Akwaba Obruni: Photos from Accra and Cape Coast Areas

Our first day in Ghana we went to the University of Ghana in Legon, Accra. Alena studied there for a semester in college about 6 years ago. We even went back to her old dorm and ate a snack at one of her favorite campus spots.

After walking around campus in the blazing sun, we stopped at the open air market on campus and bought some fresh mango to snack on. While there are a few supermarkets, most goods and food are purchased in these open air markets instead.

We were clearly driven a bit crazy by our first foray into the African heat. Even though it's not really mango season it was still fantastic. Perfectly ripe and so sweet!

That night we had our first local beers. There are two main light beers that are brewed in Ghana. That night we tried the Club brand, which is the most popular among most people. Later on our trip we tried the Star and never drank another Club again.

The only other widely available beer is the Guinness - Foreign Extra Stout, which they are currently making in special edition Ghana versions to celebrate the independence of Ghana. The foreign extra stout version has way more alcohol than a regular Guinness, coming in at 7.5%, and you can taste the difference. Not quite as smooth as the original.

When we were on campus we visited one of Alena's mentors, Aunty Rose, who presented me with this amazing shirt! It's made out of local fabric and was quite fancy feeling.

In Ghana you cannot safely drink the water, locals included, so everyone drinks filtered water out of these 500ml plastic bags called sachets. (I definitely called them satchels for at least a week). You wipe off a side then bite the corner off and squeeze out the clean water. Alena tends to use them as impromptu squirt guns.

Prior to our trip abroad, Alena was prepping me for Ghana, telling me about the things she remembered from her time there. One of those things was the music, which included this throwback hit. I tried my best impersonation. See the song below.

https://youtu.be/57kKLe0Jzec

A lady had set up a little stand near our hostel in Accra. We bought some fresh pineapple to snack on, but she was also selling Kola nuts (red, for soup), snails (which were fist sized and are used for soups also), avocados (super sweet and not as buttery as the ones in the Americas), and plantains (very different than bananas, not eaten raw, either baked, charred or fried).

View from our hostel's roof patio out over Accra towards the ocean. The yard in the foreground had a big rooster who would Cock-a-doodle-doo way too early in the mornings! Accra doesn't have a skyline to look over and it was pretty overcast and smoggy while we were there.

The food at our hostel was subpar and way overpriced and we did not feel comfortable eating out at the little chop bars (local pop up quick serve eateries) near our place, so we bought a little water boiler and some dehydrated noodles and fresh veggies to supplement some meals. Saved some money and greatly reduced our chances of getting sick. Getting safe, affordable and semi healthy food has been a huge problem for us so far. We are both looking forward to Europe were the food is safer and we can stay at places with kitchen access to cook our own meals.

Enjoying a delicious Star with my sweet new shirt. So hot here I had to get a light shirt to wear around. Definitely helps me blend in too.

Alena took me to the Aburi Botanical Garden which was about an hour ride from Accra. Alena got up close and personal with a giant ant hill. You can really see just how huge they are.

The gardens had beautiful plants and trees from all around the world and is located on the "ruins" of an old British compound. This compound was on top of a large hill that overlooked Accra.

Walking between trees from the Amazon on the left and a banana plot on the right at the Aburi Botanical Gardens.

Ended our day in Aburi with this creepy crawler! Some kind of crazy centi/mili-pede (I didn't count).

We went to James Town in Accra. It is a very poor neighborhood on the coast and is a traditional Ga fishing village. Alena spent a lot of time there when she was in Ghana prior, helping to start a school there and teach the children. We went back to visit the school and were delighted to see it had grown substantially! There are now over 100 students. It was great to meet the children and see how the school was operated. Such friendly and sweet kids.

We went to a local market near our hostel in Accra to buy more fresh fruit. The lady was happy to have her photo taken while expertly slicing up our pineapple. The pineapple here is super cheap (between 1-4 cedis) and so delicious.

In the open air market near our hostel in Accra. It was Sunday morning so the market was a bit deserted. Ghana is a very religious country so not many places are open on Sundays.

Alena desperately needed a hat to shield her from the intense sun, so she bought one while we were stopped at a light in one of our Tro Tros from a vendor walking the streets. Sadly she got a Yankees hat because she said the dark blue would go with more outfits. I snapped this photo of her looking super American on the streets of Accra.

Alena took me to one of her favorite live music places for dinner and drinks at +223 Jazz Club. Alena got this classic goofy Alan picture while I was enjoying my Blue Lagoon.

The band that night was an electric acoustic Afro Jazz band who played a mix of classic Jazz and Carribean music with a distinctly Ghanaian twist, as they put it.

It took almost 2 full weeks before I was able to find fufu and chicken light soup. It is one of Alena's favorite dishes and a local staple. The problem is that it is made with water that is usually not filtered so we cannot safely eat it just anywhere. We it is a gooey dough in a light chicken soup that is eaten together with your hands.

I was so excited to finally try it but when we received our dish it looked like it had pieces of fish instead of chicken. We tasted it and it was definitely and dried fish soup not chicken light soup. Neither of us like the dried fish here at all and we had ordered and had been expecting a delicious chicken soup. It had taken them an hour to make this soup so we felt bad sending it back. They finally brought out a chicken version but it was made with the same fish stock base. We tried to eat some but the fish flavor was overwhelming. Sadly I have still not yet had proper fufu and chicken light soup. Hopefully we can find some before we head to Europe!

After our disappointing lunch experience I decided to indulge in a tasty cheeseburger in paradise! It truly does not get much better than this.

We spent a few days in Cape Coast to visit Kakum National Park and tour the historic Cape Coast Slave Castle. Our hostel was right on the beach and so were these pigs. I can't say I've see anything quite like it. Every day there were pigs just wandering up and down the beach.

We visited the Cape Coast Castle where we had a guided tour. It went through the history of the Castle and we were shown the dungeons and chambers where slaves were held until they were shipped to the New World. It was an insightful and somber experience. I learned a great deal on our tour, though much of it was so heart breaking. You can feel the terror when you walk through the dungeons.

It was truly and unforgettable experience.

This was a placard placed by the current period local leaders and chiefs, in remembrance of horrors that were committed by the Europeans and aided by the local leaders of the past.

Cape Coast was also our jumping off point to visit Kakum National Park, a rain forest that contains many endangered species including the rarely seen Forest Elephants. While we saw many butterflies and some birds, most of the mammals of the park are nocturnal and we did not end up spotting any.

We did do any amazing canopy walk on narrow suspension bridges up to 70 meters above the forest floor. Our guide reassured us that they check the bridges for safety daily and replace the ropes twice a year. But the movement and the creaking sounds still kinda freaked me out that high up.

It was a beautiful yet intense experience being as high as the tree tops.

One cool thing I've noticed here is that all bottles, beer and soda, are reused, not recycled. Every time we bought a soda the proprietor would ask for the bottles back. Every bottle I had appeared very well used by the scratch marks.

Many of you may wonder what the mosquito situation is here in Ghana. Alena mention how bad the mosquitos were in Ghana when she was here 6 years ago. We were worried whether we would need mosquito nets everywhere we went. Luckily, since we are here during the end of the dry season, there have been relatively few mosquitos and we have only slept under mosquito nets once. Which is great because sleeping in a mosquito net, specially in a small bunk bed as pictured above, feels quite claustrophobic and seems to trap in the heat and humidity.

FYI when I speak of Tro Tro's, this is a typical example. An older model van, usually a Toyota or a Mercedes, that has been altered on the inside with 4 rows of seats, and jumper seats on the right. In Ghana most taxis are older model compact cars, think 90's, that are shipped down from Europe. There were very few new cars on the roads.

Goats were a perennial feature of our trip to Ghana. We saw them in the middle of Accra, in residential areas and commercial areas. We saw them in Tamale and they were in every village on the way to Mole National Park. They were in poor areas and better off areas. On public lands and every private plot we saw. Some were small and fluffy and cute, others were scruffy and mean looking. In short, you don't experience Ghana without the presence of goats!

The whole time in Ghana we have been drinking Star beer when we go out. When the bartenders open your beer they always leave the cap as there is a promotion to win free beers or other prizes. On our last night in Ghana we went out and had dinner and drinks at Chez Afrique, a popular music venue. When the man opened my beer I looked at the cap expecting the usual SORRY, but to my delight it said FREE BEER. One of the best phrases known to man. I was so excited to finally win one!

On the last day of our trip in Ghana we finally ate some proper fufu and chicken light soup at Chop Bar.

It was worth the wait, it tasted so amazing! The food here has been very good when we have been able to eat the local fare. I will definitely try to recreate some of the amazing dishes back home!

P.S. Akwaba Obruni basically translates to "Welcome Foreigner"