Monday, June 24

Last night we ate in the little restaurant attached to the hotel.  Chuks described what many of the items were on menu.  I don't have a copy of the menu so I can't give you the names of the dishes.  Rice is a staple, as I expected.  For meat there is chicken and fish.  Beef was on the menu but not available last night.  If you give them a couple hours notice they will run to a nearby market and pick some up.  I think Jeff and Sue were going to have beef tonight.  The food is generally a bit spicy than the Scandinavian food of central Minnesota.  I noticed some of the spice in the flight over.  Jeff and Sue are now asking that their food not be spicy.  It seems to bother Jeff in particular.  I found out he is a native of St. Cloud.  I had chicken and fried yams last night.  The yams are white, not like what we have in the U. S.  They don't have a lot of flavor, they brought out a sample last night before we ordered.  They gave us a sample cooked and showed us a raw one.  They look somewhat like a very large yam or potato, definitely a tuber.  I also had palava sauce which is made from spinach and other things.  I wouldn't have thought of it as a sauce it looked liked cooked spinach with traces of other things in it.  Not bad.  Dessert does not seem to be an option.

I found the website for this guest house it is http://guesthouse.knust.edu.gh/.  I believe it is run by the University of Ghana.

Last night I understood Chuks to say that we should meet at 8:30 to be ready for the day.  He was going to get up at 5:30 to jog.  Sue apparently went with him.  I went down to breakfast at 8:00 am.  Just as I finished at 8:20 I met Jeff coming down.  I came up to my room and got ready for the day and went down at 8:30.  I could see Jeff and Sue having breakfast so I waited for them to finish and for Chuks in the lobby.  About 9:00 am I finally discovered that Chuks was having breakfast with them.  We had an appointment at the University of Ghana at 10:00.  We left the hotel to walk a short distance to a place to change money about 9:20 then came back to the hotel.  We finally left for the university about 9:50 or so.  Chuks called them and said we would be a little late because of the traffic.  We arrived at the university about 10:30.

The campus is very large, about 45,000 students plus most of the faculty and staff live on the campus.  It is not very busy right now because the only classes seem to be distance students who are on campus this summer preparing for exams.  I think their system is very similar to the British system.  I took a few shots of the campus but the second item I did not bring was the cable that connects my camera to the computer.

I did take a couple of shots of the street in front of the guest house with my cell phone.  They are looking opposite ways from the front of our guest house.

This is looking down the street from the front of our guest house/hotel.  I have no idea what the orange cans are for.

Looking up the street.  The streets have deep gutters along them, usually on both sides.  There are stones or metal grates that cars drive over or people walk on when crossing the gutters.  Some are dry others have water flowing in them, I am not sure from where.  All have trash in them.  This is the rainy season so apparently it can rain anytime.  I was told it rained on Friday before we came.

Most of the buildings have corrugated metal roofs and the buildings are made out of stucco or concrete blocks.  I have seen lots of palm trees and Chuks pointed out a mango tree on campus.  Many of the streets are not paved and are quite rough.  Taxis really take a beating.  The place were we changed money did not look too inspiring, but I simply follow Chuks' lead.  We got the going rate according to a website I checked this afternoon.

We met with 4 people at the university, a lady who has written a book on the history of slavery in Ghana, an archeologist who has done a lot of work documenting the slave trade in Ghana, the head of the archeology department and a member of the geography department.  They seem interested in working with us.  Chuks is to outline our project and send it to the head of the archeology department who will take it to the department.  Reading the book on slavery is our homework.

After the university meeting we took a taxi and met up with Sue and her guide at a very large outdoor market/bazaar.  As soon as we got out of the taxi we were descended upon by young men welcoming us and asking where we were from.  Naturally they had something to sell and they were very persistent.  Jeff, in particular, had one trying to sell him some jewelry.  He tried for about 10 minutes.  We were kind of stuck there because Chuks was trying to call Sue and her guide to find out where they were and couldn't get a connection.  The guy finally left and came back two more times.  After about 20 minutes Chuks was able to contact Sue and her guide and about 10 minutes later they appeared.  We then took taxis to lunch.

One of the more interesting aspects of travel here is that at every traffic light, there are many people walking up and down the streets between the cars selling everything you can imagine.  Lots of food, bottled water, SIM cards, phone chargers, children's books, maps, toilet paper, etc.  Chuks bought a couple of maps of Ghana for our project and the cab driver bought water.  Sometimes the light turns to green before the transition is completed so the person is running along side the car trying to get the money.  Naturally the price is negotiated heavily.  The large map that Chuks bought stated at 50 ceti, about $25.  Chuks got it for 10 ceti, $5.  The women, for the most part, are carrying the product they are selling in baskets on top of their heads.  The men are less likely to be carrying them this way.  If you buy a bottle of water or a bag of peanuts they simply reach up and grab the item and hand it to you without taking the basket off their heads or readjusting it.  I did see one woman with what looked like 3-4 Costco size packages of toilet paper balanced on her head.  I have not seen anyone but that yet.  I tried to get a few pictures with my camera.

Dinner was a taxi ride from the market/bazaar to a place called Bukas.  Chuks told us to say we have now been to Bukas, apparently it is a well know spot.  I had rice and beans cooked together plus chicken.  It was a huge meal.  About 1 1/2 cups of rice and beans, half a chicken, spaghetti, something like cocos, cooked cabbage/carrots, and a couple of sauces.  Certainly more than enough.  Chuks had the rice and beans plus fish and cow's tail plus most of the other things I had.  He really enjoyed the cow's tail, pressure cooked to be tender and no fat.  By the way, meals come to the table as they are ready.  I happened to get mine last and Sue and Jeff were finished by the time I started, kind of English style.

We are back at the guest house and done for the day.  We were able to walk from the restaurant to the guest house in about 20 minutes.  Mostly on unpaved roads with lots of huts bordering.  Some look like residences others are business.  We walked by a place that was apparently a car repair place, but there was not building at all, just lots of cars in various stages of repair.

I have an updated itinerary for the rest of our trip.  Chuks and I kind of worked it out after dinner.
Tuesday, June 25 we will tour some in the morning (not sure what), then meet with the assistant registrar of International Studies from the U. of Ghana at 3:00 pm and have dinner with him.
Wednesday, June 26 we will travel to Cape Coast and visit one or more slave castles.  These were the holding areas, basically prisons where slaves were held until ships arrived.
Thursday, June 27 we will meet with university officials from Cape Coast University and then walk over some rope bridges.
Friday, June 28 we will travel to Mole National Park
Saturday, June 29 we will go on a safari in the morning then travel to Kumasi in the afternoon
Sunday, June 30 we will spend the day in Kumasi.  Perhaps we will meet with university officials, but since it is Sunday, we probably won't.
Monday, July 1 we will meet with university officials in Kumasi then travel back to Accra.
Tuesday, July 2 we will spend the day in Accra, out flight leaves at 10:00 pm that day.