September 16, 2011

 

The last day in Ghana is coming to a close. I explored Tema today with Eric and Brian. We took a taxi to the Tema Mall, which was not a mall in American terms. There was only a supermarket and a lingerie store called Woman’s World. Everywhere we walked, lizards scurried across our feet; it was as if the ground was made of them. From the Tema Mall, we decided to just walk and explore. We were walking on a main motorway, choked with fumes from the vehicles’ exhausts, and littered with scraps of metal and trash. We hiked about 2 miles or so, when we came across garbage that was being burned on the side of the road. There were fires scattered sporadically throughout the entire area, burning unwanted items. I can’t imagine this would go down so well in the United States. We walked past a large collection of stalls and shops, selling the most random of items; shoes, refrigerators, rims, tires, almost anything imaginable. There were people stirring huge pots of some sort of stew or soup, and we were stared at by each person we passed. We continued on to Melcom Mall, where Jena and I had went on the first day in Ghana. We basked in the air conditioning, lingering in the mall as long as we could. We found some Ghanaian chocolate as well, and I bought both orange chocolate and milk chocolate. Everyone raves about Ghanaian chocolate, but I found it to be nothing special. I guess once you have experienced Malley’s Chocolate, nothing can be better :P Eric, Brian, and I then walked around some more, and went into a Shell Gas Station. Brian bought some Coconut Pineapple juice, and Eric bought a chocolate soymilk malt drink; both were delicious. After, we made our way back to the ship, where we heard some saddening news. A worker in the port was killed by a truck, right near our ship. The ports we dock in can be dangerous, and we were all cautioned to be extremely careful. For the rest of the night, we just haggled with the shop-keepers right outside the ship, and relaxed.  Ghana may not be easy on the eyes, but the kind, friendly people made it well worth the stop.