A Week In Accra and Africa Moment #4 and #5

Accra - I should have photos for you but my camera crashed.

Africa Moment #4
So, I'm on my way to Accra at roughly 4:30 a.m. I get at the airport at 3:00. I stand in the check-in line for about 45 to 50 minutes. I get so I am the first one in line and the Air Ivoire lady says, (in French of course), "Madame, you are going to have to get in another line; we are closing this check-in line and the one next to it because the departure time is close and we have to cut-off the check-in." So I ask her why they are closing two of the four lines if the flight is getting close to departure. It stands to reason (in an 'Western Mind") that if the departure is close and you still have 40 people in line that you OPEN extra windows, not close them! I explained this to her and she said, "Yes, yes, you are right; go stand at the end of the line please." Fortunately, the guy in the front of the line that remained open had mercy on me and invited me to cut! Lucky for the Air Ivoire lady or there could have been a scene....Summa Consumer on the loose!

Africa Moment #5
The Coco Beach Hotel in Accra...what a mess! DO NOT stay at this place if you are ever in Accra! Stay at the Dutch Hotel next door! (the food is boring, but if you spend time and eat out it is no big deal. The best room with a view at The Dutch Hotel is room 227 - full balcony view of the ocean and a gigantic bathtub! Very nice!

Coco Beach...humm...Day One: no soap and almost 2 hours to get a bottle of water via room service! Day two: no towels or soap; Day Three: roaches in my tea!!!! Yes, roaches in my tea!!! And the waiter was SO casual about it!

So I took my laptop to the tables by the Oceanside to work and all of these 'visitors' kept coming to my table. Each one of them asked me to be their 'friend'. I explain that I am not in Ghana to make friends, but to work, work, and work! So, this one guy with really bloodshot eyes hangs his head looking all sad at my decline and says, "It is just that I was hoping that one day we could go to Singapore together". I guess I looked really confused so he added, "That is where you are from, right? Singapore." Uh......yea, I'm from Singapore!

So, you can make a lot of 'friends' in Accra....of course they may not be able to focus or carry on a conversation, but none-the-less...there are a lot of very friendly men at the Coco Beach Hotel! Roaches and "special friends"!

Yea, Ghana!

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