Wednesday, March 14

I've just gotten out of a long, cold shower after an extremely hot, dusty, exhausting, absolutely thrilling day!  It felt so incredible to get all of that filth and sweat off my skin.

This morning Jonathan met us at the hotel to take us to Aburi Botanic Gardens.  We began by catching a "trotro" on a street nearby.  A trotro is a small van that seats 16-18 people VERY snugly.  They are Accra's version of mass transit.....except there's no systematic way to know where any particular trotro is going or what it will cost.  Jonathan somehow knew which one to catch.  The trotro then took us to a central station where there were hundreds of trotros parked in a gigantic lot, alongside a huge market.  We then bought tickets ( 4 tix cost 8 cedis - equivalent of about $5) to go to Aburi, which is about a 90 minute ride.  Once the van was filled, we took off.  I was seated next to a very nice man named Moses and we chatted along the way.  He bought some plantain chips and shared them with me.  When we got to Aburi, we walked the path through the village to the botanical gardens.  This is one of Jonathan's favorite places, so he wanted to share it with us.

Aburi Gardens was established by the British in the mid-1800s on a piece of land set aside by the missionaries for a sanitorium.  We had a very nice guide who showed us trees of various spices like cinnamon, bay leaf, and allspice. Part of the garden sits on a piece of an old cocoa plantation.  Situated right in the middle of the garden is a dilapidated helicopter that was used by the first republic leader, Kwame Nkumrah.  It looked like a major safety hazard to me, but that didn't stop Randy and me from climbing in for a photo opportunity!

After our tour and a bit of walking around, we headed back to the village of Aburi and caught the trotro back to Accra - a very hot, dusty ride.  We had to stop in Madina, which is on the outskirts of Accra to change trotros at the "station" - which is really just a big dirt lot filled with hundreds of vans.  After catching another trotro, we went to Jonathan's favorite lunch spot for a "bite" to eat, which ended up being a gigantic plate full of wonderful Ghanaian food.  I had jollof rice with goat meat.

We then took a taxi to Accra GSS because a US military band was scheduled to be playing there.  Huh? Anyhow, we got to the school and hundreds of girls were surrounding the events hall at the school, peering in the windows.  We were then introduced to the band, but I was taken aback as I assumed a military band meant a marching band with drums and horns and flutes. No, this was the Air Force ROCK band!  We were put in the seats of honor in the front row and treated to an hour of ear-splitting rock and roll and girls screaming and dancing.  It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life:  I'm dirty and sweaty and tired sitting in a gigantic room filled with screaming, uniformed Ghanaian girls listening to a US military rock band.  Of course I got into the mood and waved my arms along with the rest and danced with the girls.  

After recovering from the excitement of the event, Jonathan hailed us another trotro and took us to his neighborhood, Osu, because I needed to change some money.  Then we hailed a cab and came back to the hotel.  In total, we rode 6 trotros and 2 taxis today.  We were travelling Ghanaian-style!  

I immediately peeled off all clothing and took a long, cold shower.  It may have taken several minutes for the water to run clear because of all the dirt running off.  I know folks: TMI - but that's me :-)

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It was a wonderful day. But I'm sure to sleep well tonight.