From Ghana with Love

30th September 2010
I had this idea not to fly to Ghana because I wanted to do some sightseeing. The Cross Country bus left late but even though the trip took forever, I was happy to go by road even though the officers at the borders kept delaying with their numerous questions and all, then again, they were just doing their job. When we passed through the francophone countries I read every bill board just to test my French and I admit that it is all rusty. The journey was eventful sight wise but it was tres long and at some point I wondered why I didn’t just fly with my friends but it was okay and I bonded with some people in the bus. I was between reading “Eat, Pray, Love”, sleeping and sightseeing I would say that the trip was okay. I got to Ghana around some minutes past 8pm, Nigerian time as it turns out we are one hour ahead of them. If you watch Africa Magic you will already know that their accent is different from ours and we sound funny to them just as they sound to us. When we got to Ghana before we made our entrance into Accra, I concluded that the Country is an island because at almost every point, we were surrounded by water but my even though I could could not remember ever seeing it surrounded by water on the map neither could I remember Ghana ever being called an Island. My Ghanaian friend was quick to correct the impression. He explained that we passed the coastal region.

Unlike Nigeria, Ghana has regions; regions are what we call states, what we call soup is their stew and what we call stew is their soup. They also have constant electricity there; they do not experience power shortage but fuel is expensive and their currency is of higher value than the naira. 1 cedi is the equivalent of N100; 20cedi is the equivalent of N2,000. I don’t know about water though cos we stayed in a hotel but I’m already getting ahead of myself.
My friend came to pick me up and some guy hanging around the bus stop helped me with my bag. He crossed to the other side of the road where Accra Mall is but we couldn’t cross with him because the road is a busy express road and I said to my friend and his sister “this cannot happen in Lagos, how can he carry my travel bag and be on the other side of the road?” They both laughed because as we all know, the person would have made away with my bag. Don’t I just love Lagos! But that’s the Ghania lot for you, they are (as Sadiya or Serwa as she chose to be called for the Ghanian trip, would put it)proper, polite and honest people. We went to his aunt’s house and I must say that his aunt was very warm and homely, so were his sisters.
Eventually I settled for the night at a guest house somewhere in town to await my friends’ arrival. Meanwhile, MTN lived up to expectation. Immediately I left Nigeria, I had no idea that I had automatically been roamed so kept answering my calls and my units kept dwindling, so much that after my first night in Ghana I wasn’t able to make calls neither was I able to receive, all I could do was receive text messages that I could not reply. I thanked God for journey mercies and retired for the night.
1st October 2010
While my homeland was in mourning over the bombing, I had no idea because I did not listen to the news and I was trying to reach Sadiya, Eddie and Ogo who were supposed to have come in that morning but alas MTN had rendered me useless so I took a shower and stepped out to make a call but to no avail. I still had a hard time figuring out their currency and was still confused about how to spend it. But the telephone guy did not take advantage of the fact that I was a foreigner. He took his time to explain it to me and he was really helpful. I said a silent God bless you and thanked him for his help. My friend and his sister came to pick me up, I had breakfast at TFC and they watched me eat and I got for my friends who I was finally able to get through to on Vodafone. MTN (Ghana)chose that particular period to mess up service wise.
I got to Ramada Resorts and the view was breath taking. I got to the reception and after exchanging greetings I said “I’m looking for a bunch of Nigerian girls who arrived this morning”. Of course they had been expecting me so I was led to our rooms. After the hugs and introductions, I chose a Ghanian name as all my friends already did. Yaw, my Ghanian friend and Eno ( dunno if I spelt it correctly)named me according to the day I was born. My name became “Adwoa” which means born on Monday, Eddie, “Akua” pronounced as “ekiya”; cant remember the meaning maybe she’ll help me; Sadiya, as I mentioned earlier was “Serwah” and Ogor was “Abena” can’t remember their meanings.

Yaw and his sister educated us on some things like how much to give as tips, gave us a brief history of Ghana and answered some of the questions we had. After they left, we got dressed and hit the streets; we went shopping, we went to the bureau de change first to change money and in no particular idea, “Woodin”, “Da Viva” (all cloth shops), then the market and it was evident to all that we were not Ghanians, like we cared. We decided to go to “Buka” (I don’t know the correct spelling)to try out some “Ghanian” food. Ogor wasn’t very experimental as she chose garri and egusi “stew”. Sadiya and myself took boiled plantain and “kontonmire stew” while Eddie had some swallow food whose name cannot remember with groundnut soup and tilapia. Luckily for us we met some Nigerians who were out celebrating our independence and they paid our bills. Now that saved us some cedis. It was after the meal that we went to the market and stopped at their “square” to take some pictures. in Ghana, there’s a specie of coconut that is unlike the ones we grow here, it does not mature like ours and you just drink the water and scrape the fruit and eat. Our cab driver saw how excited we were about it and asked “there’s no coconut in your country?” we all burst out laughing… from Ghana with love…
We went back to the hotel, showered and set out to have a taste of night life. Our first stop was “Citizen Koffi”. Nothing was happening there as at 11pm Ghanian time and we were supposed to pay 20cedis to gain entrance. We left. Our next stop was some other club where we were also asked to pay 20cedis but there weren’t many people and at both places we were told that they were marking our independence but we were not impressed. We then went to “Jokers” and our entrance fee was 10cedis. We paid and got in cos it was cheaper and many people were there. The music was loud as it is with clubs but the M.C just wouldn’t stop talking and by jove, was he loud! We danced some and then later on we went to join some of Edee’s friends who were also in Ghana and immedaltely we got to “XL” we could tell it was owned by a Nigerian cos we were not asked to pay a dime to gain entrance. There we danced until it was time to go. Of course we were taking pictures… in case you are asking how we got around, we hired a cab for the day and boy did he charge us.

2nd October 2010
This was when the fun began. We had a buffet breakfast and were feeling like Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte of Sex and the City except we did not get laid so don’t start having any ideas.
We had friends come pick us up for the trip to Kakum national park. The drive to the park was endless but we gisted, ate, slept and read some interesting articles Ogor brought along. The articles ranged from love stories to family to relationships et al. Eventually we got to the rain forest and it sure did not disappoint as it rained. Going back wasn’t an option because the drive took hours so we took the canopy walk. ( the pictures are in my fb photos - titled Ghana trips). The canopy walk is on a bridge built with ropes hanging on tree branches, it was a scary but adrenaline pumping experience and we climbed all seven bridges in the pouring rain, if you don’t believe me, check out the pictures. after the Kakum visit, we drove another for another 20/30 minutes to the famous Cape Coast Castle. Sound familiar? That was where slaves from all over Africa were taken before they were shipped off to America and other nations to be sold. Our tour guide Charles told us very chilling stories about how these slaves were treated. For more information, you could “google” it. The atmosphere in the castle was that of sadness, shock and whatever depressing mood you can think of. Eddie just wouldn’t lose her “depressed” face as she refused to smile in the pictures we took. According to her, she was in a sad place and should reflect the same. The pictures will tell these tales.
It was a tired but fulfilled group that set back to the hotel. How could I forget to mention that Atlantis FM provided us with good music on our way back?

3rd October 2010
Had breakfast in Eddies “happy place” and then we went to the beach right in the hotel. I was dressed for church cos apart from the fact that I couldn’t miss mass (I almost did) I wanted to see how Ghanians celebrate Mass. Pretty much the same as we do. Anyways, that’s the beauty of the Catholic Church. Nigerians came out for thanksgiving and yours sincerely wasn’t left out. I had to leave early as it was check out time at the hotel. We packed and left and then went to ShopRite to look around and eat after which we went to the airport with our friends. While we were waiting to fly aero, our flight was delayed so we just stayed at the airport and waited. We finally came into Lagos at about 11pm. So ends the tale of our “Ghanian Nights” tale.


Summary
African nations are really the same, we have poor, we have rich, we toil for our daily bread and we are strong people that have survived slavery and every form of dehumanization you can think of. There wll always be people who are satisfied with just the basic necessities of life and there will always be others who want more than the basic necessities. We cry the same tears, our food is the same whether we call them soup or stew…okay! Almost the same. We party the same; they know 2face, psquare et al; we also know VIP and their own singers and cute actors like Van Vicker. In all, Ghana was fun and if you ever visit, please try to visit at least one tourist centre.