Hot, humid air envelops us in dusty clouds as we step into the city of Accra, Ghana.
Through our bus windows, we watch taxis and buses swerve by as motorbikes snake through narrow lanes. Walking up and down the streets are men carrying racks of sunglasses, towels, and crafts and women balancing crates of baguettes, plantain chips, milk cartons, fresh fruits, nuts, and Adinkra pastries on their heads, selling their goods to anyone in a stalled vehicle.
Long hourglass dresses, flowing maxi skirts, and vibrant button downs of lime green, bright orange, canary yellow, and sky blue dot the streets, adding bursts of color to otherwise dirt-colored paths.
Woman Selling Apples
Streetside vendors sell fresh coconuts for 2 cedes each (less than 50 cents), children in school uniforms play in front of clothing stalls, young boys offer whole fish by the bucket, and smiling adults chat in front of microfinance centers and apartments and small fabric stores–this is what Professor Kowal calls the “informal economy” of Accra, the bustling district of Osu.
Ghanaian Fabric and Clothing Store
We stop by Frankie’s Local for a traditional Ghanaian lunch of Chicken Jollof (fried chicken with rice), Gari Fortor (fried fish with finely grated cassava), beef stew with palm oil beans, fried plantains, and Chicken Acheke (grated, steamed cassava pulp) before exploring the city for another hour.
In the evening, we dined at another Ghanaian restaurant called Buka, where we were served grilled chicken, fried fish, fresh fruits and salad, a traditional spinach-bean vegetable dish, vegetable kebabs, steamed yams, and seasoned rice. After we left the restaurant, we walked around town for a couple more hours, finally returning to Sunlodge Hotel around 2 A.M.
With only one more day left to spend in Accra before heading out to the village of Waodtze Tsatoe, we’ll be out and about doing as much as we can in this vibrant city.
תגובות