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Published: July 13th 2006
Milano Central Train Station
Although our 8 hour layover wasn't long enough to see the entire city, we did get to see this very cool train station.So last night we arrived around 10:00 at night. I won't go into the the details of our flights or say too much about the 9 hour layover in Milan. What I will say is that it cost me $10 for a coke and an orange soda at the airport which is more than we spent on an amazing meal of chicken and fried rice just moments ago. We both cashed in $50 for euros so we could go into the city for a couple of hours. For that much money we each got a soda, an ice cream, and 2 cups of coffee. Our daily expenditures in Ghana will be considerably less than those few hours cost us.
We stayed in a Novatel last night. Which is a european international hotel chain. It is meant for business people and the VERY wealthy when traveling abroad. We stayd in the lap of luxury (by American standards). By that I mean after ordering room service I went down to the grotto for a dip in the pool. I certainly could get used to living like that!!
This morning we went to find our new hotel
Hotel President. It is on a completely different scale all together. After checking in we decide to go and explore around the city for a bit. I will have to post some picture s when I get a chance because I don't think I can describe this place quite yet. At first I kinda felt like I was in Mexico again. I even shared that thought with Mike. By the end of the day we had walked for about 3 hours longer than we planned and had covered the entire length of Accra. We welked through a market (the name of which escapes me now), down to the beach (which was not exactly the place you wanted to swim as many residents of the nearby Usher Town use the bathroom), and went to a crumbling ruin of an old slave fort.
The shanty town appeared exactly as it sounds. Lots of strange looks from people as I don't think many, if any, tourists have walked those
steets
. It was quite overwhelming to see how some of the have nots (by Ghanaian standards) lived. I wanted to take pictures, because I felt like such a rich and lucky man to live the way I do, but it didn't feel right so I didn't. People lived in crumbling buildings and mud brick buildings sorrounded by dirt paths. Theye were bathing in the open sewers along the streets and cooking there as well. It is difficult to put it all into words as the culture shock has hit pretty hard. hearing people call out
obruni
, which means white person, over and over is quite strange. The looks of curiosity on people's faces was a very strange experience.
I will have to say more later as my internet time is about to run out.
'Til next time,
Eric and Mike
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Rachel
non-member comment
Stupid Airports
I remember when I was about five, I was coming back from Florida. WE had gone from Tampa to Washington D.C. smoothly enough, and everything was great until we got to the gate. We sat in the chairs for a half-hour, when my Dad realized the plane was supposed to leave soon and they were not borading passengers yet. It turned out there was something wrong with the plane, so there would be a delay. It turned out the delay lasted for 5 hours. I don't know how your trip journal reminded me of that incident. It just did. P.S. Kevin: IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!