The Road Less Traveled By

There are no foreign lands.  It is the traveler only who is foreign.
 - Robert Louis Stevenson

Some final miscellaneous notes from an unbelievable trip to Koby and Kwame's homeland:

• The lizards in Ghana are awesome!  We saw lizards in food courts at the Accra Mall and at the ocean, and they were numerous and fun to watch.  Jordan wasn't initially to sure about them, but after awhile he couldn't get enough of them!
• Independence Day in Ghana was the day after we left, Tuesday, March 6, but they began celebrating on Friday with honking horns, etc.  It was really incredible to see the country pride that the people had, despite economic difficulties, etc.
• The prices at places like the Accra Mall and Koala (a grocery store) were extremely high.  When discussing this issue with Kofi, he informed us that few local people actually shop at places such as these, with many simply buying food at a local stand and eating one meal a day.  We shopped for items we had forgotten such as a belt, and the only belts we could find were 90 Cedis (approximately $60).
• Yes, Wal-Mart is in Africa!  It was called Game in Accra but many of the product tags said Wal-Mart on them and they utilized the same "Dropping Prices" signage.  Unlike here, however, Game was expensive!
• Even those people living in shanty-like homes attempted to sell things.  It was not unusual to see very rudimentary structures with signs out front that said things like "Ice Cream for Sale".
•  Church in Accra was a very special event with services lasting two to four hours in many cases.  There were numerous billboards advertising what appeared to be mega-churches.
• Seeing pictures of women carrying large objects on their heads on television, and then seeing them live, represent two vastly different levels of appreciation for the actual skill involved.  Kofi said that many women practice a very long time to be able to perfect the practice.  We witnessed numerous women balancing things on their head while simultaneously carrying a baby on their back and holding the hand of another small child all while walking down the sidewalk.  It was truly incredible to observe.
• The Accra Mall movie theater was showing Safe House, the latest Denzel Washington release.
• Picture taking in Accra was not as straightforward as it is in the United States.  Numerous places did not allow picture taking, and as a custom, it was recommended that we ask anyone before taking their picture.  Some people would even ask for money to take their picture, though we did not encounter this.  The boys loved to have their picture taken because they could look at the screen after the photo was taken and see themselves!
• Drivers in Accra, and in particular Taxi drivers, use their horns incessantly!  Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but only a slight one.  At times it was as if horns had replaced all forms of communication.  They beeped to notify of turning, beeped to cut into other lanes of traffic, beeped to get potential customers' attention, etc.  At times it was entertaining just to listen to the traffic.  At other times, not so much.....lol!
• Although many adults were able to speak English in Accra, when we were just listening to others speak (and weren't part of the conversation), they did not do so to each other.  They spoke much better English, however, then we spoke Twi!