Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Jake's Journal of Ghana Trip: Day 5

Day 5: 2/15/2009

Today was a day of rest. Chris and I had been running around Ghana, Africa since we arrived and we figured we might as well get a day of rest. Plus on Sundays the entire country basically shuts down to take a day of rest and attend church and other activities. So, we thought we would embrace the culture and join in, and oh how we did join in! We arose around noon then proceeded to lay on Tom’s couch until about 2pm when we all decided to go and see the sights in Accra and get some pizza. Now the pizza might have been the first normal semblance of American food. Well, that was until we reached the Mama Mia’s Pizzeria and went to order pepperoni known there as spicy salami. We are not sure it was actually pepperoni but it tasted good and we had no trouble inhaling our food.

Following our pizza, Tom and his wife Helen took us around to see the sights of Accra so we could familiarize ourselves with the town. Seems like a real fun experience until you understand that there are NO street signs, NO stop lights, and really NO real rules. We were in the middle of Accra and a guy came out of nowhere with 12 of the worst looking cows I have ever seen. During our tour we almost ran over 4-5 goats that decided to cross the road when least expected. We nearly had to go to the Ghana police station as Tom got stopped going down a one way road the wrong way. We were nearly killed by a couple hundred runaway taxis and of course we were all car sick for the fourth consecutive day because of the unique speed bumps randomly placed throughout the streets.

All kidding aside, it was great to see the town and we had the opportunity to take a drive along the coast. But, please do not confuse the coast of Accra with that of Monterey Bay. There were some drastic differences but we will let all of you who read this experience see it for yourself when you have the opportunity to visit some day.

P.S. This is Janel...the boys really did take a day of rest and did not take any pictures this day! So, I had to borrow these from the web. :)

Downtown Accra.

The market area in Accra.

Village area by Accra.

1 comment:

Tamara B said...

Janel, I'm intrigued by Jake's trip and have been reading through his journal pieces. I've read note twice now of California (UCSB and then Monterey) which had me curious if one of you were from there. I'm originally from central CA and always notice mention of "back home".