Mission Accomplished

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Transit: 12km for a total of 907km (8 full cycling days and 55 hours of riding time)

With only a day left, we headed back to Accra to prepare for our flight tomorrow -- not a minute too soon for Shauna. The bus ride was long and hot. We crossed the border again with our bikes, and then caught a bus from the Ghanaian border town of Aflao. There were lots of police blockades to stop at on our ride back to Accra. The bus driver seemed to be getting quite annoyed at all the requests by officers to check luggage.

On our arrival into Accra, we decided to find another part of town to stay in. We choose North Ridge and a little guest house, which came highly recommended in Trip Advisor. It was somewhat of a disappointment, though, after all the hype. The location was certainly nice and quiet, but the guest house was somewhat run down and the staff not overly friendly. The owner also seemed to be a bit erratic and a bit drunk half the time.

We spent Friday visiting the National Museum, stock exchange, and the crafts market. The museum was will worth it, and it is interesting to see how embedded the slave history is into the national fabric of this country. The stock exchange in Ghana is still manual, but it will be fully automated as of next month. I was able to see both floors. The manual one was quite archaic. Trading was supposed to take place between 10:00 and 12:00, but at 10:30 there was no one there! A lady said that Monday and Friday's tended to be quieter, and that everyone would show up later to do the trades for the day!

The crafts market was a zoo and it was tiring as everyone was trying to get a piece of our money. We finally got out of there without too much damage to our pocketbooks. For most of this trip, I have been treating some of the Ghanaians like children with their behavior. Many will either ask for tips for services that were not agreed upon or for us to buy something before we were even at that point.

On our flight home, I could tell Shauna was ready. When we got off the bus to board the plane, she bolted for the staircase to the door. I didn't think she really cared if I joined her or not -- as long as she was out of here. In Lagos, our stopover, we were having some technical problems that delayed our departure for an hour. At 12:30 in the morning, it looked like we might have to spend the night there, but when I told Shauna that, she said there was no way she was getting off that plane in Lagos. She would sleep on it if necessary. It was also interesting observing the people that boarded in Lagos. I know that many of them are probably just connecting through Lagos, but there were a lot of single white middle aged men (40-65). What is their story? Are they businessmen, missionaries, tourists, etc....

Upon arrival in Edmonton, we headed right to the Leduc Health Clinic for our first of two rabies shots. How about that for service!

Overall, the trip was right up there in terms of adventure and nearly on par with India and Egypt during the world tour. Food was generally good in the cities and larger towns, but during our cycling days, we rarely could get anything more edible than juice, yogurt drink, soya milk, cookies, biscuts, and peanuts. There was some street food but it either didn't look appetizing or clean and after my illness in Accra, I was very slow off the start on the street food. That started to change as the trip progressed. The people, especially the kids, were very friendly, and they reminded me of the ones that I have come across in the Middle East and parts of Southeast Asia. Roads were generally good except the traffic within a 50km radius of Accra. Overall, I'm very glad I finally traveled through Sub-Sahara Africa, but it will be awhile before I plan another trip here.

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