What goes 'bzzzzzz...hahahahahahaha...bzzzzzzzz?'
Trip Start
Jan 29, 2010
1
3
6
Trip End
Mar 12, 2010
Accra, Ghana
Thursday, February 4, 2010
So I thought my friend Heather was joking when she indicated that there had been a 'wee refinery fire' in Accra that might see my Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt re-routed through Nigeria in order to refuel. Nigeria was not on my agenda...
Turns out it was no joke - I quizzically looked up at the flight board in Frankfurt, ignorant of where the heck Libreville was (it's the capital of Gabon), then after checking in I was informed that I was lucy to be on the Lufthansa route; had I chosen to fly KLM Frankfurt-Accra, there was a good chance I'd have been delayed for at least a few days if not longer!
Flight was packed, I thought I'd lucked in to the only empty neighbouring seat until seconds after they announced the plane had finished boarding, the hugest man I have ever met slid into the aisle seat beside me. Not fat necessarily, just ginormous...I'm no beanpole, and even at that I'd say he took up a good third of my space across the arm rest! Thankfully, we ended up making fast friends, his name's Emmanuel - Ghana born, now living in Ohio. He gave me some valuable tips on what to see during my month in Accra, or at least tried to - I'd been told that although Ghana's official languages is English, and most will nod as though they fully understand, it's not necessarily the case. Felt the same speaking French in New Orleans, but you get the jist after a while and just go with the flow...
Flight was otherwise uneventful, Emmanuel and I chatted and intermittenly watched bits and pieces of the crap offerings on the 'entertainment' system - I'm far from an Air Canada fan, but will give them high praise for their selection of movies. I was too excited to focus on anything for long, but a bit disappointed that clouds blocked the view of the African desert. I'm still awestruck by the fact that one can board a plane on one side of the world, ( - 38 degrees C the day I left Ottawa!!!) stopover on one continent, then arrive on yet another nearly 12,000 km away, (where the temperature was a welcome 38 degrees C!) in less than 24 hours. I bid Emmanuel goodbye, and silently wished that his return flight to Ohio wasn't booked on Southwest Airlines !!
There's not many airports I've been to that make it seem as though Ottawa's is a bustling metropolitan hub, but Kotoka is really small and kinda DIY. Customs was a breeze, was told later that they don't expect Westerners to be bringing anything valuable into the country...stripped down of as much of my clothing as was civilized, and was thankful to spot Heather right away. Lucky that we were able to connect at all, as she flies to Edmonton later tonight to visit with family, then her husband Darren and son Peterson will join her next week in Vancouver where they'll take in some of the 2010 winter Olympics. Am so fortunate to have the chance to get oriented to Accra while staying with them over the weekend; I'll move into the residence that was arranged through WAAF (where I'll be volunteering for the next month) on Sunday night (it's Thursday today).
The drive to Heather and Darren's home was brief enough, but every short stop attracted a host of people to the car windows to sell items of an impressive variety; didn't need a thing, but if I had it's pretty convenient to have the store come to you rather than the other way around. The able-bodied merchants doing their business was one thing, but it was highly disconcerting to see people crippled by polio slip in and out of traffic on little makeshift skateboards at wheel level to solicit change, which Heather gave until she ran out.
We arrived at the Canadian High Commission residence, unloaded my bags and got freshened up a bit. Timing is once again on my side, as tonight at the HC there's a monthly social, for February it celebrates both the Olympics (Ghana has one brave soul as their country's first-ever competitor...look out Whistler, here comes the 'Snow Leopard'!) and Canadian beer. I'm not a fan of the Olympics, as I think there's so many other things host cities such as Vancouver could be spending billions of dollars on, but Canadian beer I'll greatly enjoy given this heat :)
Heather and I enjoyed a chat and glass of wine in her lovely home, then off to the HC, where the party was already jumping and Darren had done a remarkable job with all sorts of A/V displays, music, slideshows and a Wii set up to try your hand at virtual skiing or snowboarding. I didn't recognize him at first, but he was the head beerslinger behind the crowded bar, and I realized that I'd only ever seen him back home in Ottawa coming from work at CIDA dressed in a suit. Tonight he'd slipped into his best Hoser gear, and it was great to kick back on the patio in the gorgeous heat of the evening, enjoy some bbq and visit with them until Heather was off to the airport. I was well ready to turn in as well, so I happily accepted a lift from Darren's driver Courage.
Jam-packed day one...oh, wait - the title of this entry...my night concluded with trying to negotiate my first-ever night's sleep under a mosquito net...if any of them were watching me in my drowsy, overstimulated state trying to figure out how to envelop myself and the beautiful huge bed, they were surely laughing their tiny, yet menacing heads off...
