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Published: January 28th 2009
I've arrived safely in Accra! I spent last evening in a hostel and this afternoon I'm attending to some errands in Accra. I'll be making my way to Korle Bu Teaching hospital this evening. I've received word from the hospital and they have my apartment waiting and have made the changes to the dates of my rotation. All seems good!
Here's a summary of my 12 hrs in Accra so far! Arrived at the airport a bit after 9 PM. My luggage (thanks again for the toys, Dad!) made it here safely. There was a cab driver waiting for me arranged by my hostel. I think I was ripped off on the fare a little bit... but it was still only $15. My hostel last evening was a bit futher out than I'd hoped... and the back roads we took there gave me a tour of the miles and miles of sprawl surroudning central Accra -- which consists of shanty towns intermixed with gated homes, as well as a bizarre web of unlabeled streets packed full with small shops and vendors housed in quaint shacks, which are brightly colored and often advertised with references to
God. Cabs, cars and motorbikes everywhere. (JP... they have a system here called "tro-tro's" which as far as I can tell very closely resembles Maxi-Taxis!) Women carry large loads atop their heads. The city is dirty and lined with an open-sewer system... but despite this it's really quite pretty; very warm and smells quite nice thanks to the limitless street-side food vendors.
My hostel last night was frightening at first as it was unlabeled and in the middle of nowhere (somewhere in the unlabeled and unidentifiable urban sprawl I mentioned above). But there were other backpackers there who were very friendly. I shared a room with Hanse from Finland. He convinced me to have an egg sandwich with him last night made by a roadside vendor... and although eating a sandwich of unpasteurized eggs from the side of the road was obviously an unsafe decision, my stomach has not yet revolted. My other roommate is in his 40-50's and is French Canadian. To everyone we meet, he introduces himself by name followed by a pre-emptively announcement that "Dammit" he's not from the US but Canada and has been so very kind as to share his theories of how George
Dinner
Traditional Ghanaian Tollof rice with fish at White Bell Restaurant.W. Bush's failure to find Bin Laden directly caused the world's economy to collapse 😊
Today, I attempted to pay for my flight to Morocco.... which was complicated by the fact that they won't accept credit cards, only cash. Ah... Africa. Will need to collect cash in daily installments from ATMs (will take a few days due to maximum daily withdrawal limits!) and go back to try again.
I strolled along a huge market called "Tick-Tac lane" and bought a cell phone. Yay!
Now it's off to dinner.
-Jeff
P.S. I take back the comment about the city smelling nice. The open sewers smell bad in the hot afternoon sun 😊
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JP
non-member comment
Happy safe arrival
Hey babe. I wanted to be the first to hit you up on your blog. I am so excited that things are working out! I hope you have a good start with work. I am also very glad you got a cell phone - that was quick! Love you very much.