Last Bit Of Time In Ghana Boo-Hoo!

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Trip Start Mar 11, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Mar 27, 2005

  Accra, Ghana
Saturday, March 26, 2005

This morning we go down to breakfast and enjoy the all inclusive with the room - made to order eggs etc. The waiter comes over and asks what we'd like. I tell him we didn't get any menus yet. He tells me we've seen the menus before, just order. Gee, have we overstayed our welcome? After breakfast we hurry to finish our packing as we have to be out of the room by noon. This is a pain in the butt as our flight is not until 10 PM. I had emailed Marco at the hotel and he said there would not be a problem accomodating our late check out. According to the desk staff, this would be a 50% room rate charge to keep the room til 6PM. Hmm, never mind. We'll just store our stuff in the room they offer. We drag all the bags down to the place to lock up. I go to the desk to check out and pay the bill so I know how much money I have left to spend today! The owner's wife happens to be at the desk and she asks what time our flight is. When I tell her 10PM, she wonders where we will be all day without a room. Nothing doing we have to drag our bags back to our room which she says we can keep for free until we depart for the airport. How can you go to the airport without taking a shower before you leave she wants to know? We're greatful and get our room key back and take all the suitcases back to our old room. Now we want to go to do the rest of our souvenier shopping. I ask her about a market, but I do not want the Cultural Centre we were at before, waaaay too much for us to handle. She writes down the name of another spot that she does her shopping at and tells us the driver will know where this is. Kailey is having fun with the doorman, they trade hats and she looks very cute in his uniform hat. He gets us a taxi, and even after we've explained we need a pretty big one for the 5 of us, he produces this small one with only four seats, and of course one is taken up by the driver already. Never mind, it's not that far so we squish into the car. We are about 2 miles down the road and the car quits. Great! The driver tries a couple of things with no luck. He takes off running across the road and disappears. Umm, are we supposed to wait or get another cab or what? It never ceases to amaze us that we 5 Obruni can be such an attraction! We decide to get another cab just as the driver comes running back with a bottle of gas. No government approved gasoline cans here - this is an old pop bottle full of gas. The driver explains that since yesterday was a holiday, he forgot to put gas in the car. We're on our way again and explain to the driver we need to go to an ATM before we get to the market. I've shown him the name of the market on the paper and he nods and says yes. I have my doubts he knows where it is or maybe he can't read. He takes us to an ATM but it is not working - not the first time we've encountered this. We ask the driver to take us to another ATM and he tells us it will be far away and not in the direction of the market we are asking about. The area starts to look familiar and I know darn well we're very near the Cultural Market we were at the other day. Sigh, might as well just go back to that one. The look of terror on the kids faces says it all. One of them declares he's not getting out of the taxi. Andrew is in the market (so to speak) for a chess set. I tell him he has to do his own looking and bargaining. We get to the market and I immediately go to the booth were the lady was with the pens. Oh no, she is not there! The guy in the stall claims to be her son. I tell him I want to buy 40 Ghana bookmarkers. Other vendors are pushing their wares at us, trying to grab our arms to go to their shops etc. The 5 of us gather into the stall and I tell them I only want 40 Ghana bookmarkers. About 5 fists of bookmarkers are shoved at us. I do the dealing with the one vendor who is the stall owner. I tell him they all must say Ghana and I want 40. Vendors scurry to various parts of the market and more bookmarkers begin to appear. I reject the ones they are trying to include that say Africa. I also reject some of them as they are not very well made. These are for Kailey's class. If I have learned anything on this trip - if you see something you want, buy it then and there, don't think you can go back and get it later. The price will always be higher or you just won't be able to find the one you want. We should have bought all the bookmarkers from the kids outside the King's Palace in Kumasi. Oh well, we're here now and after much haggling we reach an agreement on the price of 40 bookmarkers. Again, I've paid too much just because I said I wanted to buy a certain item. It is so incredibly hot in this stall as the transactions take place. My shoes are soaked from the sweat running down my legs. OK, this deed is done, now we're going looking for a chess set for Andrew and perhaps a box for my box collection. We go back to where the carvers are and the vendor we bought from the other day claims us as his own. We tell him we want a chess set and that is all. A few bystanders try to tempt us with other things, but this guy seems to "own" us now and they are not too persistant. Chess sets miracuously begin to appear and Andrew ponders one after another, rejecting some quickly. He is down to three favorites. One is beautiful but just way, way too expensive, even after trying some half-hearted bargaining. His second choice is also more than I am willing to spend. The third choice is very cool, each chess piece is carved like a native and the board is quite intricate. We start in the millions and I stand back and let Andrew do the bargaining. He is quite a hard bargainer. As we get closer to the 700,000 mark he's starting to cave and that is what we end up paying. I think it's not a bad price so everyone is happy. I also get a box that isn't a box so much as a little hut with a roof that lifts off. Time to get out of here. I must say this was a more relaxed visit to the market. I could see that if you kept coming back you could make some friends and bargain for some good deals. Heading back to the taxi we are again attacked by the wandering vendors but even they don't seem as frantic this time. Off to Frankie's for a final meal in Ghana.

We're sitting in Frankie's again and Andrew sees a vendor on the street with a shirt that catches his eye. The vendor sees Andrew looking at him and holds the shirt up. Andrew asks if he can have it. The vendor has signed that the shirt is 250,000. I give Andrew 150,000 and tell him to go see what price he can get it at. Andrew goes out to the street and it is interesting to watch him from the window. Arms start flying and heads are shaking and a big conversation is going on. It wasn't long before Andrew returns to our table triumphant - he has the shirt and for the 150,000 too. Good for him!

We have ordered lunch and I ordered extra sandwiches to go because I'm not sure if there is anything to eat at the airport or if we will get supper on the plane at such a late hour. I ordered a pizza for lunch and only have a piece, planning on taking the pizza to the airport tonight for anyone that wants it. What do I do though? I forget to take the pizza when we leave, even after I've had them box it up. Doh!

Our driver takes us back to the hotel and we don't have much time before we have to leave for the airport. We all get a chance to shower, and after our day in the city we sure needed it. At the airport we are keeping a keen eye out for Daniel but we don't realize that once we step inside the door at the airport, that is as far as you go without a ticket. We keep straining to look outside to see if we can see him but it is just a sea of faces out there. We get our luggage checked through to Montreal and head to the waiting area. We have no trouble going through customs or anything. We stop to eat the sandwiches before heading to the boarding area. The process here seems very long, and it is hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. We're surprised to be taken by bus out to the aircraft. We board the aircraft and taxi out to the runway only to sit and wait. Looking out the window there are only two other planes out there, one is Italian and the other looks like Arab Emirates. Not a busy spot, at least not after 10 PM. OK, if we're going, let's get. I'm not looking forward to the long flight home. I don't need to be sitting longer than I have to. Finally the Captain announces (or makes some strange throaty noises as he's Dutch) that there is an elevator warning and we're going back to the gate to have the mechanics fix it. Umm, I've seen how ambitious these workers are and I don't have a lot of confidence in them. It's not like most airports where if your plane doesn't work they either put you on the next flight or they get another plane. Given the two choices that are out there, I pick going to Italy please! So, we sit and wait some more, and some more. Finally the Captain comes back on and says the local boys can't fix it so they are on the phone talking to Amsterdam. I don't suppose it is a video phone so the Amsterdam guys can have a look eh? Anyway, after more waiting, the Captain announces we're good to go. I hope he really means that - that everything is OK, I'd rather not take any chances. We do take off and head for Amsterdam.

They do serve supper and it's not very good so I'm glad I thought of bringing the picnic from Frankie's. Andrew notices upon take off that all the lights of Accra are blue from the lights of the little shacks and stalls. We've never seen a city lit up in blue lights before. Trying to sleep is next to impossible. Kailey lays down across me and dozes off for a bit. As the flight goes on, I'm not feeling all that great. I think I'm just plain tuckered out. About 1/2 hour from landing, Kailey gets that familiar face on her that tells me she is going to throw up. Sure enough, it happens faster and harder than I can get the barf bag out and she manages to get both her and I. The attendant comes with hot cloths and we try to clean up. She had been complaining that her stomach hurt, and I never thought about it until we got home and Kelan complained for about 3 days that his stomach was hurting and then a day after Kelan, mine started hurting and I really think it was the Malarone (malaria medication). I guess our bodies had had enough. We'd been taking it for 2 days before we left, for the 18 days of the trip and had to take it for another 7 when we got home. Thinking back, I don't know why I didn't question that Kailey's doseage was the same as our adult doses. I would think she should have had less. I think this is what made her sick on the plane because she doesn't ever get sick on the plane. So much for touring in Amsterdam on this layover. After we get off the plane, we head to the lounge upstairs near the first aid station where I read on the web there are some comfy reclining chairs. We get there and of course all the chairs are full. I just want Kailey to lie down and get some sleep. There are some couch type chairs that have been pushed together and I get her to lay down on one and she does fall right to sleep. I lay down too but I can't fall asleep. I dig out some earplugs. The smell of the food near us isn't helping me and some guys are smoking and having a beer (it's 7 AM). This is supposed to be a no smoking airport as the announcements will keep telling you, but people smoke everywhere. You don't notice it until you come from a place where no one smokes anywhere anymore. I think I do doze off a bit while Shawn and the boys go to get something to eat - what else? After they come back, I walk around looking for something to eat myself but nothing appeals to me so I just get a tea. I go into a shop and get Shawn some local Auto Traders and buy some Delft china - hey I need a souvenir from Holland! The tulip bulbs look interesting but I'm not sure if I can bring them into Canada and decide not to take the chance.

I give Kailey some Gravol, take some myself and we head off to board the plane bound for Montreal. I am just so dogged, what a long journey. Didn't seem as tough on the way there but this is a killer on the way back. I guess since we'd already put in a full day before we left after 10 PM that we were up longer on the trip home.

We're on board and ready for take off. But wait! What's this? It's the Captain speaking. Seems there is a problem that one of the doors is not shut. Uh, did you not know this when we were at the gate? Back to the gate we go. Enough already let's just get going. After a good half hour they announce the door has been closed or they over-rode the error on the computer, who knows? The Captain now tells us that we will be delayed a while longer while he takes on more fuel so we can fly faster to make up the time we've lost already.

We land in Montreal and several people on the plane are also catching the KLM bus to Ottawa. We make a pact that whoever gets to the bus first tells the driver there are more coming since we've arrived late and we're not sure how long customs is going to take. The boys are gathering the luggage and along comes a custom's agent with a sniffer dog. Aww, he's so cute! A little beagle. He smells a smell, he comes over and sticks his nose in one of our bags. Buzz off you little runt, there is nothing in there! The handler looks in the bag and pulls him away. Next thing you know, he's back in the bag. Now people are starting to watch. Custom agent glances in the bag again and gives Sniffer a swat on the nose. Maybe he's a she and she's PMS'ing...the nose had found some chocolate wrappers in that bag! We get all the bags and get into line to clear customs. Four planes have landed at the same time. It's a good job we got there when we did. We get through customs no problem and go to find the bus for Ottawa. We find it and get on, and right behind us are the other people from our flight. Great! All present and accounted for. Let's roll! But no, as was par for the course today we were not going anywhere fast. There is a couple missing so we wait and we wait. The natives are getting restless, we want to go home since we've come this far. The late arrivals board the bus - and the nerve of them, they have fast food bags! The trip to Ottawa was great and the van was waiting for us right where we left it at the train station. Driving down the Queensway everyone is quiet, noses pressed to the windows. The roads - no potholes and no speed bumps. There are lights everywhere. There is no traffic. It is not hot. People are driving like normal, sane people. There are no strange smells. No one is selling anything along the road. No one approaches the van to sell us anything when we slow down. We're home.

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