Today is the start of another adventure. We arrived at Ghana around 0800 hours. How do I know this? Because the anchors woke me as it was going down to dock. Unfortunately, we didn’t get off the ship until around 12 because of the diplomatic briefing and the distributions of passports. Soon after, we were on our way.
        The group of 30 of us walked the pier and out of the area. We then found Fred, or Fred found us and told us we have to wait for the bus. Waiting was the first moment that I found out how the Ghanaian’s act.
        They were so nice. Everyone seemed to come up to us’ unfortunately they also wanted up sell us products that they were making or made. Ghanaian art is beautiful. There were men who came with their canvas to show. I felt really bad because I didn’t want to pay 50USD for his work but I made sure to reassure him that it was absolutely beautiful. He replied that I have good taste.
        I think I figure out how these people sell their products. Ghanaian’s like to get to know you. A lot of them talk to you and introduce themselves to engage in a conversation. Then they make their move to sell you something. A few lines to me were as mentioned earlier, “I like your style,” “you are a beautiful lady who deserves this,” “sister from another mother,” etc. After you say no, you have to make sure you have a reason to back yourself up. They are very good a agreeing to what you want to give, but then they keep trying to push more on you. They are nothing like the Moroccans who just push and are a little mean, they are nice, overly nice. Not saying that it’s a bad thing because there were times where they got me. Like the guy who sold me the keychain he made in front of me. He was telling me all about his family and showed me his brother and said they were trying to pay their way through junior high. He was such a sweet heart. He made the keychain with my sorority letters and the Ghanaian flag. I love it and the meaning behind it.
        Fred (the tour instructor) took us to the city in Accra so we can exchange currency. There were more people tying to sell to tourists again. I’ve met a lot of people like this. They have a different handshake where they shake hands, pull apart and pinch the middle figure to somehow snap. It’s cool when it actually works. I have yet to master that.
Soon we were on our 7 hour bus drive to Senase Village with Fred. Here, we met Celestina who is a student in Senase who was the lucky child to see the city.
        To get there faster, Fred decided for us to grab a snack and then eat on the road. It didn’t work out as planned because our bus broke down. First the air conditioning went out and we pulled off the side of the road in a little village I later found pronounced like Chakoos. I’m almost certain that the spelling’s wrong. We first thought this was going to be a bust, but then we started interacting with the children and everything became better. We all took a lot of pictures. They love to see the pictures of themselves. One thing I noticed is that all of girls had their ears pierced. Once we found out that we are going to be staying for a while, people started bringing out the football (I kept calling it soccer. Ops!), bubbles, and stickers. They were having so much fun!! It was so sweet to see them having so much fun. After two hours in this village, we were starting to just chill. This girl came to me and started to engage in a conversation. She was wondering all about me. Such as why we’re here, what I’m doing for a living, where I live, etc. She was pretty awesome and she promised to email me. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if it will happen or not. We weren’t able talk long because it started down pouring and we all went onto the bus. Fred and the bus driver went with a car part to get it fixed while we were left on the bus for them to come back. We were about 3.5 miles away and hungrier than ever at 2000. Fred and the driver came back and told us that the alternator is broke. They called around and were able to get a replacement from Accra. It is an 1.5 hour drive there and another back. We were still stranded. Fred took us to a local bar and we all just had a few drinks and relaxed for a little. Then we hopped on the bus to sleep and wait. We woke up with a rumble of the engine and we’re on our way. 5 hours of sleep later and we were in Senase.