she says, "Huh?" The person on the other end repeats again. Once again "Huh?" and another repeat. I'm thinking to myself -- how on EARTH can she not hear that when I hear it so clearly??? Why the HECK did she need the volume so HIGH??

At breakfast I ran into a former Abt Employee who had taken some of my classes. I tried to soak in my last spectacular breakfast and the view. When I went to check out they actually called the credit card company for an authorization code the way they used to in the old days. It came to $775 US -- not too bad for 5 nights and breakfast.

Yussaf was my driver going back to the airport. I have not seen him since he brought me to the hotel the week before. He said, "On way in and on way out!" Nothing went wrong this time. As we drove down the streets, listening to Supertramp's song Breakfast in America I noticed the trees were severely pruned back. This is to prepare them for "winter"

One last look at Maputo

As I checked in through security nearly every security person was talking on a cell phone. The x-ray machine seemed to be going about twice as fast as they do at home while the technician was hard at work on her call. The woman in charge of taking the immigration paperwork seemed a little annoyed at having to pause her call to explain that I should fill out the same form that I filled out when I arrived. Then I was through.

I sat in the gate area for about an hour. There were only about 5-10 other passengers waiting with me and I began to wonder if the flight was going to be extremely small. Suddenly without any announcement some people started to gather and about 150 people all of the sudden appeared and queued up just before the announcement was made.

This was my first South Africa Air plane and after everyone is seated they announce that in collaboration with the World Health Organization they are going to spray the airplane. They don't explain exactly what the spray is for, just that it is considered safe and if you find it offensive you should close your eyes and cover your mouth with a handkerchief. Before I could say, "Who cares handkerchiefs anymore?" They come down the aisles with a spray in each hand pointing above our heads with a spray that was supposed to smell pleasant but gads that was a big cloud! Cough, cough!

On South Africa Air the seats have a separate cup holder.

I sat next to a Muslim couple who did not appear to speak any English or if they did they did not care to speak it with me. As I settled in I thought of all of the things that I packed in my suitcase that ought to have been carry-on...including my paperback and my medications.

The lunch was surprisingly generous considering the flight was only about an hour. It was pretty tasty, but 75% of the way through it, it dawned on me that I probably shouldn't be eating the lettuce in the sandwich. (I was told not to eat salad in Africa to avoid getting sick.) Too late. A toothpick was included. They dropped down tv screens for us to watch a show, but no audio was coming out of the jacks and the show looked really boring and there were no other options so I just read my iPhone.

When I got to J-Burg I looked around for a bit before settling in for the three hours remaining until my flight. Eventually I decided to buy an hour of internet for $8 and I called David and Mom on Skype from my phone. In the few seconds of internet I had left I downloaded another book. (I love being able to do that!) I was getting really low on power and wondered what the chances were that they would have power plugs available on the flight. It turns out -- not good.

The six hour flight went well. I left my phone off most of the time because I thought it wise to keep it charged at least a little in case I needed it. It was fine, the on-board entertainment was nearly as good as the Delta flight on the way in. I watched The Vow (I give it a C), a National Geographic about Domesticating Animals (B), Thirty Rock (B+) and Pleasantville (A) Although I was exhausted, I didn't manage to do more than doze for a few minutes. The coffee they served was the first really bad cup of coffee I've had this trip.

When we landed, the nice Pretorian fellow who I had been sitting next to warned me that he had heard that it was going to be very hot here. It wasn't the heat -- it was the humidity! Oh my! When I got to the top of the steps to get off the plane it smacked me in the face and almost knocked me back into the plane!

As we walked into the building we were asked to show our immunization records (for the first time this trip.) According to my records I did NOT get the Yellow Fever injection. I don't understand how that could have been missed. I was really clear that I was going to Ghana and Yellow Fever is the only thing they were really looking for on the form.

There was a VERY long line for immigration. Our flight arrived at 9:15 and I didn't get through the line until about 9:45. At one point there was some yelling, running and commotion. My heart skipped a beat as I worried that there was a security issue. Then I thought perhaps there was some kind of animal loose in the airport, but it turned out it was celebration over the football game as Chelsea became the Europe Champions.

I got my luggage and found my driver right away with a sign with my name on it. He was sitting amongst about 10 other drivers but as we started to leave the building we turned the corner and there was a MASS of people holding signs. There were literally dozens lined up on either side of the path about 4 people deep. The driver and I got to this enormous van for just the two of us and he offered me a cool, scented towel and a cold bottle of water that I readily accepted. I knew this was going to be an expensive hotel!

As we drove to the hotel there were throngs of people out in the streets at 10PM and cars honking with exhuberation at the football win.

The Labadi Beach Hotel was truely lovely even though it was a bit wasted on me since my stay was so brief. As I checked in I asked the receptionist what time I needed a car in order to arrive at the airport for the 5:30 check-in. She said three. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Three?? Are you sure? My flight isn't until 7:30.

Ok, four.

Ok, so it will take 90 minutes to get to the airport (It took about 20 minutes to arrive so I was wondering what the difference was.)

No, it doesn't take that long. I'll arrange for a driver to take you at five.

She then proceeded to tell me that breakfast was served at 7 and I reminded her that my flight was at 7:30.

Even though it was late and I was tired, I was also very hot and knew that I wasn't going to get another chance to enjoy a soaking tub like this, so I took a bath.

Once again, there was no clock in the room and the power cords and phone were on the "wrong" side of the bed for me so I had to get up in the middle of the night to get my phone to see what time it was. I think I woke up about 10 times thinking I had overslept my 4:30 alarm on my phone.

In the light of day, I discovered that driving on the right side of the road was not much less frightening than it was driving on the left. I think we were going about 45 miles an hour down a two lane road with pedestrians and bikers walking in the street (there were no sidewalks.) We made it safely to the airport, though. On the way the driver explained that G-d made Chelsea win last night. He didn't want the other team winning all of the time. Thank G-d!

First flight waiting area in Accra

We went to the domestic flights area which reminded me a bit of the airport in Nantucket on the show Wings. I found the lines to be extremely random with people stepping in front of me frequently. I think that's because they were so slow that it caused people to be impatient, but the more the workers were interrupted from what they were doing, the slower it got. Every clock in the airport had a different time. On my phone it said that it was 6:33 but one clock said that it was 6:24 and another said that it was 2:15.

There were two airlines that both had flights to Tamale within about ten minutes of each other. We moved from one waiting area, through security and to another waiting area. I threw off the security folks a bit with my laser pointer that I use for teaching. They didn't know what to make of it, but finally decided to let it and me through. After the second waiting area we caught busses to the plane. The bus that I was on had an aisle that had pull down seats so that people could sit in the aisle.

I was surprised at how much foot room there was on the flight. The seats were narrow, but manageable. There was a fellow who was having some trouble figuring out what seat was his and a fellow passenger scolded him, "A lot of people are waiting! Why are you making it so complicated??" I don't imagine the same conversation would go that way in the US.

There were mostly men on the flight. As we flew to Tamale I just really found the profundity hitting me that I am REALLY in Africa. We passed over fields with trees in them and the towns seemed to get smaller and smaller until we landed in Tamale.

Baggage claim in Tamale

As you can probably imagine, the airport is TINY. The baggage claim area is one of those non-powered set of rollers. It was difficult to move through the people and luggage to get to my bag, but I finally made it outside. After a short wait, my driver, Christopher, and my colleague, Ernest arrived. I have spoken with Ernest dozens of times in instant messenger and it was nice to meet him in person. He told me I was very lucky because it had rained yesterday so it was nice and cool here. (It's about 95 F!)

They helped me check in to my hotel (which isn't accepting credit cards right now) and they helped me get money, buy a phone and Ernest contacted a friend who is going to help me to get a Yellow Fever innoculation tomorrow.

Traditional Settlement

This place is amazing! I'm seeing the 7 ft high termite mounds, the traditional settlements, women wearing the most beautiful, colorful outfits! I thought they were dressed up, but apparently they dress that way all the time. There are people piled on bicycles and motor bikes. I saw one father with two kids sitting on the back of a bike and a third child was making his way on. There are very few helmets to be seen.

Ernest noted one lovely woman with two small children behind her on a motorcycle and said that she would probably be arrested in the US. I agreed. He said you often find the mother, father and four children all piled onto the bike.

I told them how popular the music of Ghana is at home and how my husband wants me to meet Ghanan musicians. They found that very amusing as it is something they take for granted. They said that most of the musicians go to Accra, but maybe there will be a concert for something like $3 here once in a while. I told him that the concerts that I go to are $30 a seat and sell out. That really made them laugh.

Ernest told me that he speaks four different languages and is learning Tamale which would be a fifth. He's from Accra where his wife and child are. His wife teaches school there so they only get to see each other when school is out of session.

Marion Hotel

The hotel room is almost exactly what I had imagined. It looks like something out of the 1950s for the most part. There's no elevator so I was really glad when the fellow, who tells me he is also housekeeping, brought my bag up. The key is a real key -- not a card. There is a wardrobe with drawers that don't completely close. The bathroom has a step down that I keep forgetting about and one of these days I'm going to fall into the bathroom. There is an airconditioner, but I'm using the overhead fan. The chair looks as though someone tried to do some ironing on the cushion and burned it. The power plugs have individual on/off switches so that you can actually turn the plug off when you're not using it. There is a switch to turn on the hot water (he says, If you need it,) and I should start that about 15 minutes before I need the water. There is modern, wireless internet. It's free but it goes in and out. I fell asleep for about an hour before I started this and woke back up to find the power in the room being restored. It's perfect.

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