As the title says, medaase (pronounced ‘me-daa-si,’ Twi).  ‘Thank you’ for reading along with me so far.  This will be my last post in this series on our trip to Ghana.  We arrived in Ghana on Wednesday and so much has happened already up to this point.  To read about the first parts of the trip, check out the posts here, here, and here.

Friday, we embarked on our first full day in and around Accra.  We started off by having lunch with Mr. Kojo Yankah, former Member of Parliament in Ghana.  He also previously served as a Minister of State and is the founder and past president of the African University College of Communications.  He and his associate graciously met us for lunch at a restaurant called Buka.  The restaurant had a keyboardist and singer, creating a very cool atmosphere.  We feasted on Kontonmire stew and bean stew, with rice and plantains.  Both gentlemen were personable and welcomed us with open arms.  Mr. Yankah has been to our hometown, Savannah, GA, numerous times and we were able to discuss many of the similarities between the two locations.  Also, let me say, I never would have imagined that Mr. Yankah was the age he was.  At 73, I only hope to be as spry as I age.

Once we left, we began our journey to a number of sights throughout town.  We visited Black Star Square, also known as Independence Square, built to celebrate Ghana’s independence.  We also visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Mausoleum. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the country to independence from Britain in 1957.

 

We then visited the Centre for National Culture, less formally known as the Arts Centre.  This was an open air marketplace where once can find jewelry, clothing, artwork, woodwork, fabric, and more, all sold by individual vendors.  Here, it became more and more apparent that we were once again seen as money bags.  As we asked Wa Ye Sen (how much?), we realized that being American is Ne Bo Ye Den (it’s expensive)!  Of course nothing has price tags.  Of course everything is quoted at 2x-3x the price they were willing to sell to a Ghanaian.  Walking onto an aisle you get overcome by people who want you to go into their shop and buy their thing.  If you aren’t interested, they want to make you interested.  Window shopping was a foreign concept at the Arts Centre.

We did end up buying a few nice things, but it was such an ordeal to get decent pricing.  For instance, when looking at fabric, the cost of the fabric (6 yards) was 200 Cedi ($40).  In Bahrain, you know how much I pay for the exact same wax fabric?  Take a guess?  I pay $20.  In Bahrain, where a woman I know gets fabric shipped from Liberia (so you factor in the additional cost of shipping), the cost is cheaper than buying it in an African country.  I politely declined.  Thankfully, our driver did most of the negotiating for us.  I ended up paying 180 Cedi ($36) for 2 pieces of fabric instead of just one.  All in all, we got a few shirts, a pair of pants, a skirt, some jewelry, a fan, and a wood carving.

 

*** Note that the guys changed clothes mid trip.

As we were leaving the Arts Center, we found a roadside vendor with palm wine.  Because we were driving, it was daytime, and it was a little hot, we decided we’d try it once we got home.  Then, we took the fabric to our drivers sister’s hours, as she is a tailor.  She had me look through a magazine and show her what I liked, and she agreed to transform my fabric into a dress.  She also happened to have something we’d been dying to try: Akpeteshie!  It’s basically Ghanaian moonshine, made by distilling palm wine or sugar cane juice.  It was strong, but good.  Slightly sweet.

She told us the dress would be ready the next day, and we headed on home to relax for a bit.  Later that evening, we knew we needed to eat and wanted to go to a bar called Republic.  We asked if we would look crazy bringing Pat, and we were assured that we wouldn’t.  We first went to Ches Clarisse, a restaurant we found through an internet search.  The food was ok, but nothing to write a blog about, lol.  After finishing up there, we headed to Republic.  There was in inside area, but the outside area was perfect!  Literally, tables and chairs were simply set up in front of the restaurant into the street some, with huge barrels pulled out into the street slightly further than the patrons to create a makeshift limit/barrier.  When we came, the waitress simply unstacked a few chairs and pulled out a small wooden stool/table.  The environment was so welcoming!  The Akpeteshie shots we had were good, but the brew was stronger and a little less sweet that what we had tried earlier.  The house drink was really good though.  We stayed out for a little over an hour before we decided to head on in and call it a night.

 

Our driver told us he wanted to take us to Aburi National Gardens the next day.  As we were planning to leave on Sunday, we knew we would only have one full day to get in anything else we had wanted to see.  We started Saturday off once again with food from Mazera, but this time we went to pick it up and brought it back to the rental unit.  We had the tilapia and jollaf again, and also tried their okra stew.

Our driver had been saying he planned to bring us to his house to meet his family, but that hadn’t worked out.  So he instead said he’d bring them to Aburi Gardens with us.  When he came to pick us up though, he was still driving the same 4 door mid-sized car he had been driving the whole time.  He got out of the car to greet us with a huge smile.  Only when opening the door, did I realize there were already four people in the backseat: an adult, a baby, and two small children.  Remembering how I had promised to complain less after our trip to the Cape Coast castle, and not wanting the break the smiles on their faces, I obliged by getting in.  With Pat and I in the backseat, the total passenger count rose to 8, this included 4 adults and 4 children, 2 in the front and 6 in the back!

So remember how I said the landlord didn’t want us to use air?  Apparently air conditioning isn’t something that’s super widely used at all with those we encountered.  The entire trip, the A/C in the car had been on super low.  In my whole non-complaining vibe, I had dealt with it the first day or two, and even got used to it afterwards.  However, that day, in a cramped car that felt like a sardine can, it was all I could do to grin and bear.  The driver asked Pat how he was doing, and Pat groaned and said ok.  When we start getting one word answers, that’s a sign.  He never asked me though, as I know he saw it on my face through my feigned acceptance.

Patrick instead, turned around and quietly asked if I as ok.  The look I gave him said that it was absolutely NOT OK.  Verbally thought, I only asked that the air be turned up.  Being in Bahrain, I’ve seen many people of various backgrounds piled into a car, so I knew this was not entirely unusual for them.  But for me….whew chile!

Now guess what, the Aburi Gardens was an hour away!  So this was not going to be a short trip.  Fortunately, we got there after what seemed like forever.  Upon getting in, we pay the foreigner rate, but the driver was able to negotiate with the gate guard that we were all Ghanaians, so the foreign rate for 2 adults and one child was enough to cover the rate of 8 Ghanaians and everyone was allowed entry under our payment.  The gardens were beautiful.  We paid a tour guide to walk us thought the grounds and he was very knowledgeable.  I’d recommend getting a tour guide.  We saw varying trees that were planted when royalty had come to visit.  We also saw a strangling ficus which is a parasitic tree.  The parasite attaches to the top of older and sometimes weaker trees and grows downward, sucking out nutrients as it gets larger.  Once the parasite gets to the bottom of the tree, it takes root and strangles out the root system of the host tree.  Over years, it kills the host and the host eventually disintegrates, leaving noting but the host, which then lives on as a tree.

 

We then walked through nutmeg trees learning that capsicum (pepper spray) comes from the nutmeg plant as well and that drinking nutmeg with warm milk can aid in helping one get to sleep.  Patrick asked the tour guide roughly how much of the mixture he’d need, and we jokingly spoke of how when it’s time to go to bed, he thinks of every hypothetical situation that could ever exist (and one’s that are a little father off…like alien invasions).  Our driver then comments that the reason men are often restless, is because they have to worry about everything like taking care of the family and making sure their wives are happy, laboring day in and day out, and that the women often sleep easier because their labor only comes when they have birth….

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So the only time women labor is during childbirth?  The ensuing conversation further let me know that I, as an ambitious woman who enjoys being upwardly mobile in her career, would not easily fit into the workforce there, or at least the idea of it that many have.  The ideas of everyone working in the same capacity, gender equality, pay equality, etc. are seemingly very American concepts.

We continued to tour the grounds, viewing cinnamon and allspice trees that are often mutilated by ‘colonizers’, rubber trees, and then the tree of life.  The tree had been hand carved by someone to show varying aspects of life.  Many people looking are upward and helping others up.  Those who were looking down on others, often had faces shrouded in pain or despair.  Animals were also represented, showing a holistic view of nature and it working together for progress.

 

As we were leaving the gardens, Patrick purchased a necklace and even though we had probably overpaid, it seemed to be a fair price.  The driver, knowing it was a little overpriced, convinced the salesman to through in purses for his 2 daughters.   Patrick then told him that we were hungry and wanted to stop and the little café on the grounds to grab something quick, but the driver insisted that he knew a better restaurant where we could try fufu.

A short distance from the Gardens lied a restaurant off to the left.  The kids ran off to the playground and the adults ordered food.  The fish was once again very tasty and the fufu was good; unlike anything I had had before, but I enjoyed it.  We washed all of that down with Guinness and palm wine, which was a surprisingly good combination!

 

The bill comes out, and the driver passes the bill to Patrick.  For the entire family to eat!  Now we haven’t minded paying for the drivers food the entire time, but food for the entire family that we had to jam pack in the car with, at the restaurant that you suggested we go to instead of the quick stop we suggested?!?!?  We gave him half and told him to pay the other half for his family (remember there are more of them than there are of us).

From there, we desperately wanted to get back to the house and out of the cramped car.  We headed back home and made plans to head to the beach later that night.  Upon getting back home, we took a walk around the neighborhood to take it all in one last time.

After we got back in, we realized we needed to start packing and get ready for our flight in the morning.  We messaged our driver and let him know we still needed to get the dress from his sister.  We also messaged him that we had changed out minds about going out, but he hadn’t got that message.  He called shortly afterwards and he and his sister came by to bring the dress.  I tried it on and absolutely loved it!  I can’t wait to wear it somewhere.  They left shortly afterwards and we then just hung out as a family, drank a little more palm wine, and relaxed.

In the morning, the electricity was once again off, smh.  We decided against even contacting the landlord and just began getting ready to leave.  We had debated between getting an Uber and calling the driver.  I looked up the cost of getting an Uber (15 Cedi, approx $3) and Patrick reached out to the driver to determine how much he would charge for the trip.  He told us that he didn’t have a charge.  We asked again what the charge was, and he said we could basically pay whatever we felt a fair price was.  He stated that we could simply pay whatever we wanted.  He came to pick us up, and on the way to the airport we had to stop for gas.  Shortly later, we were pulling over again.  He needed to go to church!  Thankfully, the stop was short, but I was seriously starting to regret my decision to not use Uber.  Finally, we arrive at the airport and thank him for helping us navigate the coast over the past few days.  We gave him $6 for the trip, to which he appeared surprised.  His face showed what appeared to be disappointment, even though we had given him twice the price we would have paid otherwise (without the two stops)!

From there, we went into the airport, checked out bags, and got ready to head back to our home in the Middle East.  Overall, the trip was great!  I LOVED seeing black and brown people everywhere.  From stepping off the plane and seeing people from African and of African descent at every counter, aisle, checkpoint, etc., to eating the local foods and drinking the local drinks, and visiting historically significant landmarks, it was eye opening and engaging.  However, it was frustrating knowing that I was still an outsider in many aspects.  I had also expected to see a bunch of cool natural hairstyles, but the only person I saw rocking their natural hair was me!  Everyone else had some form of hair added in: weave ponytails, wigs, braids, weaves, etc.  Another shocker was the number of churches, nearly all displaying an image of a blond hair blue eyed Jesus.  While many black churches in the states don’t have black Jesus up, they simply refrain from using any image on their doorstep.  Not the case there.  For every thing that I thought odd though, there was at least one thing I found familiar and intriguing.

Will I visit again, most likely.  Will I visit other places in the continent, of course!  I look forward to my next adventure and taking you all along with me.

Medaase!