Where did July go?

How is it already July 30th? It feels like Austin just got here and he will be heading home on Sunday after 4 weeks in Ghana with us. It is truly crazy how time goes by here. Each day feels like it may drag a bit yet somehow the weeks and months just fly by. I suppose time flies when you are having fun and we are thankful for travels and great friends that definitely keep things fun.

As Austin's time comes to a close, I requested (read as: bugged, annoyed, pestered, etc) him to write a quick blurb about his time here. Partially, because I thought it was be good reflection and I was interested to read his thoughts. But also partially because I knew it would please his mom... you're welcome, Lu.

Without further adieu, here's Austin's quick summation of his time in Ghana:

I went into this Ghana trip with not really expectations per say, but I knew I was going to have experiences in this very foreign country that I have never had before.  The power outage was one that I found very odd but after a couple of maddening outages during sports center I realized I just needed to get used to it. 

The experience of street vendors was not something new to me, however, in Ghana I feel like Channing Tatum in Coach Carter, the only white person there so I am at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, I have purchased some very cool, (my mother hates that word), gifts and traditional clothes for many of my family and friends.  The item/custom that the U.S. needs to take from Ghana is no preservatives in there juices, the juice over here is absurdly good and very fresh. 

Once weekly, I would attend a Rotary luncheon with one of the rotary clubs here that included lunch, water, coffee and discussion with rotary members who are extremely friendly and lighthearted.  I am leaving on Sunday and my time here has been very memorable and have had a great time learning about the culture, and the overall country of Ghana.

Austin's Trip for Ghanaian Souvenirs

I cannot believe Austin has been here for almost three full weeks and will be leaving us next weekend. Today's goal was to find him some good souvenirs to bring home for family and friends... and of course, himself.

Originally, we intended to go to the Arts Centre, which promised to be a successful if not completely traumatic experience based solely upon the one other trip I've made. That ship quickly sailed when I looked up the opening hours and realized it closed at 3pm and it was approximately 1:45pm when I made this discovery. We decided there were a few other easy options we could try.

We went to Global Mama's in Osu. Dan and I went once before back in November but I cannot recall if I've mentioned it. Essentially, it's a non-profit co-op assisting small women-owned businesses in Ghana. Thus, everything in the store is made locally by Ghanaians. I'm always fascinated when we go there because they have thought of everything to make/craft/sell. Many of the fabrics they use are batik which is basically a stamped pattern on fabric that they then use to make clothes, placemats, aprons, travel bags, headbands, etc. Suffice to say we had a good visit as we all bought some items.

One of my purchases: finally found a Ghana Christmas Tree ornament

This is the tag that is attached to every item. It explains what Global Mama's is and how it serves the community. Probably my favorite part is the back of each tag where they write the names of the women who made each piece that is for sale in the store. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy to support local craftswomen here in Ghana.

After we broke the bank at Global Mama's, we went casually browsing the stalls that line Oxford Street in Osu. Most are just a beach umbrella with a coat rack-type thing holding various wares. At one stand, Austin found an awesomely loud printed backpack that is made of kente cloth. At the second stand, the guys managed to cross another item off their list... Ghana soccer jerseys.

My dear husband, A for effort, but that's a volleyball.

After we spent our money, and made sure all necessary gifts for family and friends were accounted for, we walked to Honeysuckle for lunch. It's the British pub that Dan and I frequented when we first moved here. It was busier than expected because the rugby championship was on between New Zealand and South Africa. So we watched two-thirds of that match and had some food. Now we are back home with a nap likely occurring in the near future and then we will go out somewhere for dinner.

Here is some of Austin's haul:

Hope you are all having a nice weekend!

Robin's Birthday

Last night was Robin's birthday. Given that it was a Wednesday, I don't think he expected anyone to do much of anything. Little did he know that Hannah and I had been scheming behind the scenes. The contribution from "the Americans" was a beer cake. It looks like a stepped wedding cake but made of beer cans. The bottom level was Beck's, the middle layer, Carlsberg, and the top was Heineken. The topper of the cake was one glass bottle of Club, a Ghanaian local beer. I wrapped ribbons around each layer that said "Happy Birthday Robin" and tied a big bow on the Club on top.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a late lunch break and went over to assemble the beer cake and blow up balloons. Hannah was in the process of baking some more legitimate (but no less important) cakes. I did what I could in the hour I had available before coming home to finish up some work and attend some meetings. None of us were there when Robin came home from work, but according to Hannah, he was pretty elated by the beer cake.

Around 4pm or so I get a frantic text message from Hannah stating that their generator had just broken so they had no electricity and she was trying to finish the cakes and make dinner. Luckily, they have a gas oven so she was able to complete the most important parts. We went over around 6:15 or so and they were still without power. Thankfully, there was one genius among us as Jen (another Jen, I'm not speaking in third person haha) arrived with a bag cooler of cold beers and a bag of ice. We opened the cold brews and quickly began the destruction of the beer cake to put some of them on ice.

We sat outside on the porch with candles until, miraculously, the generator repairmen got things back up and running. The rest of the evening was filled with lots of food and beverage consumption. All in all I think Robin had a good birthday, despite the generator issues (I suspect that was Ghana's well-wishes). I got a text message from him thanking us for coming and that it was a great surprise.

Cape Coast Castle

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Cape Coast Castle. Cape Coast is in the central region and about 3 hours west of Accra. Thankfully, we have awesome friends like Robin who hooked us up with a vehicle and a driver for the day. Lots of beers owed to that man.

Upon arrival we went into the castle and paid admission. The fee was steep by Ghana standards at 40 cedes per person but it is a UNESCO World Heritage site so I suppose it demands a sizable fee. They do tours every hour and we happened to arrive at 1pm on the dot so that was convenient. The tour guide was knowledgable, spoke decent English and did a good job of stating the facts without any undertone of animosity towards the white folk on the tour.

Hmm maybe I should back up. Some of you probably don't know what Cape Coast Castle is... so lets do a quick history lesson. The fort was initially built by the Swedes but was made into a castle by the British occupation in Ghana in 1665. The castle became a glorified holding prison for captives who were to be shipped out as slaves. The British would cause intertribal wars solely to take possession of the war prisoners to sell into slavery. Children were kidnapped or forcibly removed from homes. Some people basically pawned their family members to get guns/ammunition  to defend themselves with the intention to pay back the British and get their family members back. Rarely could they afford the required duty fee to do so.

 Photos of the Castle

The Obamas came here in 2009 to see the castle and pay their respects. 

There's a wreath in one of the dungeons that they left to honor Michelle's ancestors.

It was a somber yet very educational tour. We went into the men's dungeon first. It was dark, damp, and had only three small windows through which the only light and air came in. We were told about 1000 men were kept in there at a time in shackles. There was a trough in the middle of each room which was intended to remove urine and excrement (and from what we were told, did a poor job of that given the volume of people it was "serving"). From there we saw some tombs of fallen British people who lived at the Castle as well as the minister who ran the church at the castle. Next, we went up to see the cannons that defended the castle against foreign ships.

We went to the women's dungeon next which was two smaller rooms rather than the one long narrow room for the men. Apparently, the governor of the castle got to select the better looking women to be in one room and the rest in the other. He then selected from the "good looking dungeon" when he wanted to take advantage of a woman and then sent her back to her dungeon.

Some of the wreaths in the male dungeon. This room had the entrance to the tunnel, 

which has now been walled off to signify the end of slavery.

Probably the most heart wrenching part of the castle was the exit. The men had a long underground tunnel that ran the length of the fort and then they came out over by the women's dungeon. They exited the fort through a very narrow door, above which is a sign labeled "The Door of No Return". What awaited them on the other side? The 3-4 month journey on a ship to the Americas. From capture to arrival in the Americas, approximately half of the prisoners would die. Many due to illness, poor conditions, lack of food, but, the most inhumane to me was that they would toss people overboard by random... solely to lighten the load of the boat when in a particularly hard to navigate part of the journey.

The other side of the Door of No Return where the ships would have been.

In an effort to have a positive paragraph in this post, there was a family who came back to Cape Coast Castle in the 1990s. They had an ancestor who had been fortunate and able to survive the hardships of both the journey and slavery itself. They brought him around to the door and walked him back through it back into the Castle, after which they hung a plaque outside that states "The Door of Return".

Upon finishing the tour, we went to the small museum and then had some lunch at a little place on the ocean. After lunch, we hopped back in the car with Frazier for the ride home. We hit a lot of traffic on the way back so it took longer to get home than it took to get there. We like getting out of Accra and seeing what the country has to offer but it's often difficult without a vehicle. All three of us enjoyed the Castle and the educational value of the experience. We got cleaned up and then went to a Japanese place for dinner. All in all it was a good day.

Austin's Here!

Austin has been here for almost a week and a half now. He came to visit us and see what this whole life in West Africa thing is like. Last week was pretty laid back as it takes some time to get over jet lag and get your tummy used to the food here.

We went out for authentic Ghanaian food one night and ordered a whole smorgasbord of stuff: grilled chicken, goat stew, banku (fermented corn that tastes a little sour. It's a dough consistency and you rip off pieces to dip in the soup), grilled tilapia, jollof rice, and kelewele (fried plantains). Another night we tried a Spanish tapas place. The food there was just okay but it's in a cool spot. It's called Afrikiko, and I gather it's an event space. They do salsa dancing there once a week. There's a few restaurants around including the Spanish one we went to, a Thai place and I believe one other one.

Thursday night Hannah and Robin invited us out to a drink at this bar on the water. It doesn't look like much when you park but you go down quite a few stairs and there's a bar just on the water. There's big rocks behind it and the water slams into them and sprays into the air. It's pretty neat to go in the evening and see the stars and hear the waves. We all thought it would be a cool sunset spot. Friday night, some of Dan's coworkers came over. We had some drinks, ordered take out for dinner, and watched some movies.

Saturday afternoon we went to Labadi Beach. Dan and I had never been but we had heard there are a bunch of restaurants on the beach and it's a big party. Just walking out to the beach gets you hounded by a ton of people trying to get you to sit at their spot. We kept walking until we found one we liked. The big downfall is that people are allowed to approach you to sell stuff so it's pretty much a constant flow of people coming by with various things. But the beach was beautiful and the waves were impressive. The water was too cold by Dan and my standards but Austin went in for awhile (and proceeded to save a child who had drifted out too far and was having a panic attack).

Here's some photos of the beach (and yes that's a horse on the beach in the first photo. They also sell beach horseback rides haha):

Seeing all the different restaurants/huts made it clear that it must really pick up in the evenings and become a dance party. We definitely didn't stay that late, but we enjoyed our afternoon. A woman came by with a bunch of fruit so we got a pineapple and a mango that she peeled and cut for us. Austin and I got coconuts as well.

We came home and got cleaned up and Hannah and Robin came over for dinner. We watched some movies and the guys had a guys night out. I've been fighting a cold and Hannah's been fighting jet lag since returning from the US so the women called it an early night. They were back over on Sunday around noon to watch the Wimbledon final (since they don't have a functional TV).

All in all, I think it was a good first week for his visit to Ghana.

Quick stopover in Dar Es Salaam...

...en route back home to Ghana. After our time in Zanzibar had come to an end, we flew back across to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. We thought we would spend a day or two there similar to what we did in Addis Ababa. We arrived around 4pm on Friday and promptly got stuck in afternoon traffic on the way through downtown out to Oyster Bay.

Oyster Bay is a lovely area that appears to be a somewhat new development. We stayed at the DoubleTree hotel on the water and had a lovely view from our room. After checking in we walked next door to the Slipway hotel which had a cute outdoor market of some shops and restaurants. Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, we sat down at a restaurant on the water and had an early dinner and some Tanzanian beer (aptly named Tusker and Kilimanjaro).

After lunch/dinner (lunner? dinch?), we browsed the shops a little and then headed back to our hotel for a rest. On Saturday, we woke up and Dan indulged my desires to visit an art centre. One of Tanzania's famous artists was Edward Tingatinga. When I was doing research on what to do in Dar, I stumbled upon the TingaTinga Art Centre. We took a little motorized-golf-cart-looking-thing (yes, that's the technical term) over to the art centre.

I wasn't sure what to expect aside from the photo I found online:

photo credit: here

We walked in and it actually smelled of acrylic paint. There were artists painting while we walked through, all of whom were very nice. Per the lady who was helping us, there are approximately 60 artists who work at the centre and were all trained in various styles including Tingatinga. There were a number of paintings done on stretched canvases that were hung on the walls or leaning in stacks against the walls. Additionally, there were rows and rows of stacked canvas that were available for purchase as well. I was completely overwhelmed.

We decided it best to buy items that weren't stretched so that they would be easier to transport home. We could always get them restretched and framed when we get back to the States but they would be less likely to get damaged if they were rolled and safely packed in our luggage. After some debating and decision making, we picked out two pieces that we liked. We also got a trio of colorful painted wood fish and an obligatory Christmas tree ornament. A little negotiation with the woman and we were on our way back to the hotel with some neat souvenirs.

We went back to Slipway that afternoon and I found a hair salon. I creeped past the window to see if there were any patrons who were white (or had white clients in their chairs thus knew how to cut European hair). Luckily there were. I entered and a South African man came over to ask how he could help me. I asked for the price of a women's haircut and if he had any availability. He quoted me 50,000 shillings, about $25, and that he could take me right away. Boom. First haircut since London in April complete. Hooray!

We went to Cape Town Fish Market for dinner that evening and enjoyed a nice sunset. Had a glass of wine and some sushi before heading back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. We got up around midnight to finish packing and head to the airport for our 3:30am flight. A quick stopover in Addis and we got home safely around lunchtime. After unpacking we went to grab some food and groceries and relaxed at home to finish off our vacation before heading back to work on Monday.

2nd Anniversary in Zanzibar

After Addis Ababa, we flew to Dar Es Salaam and, after a chaotic run through the airport, we took a 15 minute flight to Zanzibar. We settled in at an all-inclusive resort on the Northeast side of the island. The first night, I intentionally left the curtains open so that we could see an Indian Ocean sunrise... it didn't disappoint. Not a bad view from bed.

We spent one afternoon by the hotel pool, one afternoon at the private beach, and our last full morning on a snorkeling excursion off of Mnemba island. The snorkeling was amazing. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were in Zanzibar and the snorkeling excursion was no different. It was actually very interesting how you could have your head above water and see the waves, feel the wind and the rain on your face and then you put your face into the water.... and it's so quiet and incredibly clear and there are fish everywhere. The biggest challenge is not touching the reef because it's quite shallow. You could position yourself in a deeper spot but the current could carry you quickly so you had to be vigilant of what was beneath you often. Luckily, no one got attacked by spiky sea urchins so we consider it a victory. I wish I had brought some sort of underwater camera because it was truly beautiful.

Hanging out by the pool

View from our Room

The food was really good, especially for an all-inclusive resort. The main restaurant had a different cuisine offering each evening which we thought was nice and a good way to keep guests from getting bored of the same fare all the time. There was also a pool bar, a beachfront restaurant, and a separate restaurant which had really nice grilled seafood. One of my favorite spots was the Jetty bar. They served tapas and drinks and it was a really nice spot to watch the "moonrise" since the sunset was actually completely behind us by that point.

Jetty Restaurant

Despite the weather, we had a great time and the hotel was really nice. After a few days of rest and relaxation, it was time to start our way back home with a quick stopover in Dar Es Salaam.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - so much more than just a fun phrase to say...

We arrived in Addis Ababa around 9pm on Saturday night. By the time we got through paying for our visa and the Disney World-esque queue at Immigration, we finally arrived at our hotel around 11pm. We had a quick bite and went to bed. First impressions of Ethiopia: it rains a lot, the air is incredibly clean and Addis is quite high in elevation (2400 meters... that's higher than Denver).

A few weeks ago, we signed up for a food and market tour with a company called "Addis Eats". We met the tour guide at a coffee shop called Oh Canada at 11am. It was incredibly Canadian. Maple leafs all over the place with a massive Ottawa Senators flag hanging proudly from the ceiling. Who would've thunk? We met Genet, our tour guide, and another woman named Els (from the Netherlands who had been living in Nairobi for the last 6 years) who was also coming on the tour.

Off we went to the Shola market (which is quite a bit smaller and less overwhelming than it's 'Mercado' counterpart). We saw raw coffee beans, fruits and vegetables, live chickens, fabrics, etc. Unfortunately, many shops were closed since it was Sunday. We learned a lot about the culture of Ethiopia just in that half hour as Genet explained the gender roles and how only men are allowed to kill the chickens. So, if a woman is unmaried or has no man at her home, she has one of the men at the market kill it for her. After our quick muddy walk through the market, we moved on to the good part... The food.

We went to a bunch of places, all of which would not have been found by a tourist. The first place we had injera, which is a spongey pancake like thing the size of a large pizza. It's surprisingly light in texture due to the grain, teff, which they use to make it. One side is smooth but the other side has nooks and crannies like an English muffin. You then put different stew-like things on it, one made of lentil, one of chickpea, another slightly more spicy with chili but all of it vegetarian. The method is to use only your right hand (left is used for wiping in the bathroom so it is not to be used while eating), rip a piece of the injera, lay flat on top of some sauce, and then pinch to allow the pockets to absorb the stew. Last challenge is trying to get it all in your mouth without touching your lips. We had never had this traditional Ethiopian dish before, but both agreed it was our favorite of the day.

Next stop was a beef place that was packed with people. Genet ordered a very small portion of raw beef for us to try as it is very common. Dan and I had one or two pieces but decided it wasn't for us. We then got a large platter of cooked beef with injera and some chili sauce/spices. That was much more up our alley.

After beef, we went to a seafood place and had fried tilapia. It was cooked really well and seasoned with just lime juice. Next was a coffee shop where the coffee ceremony was performed. The entire ceremony takes about 2 hours from start to finish as all Ethiopians roast their own beans at home. As that takes quite a bit of time, we skipped to the boiling of the already roasted and ground beans. The coffee was strong but very good. Once served, we each got a sprig of sweet basil which we were told to stir our coffee with to lessen the bitterness.

Last but not least we went to a juice bar. We had a juice prepared with mango, pineapple, avocado and papaya. No ice, just pure flesh of fruit puréed in a blender. It was about $2 per glass and Dan and I promptly made jokes about the hipsters in San Francisco who would be charging 7x as much and claiming it was for the ambiance.

After all that, we said our goodbyes and Genet gave us the takeaway bag we purchased when we originally registered. We got three different bags of whole bean Ethiopian coffee and a souvenir coffee pot, which we were told not to actually boil coffee in haha.

While our time in Ethiopia was short, we learned quite a bit about the culture and were very glad we stopped there. Dan made an excellent point that he would have lumped Ethiopia in with Kenya, Tanzania as another East African countries. It's clear the sense of pride that Ethiopians have for their culture, and their food. Thankfully, they are more than willing to share that love with foreigners like us.