Small Travel and BIG Travel

Friday, October 27^th – Aburi

Thirteen weeks into this adventure, I finally made it out to Aburi (uh-burr-ee), one of the better woodcarving villages in Ghana. It is also the home of Rita Marley, widow of Bob Marley, who is an honorary queen mother for the town. Aburi also has a pretty cool botanical garden, which I wasn’t able to go to on this trip. My roommate Francis goes there on a regular basis because he is learning how to carve.

This trip had one mission: to get a wood carving done for my friend Agustina. If it is done right – and I suspect that it will – it will be beautiful.

The ride to Aburi is easy. Tro-tro from Legon to Zongo Station, which is near Madina, then from Zongo to Aburi. It doesn’t take more than an hour, and it’s all on paved roads. After slightly overshooting the village, we arrived via taxi to the carving/arts center. It is a very cool little area, nearly a village in itself. Just about every possible woodcarving can be found – profiles of people, masks, unities, and some phallic symbols. I put in my order with Nicholas, who is the person teaching Francis. Duncan also put an order in – a very cool picture based off of a shirt from the radio station he works for at Cal. Both carvings should be done in less than two weeks. Duncan also bought a pretty sick “amateur work” mask. Still looks pretty sweet.

I didn’t really do much for the rest of the day. I was pleased to learn that USC lost. I’m sick of Trojan football. That made me pretty happy.

The night got even better when Duncan, AJ, Will and I went to JazzTone. Will played some unbelievable trumpet with a band behind him. Will is one of those people who, like my dad, can jump into a band and fit in perfectly. But Will didn’t just fit in – he was by far the best musician on stage. He’s really good. I enjoyed the music over a nice glass of shiraz, the first wine I’ve had in a long time.

While he played, AJ and I worked on a fundraiser which will benefit a student with Leukemia. The fundraiser is an “obruni auction.” 6-8 obrunis will be auctioned off for dates, with the money going toward chemotherapy for the student. The planning was easy; the execution, I hope, will go as easily.

Saturday, October 28^th – Madina, twice

Duncan and I began our second mission of the weekend by going to Madina Market. Madina’s market reminded me a lot of Takoradi’s market: a little panicked on the outside, but well organized on the inside.

We made our way into the cloth section of the market, which was fairly large – small shop after small shop. It’s the kind of area where everyone knows everyone, so you won’t get a terribly bad price, but at the same time, there isn’t a whole lot of room for bargaining. The prices were pretty much set and standard from shop to shop. I bought a ton of cloth – seven 2-yard pieces – for myself and for others. One of the things I have found is that shopping for people is really hard because the stuff is so cool that I want to keep it for myself. But I also don’t want to buy things that aren’t of top quality or that I wouldn’t keep for myself. I will part ways with them, nonetheless. Duncan had rehearsal for a play he is in, so we rushed through the market.

I didn’t do much for the afternoon. I was actually feeling a little drowsy. It’s been so hot of recent, and I’m clearly not drinking enough water, no matter how hard I try.

After some dinner at Tyme Out, Duncan and I headed back to Madina to go to his friend Godwin Kotay’s poolbar. Not to be harsh, but the word “disappointment” is an overstatement. There wasn’t much pool – one crap undersized table – and there wasn’t much of a bar – a few warm Guinnesses. I determined that there was no amount of alcohol I could drink that would make this place better, so I didn’t drink (Duncan had a couple). I played really horribly. I’ve been off my game recently, mostly being just okay enough to win. Tonight though, I took a beating a couple times by a pretty good player, so I’m not too upset. Needless to say, though, we won’t be returning to that garbage can of a “pool bar”

Sunday, October 29^th – Sunday Shutdown

It always amazes me how dead this place becomes on Sundays. Everybody – except for us non-religious hedons – is in church. Duncan and I dashed to On-the-Run, where we had brunch. We split a chocolate pastry, which was rather amazing, and I got a somewhat disappointing, yet sufficient, cheeseburger.

The rest of the day was really slow. We planned on hitting some internet, but it wouldn’t open until at least 1:30, because of church. We waited around, playing cards, reading Sports Illustrated (which Duncan’s dad brought with him, per my request). Then it started to downpour. It was a muggy day, and we could sense that rains were imminent. We waited until around 4, when the rains finally subsided, and hit the internet café to upload some pictures.

Like the sun over the vast African sky, the rest of the day just dragged along. The heat is really starting to get to me. I just felt shot by the end of the day.

Monday, October 30^th – Big Travel on the Way

Morocco. Egypt. This could be an absolutely epic trip. I’ve decided against drawing up some elaborate scheme to keep my finals schedule – elaborate and Ghana don’t work well together. So I decided that I’m just going to blow off my last week of classes. The truth is that I wont be missing much. One class I never go to, one class will be asaa before that week, and the other two, I have obruni friends from whom I can get notes. I returned toward Circle to JourneyMax Executive Travel to plan out this magical week.

Everything was in order. Flights and dates were laid out perfectly. I pulled out my Visa, which drew a blank face on the agent. “I don’t know of Royal Air Maroc” takes Visa.” What? Head, desk, thud. So disappointing. They told me to go to their offices, at the Silver Star Tower, which was no problem. No problem except that they hadn’t moved into their offices. It doesn’t really matter. The agency told me I can pay in US dollars or Ghanaian cedis. I plan on paying in cedis, just so I can hold onto 6.5 million cedis at once.

I spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with UCSD stuff. Finances, classes, etc. I had two major stresses – language requirement and tuition – vastly reduced, for now.

I grabbed some small-small snack, and waiting to dine with Duncan at the great hour of 10:30. Should be fun sleeping on this stomach.

Pre-Halloween, Tuesday, October 31^st

One mission: get the ticket to Egypt. One way or another, I needed to come up with 675 dollars worth of currency; whether it was in cedis or American dollars didn’t matter. For most of the morning, I ran around to different branches of Barclays, trying to find one that would let me take out some 6.5 million cedis; no one would. The morning wasn’t a complete loss though. I was able to buy a couple of gifts for people, so the trip was worth it.

So I started hitting ATMs when I got back to campus. I pulled out some 3 million cedis, gathered 400 dollars from my room, grabbed some lunch, and I headed back to the travel agency.

The tro-tro ride to Circle was one of the most nerve-wracking trips I’ve ever had, anywhere. I had 700 dollars in currency sitting in my backpack. By the way, 700 dollars is more than some Ghanaians make over 2 years. I felt like one of those people in New York City who walk around with briefcases handcuffed to them. I held on for dear life.

Walking over from the tro-tro station, I was moving so quickly and so thoughtlessly that I stubbed my toe and gave myself a huge blood blister. It’s okay, though. Nothing is going to take me off this high.

Overnight, the price of the ticket dropped a full two dollars – woo! – down to 673. I slowly handed over the money to Henry, my superstar travel agent. By 3:00, everything was settled. I had my ticket to Egypt. AAAAAAAHHHH!!!

My itinerary goes as follows: Accra to Casablanca, Morocco on 14 November. 12 hour lay over in Casablanca – just enough time to adventure around. Redeye from Casablanca to Cairo. In Cairo for 7 days. Depart Cairo on the 21 November. 12 hours layover in Casablanca. Redeye from Casablanca to Accra, arriving on the 23^rd. So stoked.

In the early evening, Nicholas, my main man from Aburi, came by with the carving for Agustina. Beautiful does not do this thing justice. It’s perfect, and he’ll be adding stain to it this week. It's so much more than I expected. It's gorgeous.

Uhh, Halloween is tonight. I’ll be drunk. Have a good one.

LDG