Second day in Accra!

It was our second day in Accra and Ben and I had decided to explore the market areas so we could get a greater more of a feel for the city.

We had been given the task of buying a gift for the guest house we had been staying in and this paved the way for our little adventures round the coast of Accra. We started off in the ‘Makola Market’. This was our first African market experience and it certainly was an experience. Hundreds of stalls selling almost anything a Ghanaian could ever want lined the streets of the busy market area. Traditionally dressed women walked around with piles of items on their heads with tiny children strapped to their backs, whilst bartering for a wide range of products. A major highlight included the stall that was comprised of no less than one thousand saucepans. We wondered how the owner locked them away at the end of the day.

We eventually began to make our way towards Ussher Town; probably the most eye-opening part of our day. We walked for about twenty minutes through the shanty-towns of Accra before we reached Fort Ussher; the poverty and depravity of areas of this city was clearly evident. Both Ben and I were slightly gobsmacked at people actually living in such dyer conditions. This was our first real encounter with the issues we would have to face in the weeks to come. We decided to sit down and have a Sprite with a very friendly local to dwell on the day’s experiences so far.

We were still getting used to the heat so we spent a while recharging our batteries before we set off again on our whirlwind tour of Accra. We soon realised we were re-entering the more tourist areas of the city as we began to see several groups carrying the same guidebook we were using. We were soon mobbed again by several people attempting to sell us their merchandise at a ‘very good price’. I was dragged into someone’s shop by the arm and coerced into buying a football shirt which I wasn’t too bothered about because it was on my list of things to buy anyway.

This is where we met Kojo, a Rastafarian and his friend who owned a wood-carvings stall in the art market area. We decided to buy an African mask for the guest house and we were then invited to have a drink with our two new friends at a bar built into the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This was by far the highlight of the trip so far. The view was magnificent; the locals we were with were incredibly welcoming and treated us as family - an unforgettable moment.

After leaving our Rastafarian friends with a badge of the Mighty Jah, we went for lunch at a hotel on the beach. We then went and sat on the beach drinking Savannah, watching life go by and the beautiful view of the ocean reflecting on what we had seen and who we had met throughout our very eventful day.

Doing anything in the heat was difficult. We must have walked five miles throughout the day and we were definitely ready to appreciate the air conditioning machine by the time we got back home. All-in-all a very interesting and eye-opening day, experiencing many aspects of this awesome country including the beauty of its coast, the hospitality of the locals but the extreme depravity in which most of them live.

By Maximus!