Our Arrival in Ghana

Sunday, June 7 - Ghana Adventure Day 2

More of today's photos in slideshow section 1 - click HERE to view.

(back-dated post completed on June 25th)

We arrived in Ghana at about 8:40 pm, again right on time. Of course, there was a huge Akwaaba painted on the building! We went through customs (a couple of different checkpoints for some reason). The first lady examined our visas, the second wanted to know what was in the bags. She seemed concerned about the medical supplies – I was glad I had typed a letter of explanation with my “M.D.” signature, as well as a full packing list. That satisfied her. I noticed a sign saying that Ghana welcomes all visitors who come in good will, but that sexually deviant or inappropriate behavior is not tolerated. It said that “If you intend on engaging in such behaviors, for our good as well as for your own, we suggest you go elsewhere.” Funny, but serious, too – showed that they really do value proper manners, etc., and they are not afraid to say it. I like that.

At the baggage claim, we met a nice gentleman, an airport employee, who offered to help us with our bags. We found all 6 suitcases – not a single one missing! Yay! The gentleman brought us all the way to the outside, helping to ward off other men trying to “help” us on the way. When we got outside, we couldn't yet see our coordinator. After looking around for a while, I told the young man he could go so he wouldn’t miss getting to help others and earn more tips I gave him $20 for his help. He seemed happy. Then, we had some trouble. Several men came up to us, trying to get money from us. Two in particular stayed. All they did was tell us to sit down, and to hand Lydia Akos’ doll. Then they just hovered. They weren’t in uniform, and there was a sign warning against accepting any help from those without uniforms, but we weren’t really given a choice. One of two hovering men got very pushy, held his hand out and said firmly, “Tip now, tip!” I hesitated, as they hadn’t been the ones to help us. But I decided to give each a $5 bill, hoping it would satisfy them enough to make them leave me alone. I handed the first one the bill, then when I tried to tip the second one, the first grabbed onto it. I said “No, this one is for him. I already tipped you.” He said, “No. You give me twenty!” I said that I couldn’t do that – I had already tipped the man who carried our bags, and I needed to have money for our hotel, etc. He was not happy, and wouldn’t give it back to the other man. Then our coordinator found us, thank God. He could see we were having trouble and said “Don’t worry, I will settle it with them.” He gave them each another 20, I think, and later told me some of it was for keeping us safe (though they were actually the ones intimidating us and frightening us.) Also, though, he thought those men had actually helped us with the bags, which they hadn’t.

Our room is large, with one King size bed. The key is the largest, heaviest key I have ever held! I'm not sure why, but there is a rubber ring around the circular part at the bottom. Very strange. The air conditioning isn’t very cold, but it did work better during the nighttime. The water is only a trickle, which we were prepared for. The lighting was very dim, largely because most of the lamps didn't work, nor did many of the electrical outlets. It is strange, but the hotel's own lamps didn't even have proper plugs for the outlets - I had to use my travel adapter to get light in the room! The problems that upset me, though, were that I couldn’t get the internet to work – it looks as if it’s connected, but Safari and e-mail think I’m not connected. I was distraught at losing my chance to communicate freely with friends and family. Also, I couldn’t get my sterilizing pen to work, and we were hot and thirsty. I started boiling water in the kettle, and we made freeze-dried chicken and noodles. It was actually VERY yummy. I had started drinking hot water – yuck! Then, I went to put the leftover food in the fridge, and saw it was stocked with soda, lots of beer, and the motherlode – bottled, ice-cold water. That turned my whole outlook around, and I knew all would be okay.

I finally figured out how to call Don on the cell – but it is $2.49 a minute! We got to say goodnight to him and to Elena. I also realized I had forgotten to get our vaccination waiver notarized – but realized we had already done one in February, and it was a duplicate anyway. So, Don found it, called our agency and e-mailed it to her. She forwarded it to our coordinator and to the Embassy. Later, I also figured out why my sterilizing pen hadn't worked - in my frustration and exhaustion, I didn't see there was a little arrow that needed to line up where the circular battery cover attached. All works wonderfully now. Whew! What a night – Lydia and I were so exhausted – we got out our travel sheets – very comfortable – and crashed.

Back with more soon...

Jeanie