An action-packed day in Accra
Greetings All,
Wow! Another incredibly full day! I had a lesson with Aaron and Michael at the university this morning early. Afterward we caught a tro-tro to Accra Centre. A tro-tro is a large van crammed with passengers. I counted 22 in ours. It is a cheap way to get to downtown from the university which is in Legon.
We stopped at the Arts and Crafts Center in Town. The merchants outnumber the customers about 100 to 1, so they are pretty aggressive. It helps to know exactly what you are looking for; otherwise it can be totally overwhelming. Aaron, Michael, and I all worked together to bargain with the vendors. It helped that we had them outnumbered!
We walked to the center of town to purchase some foam, cardboard boxes, and a plastic sack to ship the instruments back to the US. It was so crowded and so busy. I am glad Aaron knew where to go – I would have been totally lost. There was so much to see: the people, the buildings, all the street vendors. Every second was like a new page of an “I-Spy” book with hundreds of things to see.
We bought coconuts from a man on the street who chopped the top off with a machete so we could drink the water from inside.
When we got to the place that sold the boxes – used cardboard boxes – we were swarmed with four or five guys. It took about 10 minutes to find the right sizes for what we needed: three boxes large enough to fit five drums and one xylophone. Then came the bargaining…another ten minutes with the three of us and several of the vendors going back and forth about how much we were going to pay. We finally settled on 85,000 Cedis – a little over $9.00.
Then of course we had to negotiate our way through narrow streets and alleyways with three huge boxes and a huge package of foam to get to the main street for a taxi. Nothing is taken for granted here; even the most basic things take time and effort.
We caught a taxi out of Accra and drove out to the country to stop at Aaron’s house. He lives in a section that is about 30km outside Accra called Frafraha. It is a nice peaceful place – a welcome break after downtown Accra.
Tonight the German student’s studying here from Hanover invited us out to a barbecue at their house. We had a very nice time. They had barbecued kebabs for us. We had drumming and dancing and Aaron performed on the Mbira and sang. I had many discussions with several of the German student’s about American politics. I think they are anxious to know what American’s are thinking right now…Getting to know them has been a real bonus to this trip.
That is all for now,
Best,
Patrick
Wow! Another incredibly full day! I had a lesson with Aaron and Michael at the university this morning early. Afterward we caught a tro-tro to Accra Centre. A tro-tro is a large van crammed with passengers. I counted 22 in ours. It is a cheap way to get to downtown from the university which is in Legon.
We stopped at the Arts and Crafts Center in Town. The merchants outnumber the customers about 100 to 1, so they are pretty aggressive. It helps to know exactly what you are looking for; otherwise it can be totally overwhelming. Aaron, Michael, and I all worked together to bargain with the vendors. It helped that we had them outnumbered!
We walked to the center of town to purchase some foam, cardboard boxes, and a plastic sack to ship the instruments back to the US. It was so crowded and so busy. I am glad Aaron knew where to go – I would have been totally lost. There was so much to see: the people, the buildings, all the street vendors. Every second was like a new page of an “I-Spy” book with hundreds of things to see.
We bought coconuts from a man on the street who chopped the top off with a machete so we could drink the water from inside.
When we got to the place that sold the boxes – used cardboard boxes – we were swarmed with four or five guys. It took about 10 minutes to find the right sizes for what we needed: three boxes large enough to fit five drums and one xylophone. Then came the bargaining…another ten minutes with the three of us and several of the vendors going back and forth about how much we were going to pay. We finally settled on 85,000 Cedis – a little over $9.00.
Then of course we had to negotiate our way through narrow streets and alleyways with three huge boxes and a huge package of foam to get to the main street for a taxi. Nothing is taken for granted here; even the most basic things take time and effort.
We caught a taxi out of Accra and drove out to the country to stop at Aaron’s house. He lives in a section that is about 30km outside Accra called Frafraha. It is a nice peaceful place – a welcome break after downtown Accra.
Tonight the German student’s studying here from Hanover invited us out to a barbecue at their house. We had a very nice time. They had barbecued kebabs for us. We had drumming and dancing and Aaron performed on the Mbira and sang. I had many discussions with several of the German student’s about American politics. I think they are anxious to know what American’s are thinking right now…Getting to know them has been a real bonus to this trip.
That is all for now,
Best,
Patrick
posted by Patrick Roulet at 3:37 PM
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