Getting Into Ghana

I’m safely in Ghana! I’ve been on the ground for less than 12 hours, so I don’t have much to report. It’s a pretty lively place with an active street life that puts most any city in the west to shame. That being said, its a lot less frantic than India or South East Asia. Even in the tourist part of Accra, where I am now (a neighborhood called Osu that used to be the Dutch part of town) the number of street hawkers is limited and those are around are pretty lackadaisical. I don’t want to jinx my self, but so far there are none of those annoying touts that make walking around the tourist areas of Indian and Asian cities so annoying. (Touts are people who approach tourists, pretend to be friendly, and then try to sell you an over priced service (food, tour, hotels, etc)). Its very annoying. But again, so far, so good on that front. Later, I’m going to a different part of town, a market, and my friend, another AJWS volunteer, claims it’s a “zoo” on a Saturday afternoon. I’ll let you know.

Last night was not my best night of sleep, owning in part to jet lag and in part to a very very lively church a few blocks from my hostel that had some type of midnight vigil. I’m told that Friday night vigils are common. However, for some reason, this one felt the need to broadcast itself to the entire neighborhood. Even with all the windows closed and the AC on, I could hear it like I was in the church with them. It lasted until 3am. I thought about going over there and asking them to keep it down. But then I thought better. In the end, I prayed to my god to ask his son’s friends to keep the noise down. That must have worked. ;). I’m interested in learning more about Ghanaian religion. My thinking is that if I am the only one in the neighborhood who is bothered by the noise, I must be in a very religious neighborhood. Or a neighborhood full of insomniacs.

I got a phone today. The number when calling from the US is 011-233-20-670-8096. Don’t all call at once, but I would love to hear from you.