Well, after deciding to stay here for 6 more months, I’ve kind of allowed myself to settle into a rut out here for while. After the first two months here, travelling around as much as possible and doing everything touristy that I got wind of, I’ve spent this month relaxing at the beach, buying small things to make my room feel more lived in, and just spending time hanging out with the friends I’ve made out here. Seems like most of the out-of-towners here don’t stray far from their circle of friends when meeting new people, so it’s a pretty close-knit group. That’s great if you’ve been here a while, because they’ve all had plenty of time to go on trips outside the city together, and are now content to just visit the places they know and like. I’ve been pushing to plan a big trip and get everyone outside the city again, as I’m starting to get stir crazy. I plan to take a trip to Liberia, although that involves some jumping through hoops with all the necessary paperwork. A few friends went out to Safari beach a couple weekends ago (farther west than Cape Coast), and from the pictures they brought back I’ll have to visit there. And finally, a trip to Volta lake, and the mountains in the nearby region, hopefully that’s something I can get everyone to go on.
Lately though, it’s been pretty quiet here, nothing worth writing home about (one of the big reasons why there hasn’t been much writing home going on). Days after my decision to stay, all my upstairs housemates left for 10 days, first to Nairobi and then to Tanzania. Nairobi looks like it’s an amazing city, with skyscrapers on the skyline and giraffes within driving distance. Sara returned after that, and Mark went on to Vietnam.
All their travelling kind of slowed my immediate plan, which was to get some personal transport so I could get myself around town without having to constantly haggle with cab drivers. As part of my agreement to stay I asked Mark for a motorcycle, and spent a weekend shopping for one. I wanted something that could get me around town, but that could also take trips out of the city. So, that meant something small enough to fit between cars in busy Accra traffic (motorcycles are exempt from most all traffic laws), but big and rugged enough to handle longer distances on less-paved roads. Anyway I’m completely clueless about motorcycles, so I did the best I could finding something to fit those criteria, and that was also small enough that I wouldn’t like a total midget when riding it. Here’s what I settled on:
Which was immediately shot down by Mark when he returned. I was able to enjoy riding it all of 3 times (and burning my leg on the engine) before it was returned to the mechanic. Still haven’t quite figured out what he didn’t like about it, but basically I think he’s going to force me to buy something exactly like his. More news on this as it progresses.
Two weeks ago, I managed to get malaria again. I think it’s easier to catch when your immune system is already beat down, and I’d had a bit of a cold. That pretty much always happens to me when the weather changes, and the rainy season is coming here. By the way, that rule about how it always rains on the day you wash your car? Also true for washing clothes, if you hang them out to dry outside. Anyway, I caught the malaria again very early. They have a fancy numbering system for how progressed one’s case is, I had “+1” which is the mildest possible rating. All I had to do was walk to the pharmacy, buy myself some meds, and I was better in a few days. Ah, the joys of pharmacies that don’t require prescriptions. What could possibly go wrong if we did that in the states?
And one final piece of news, I’m legal again. I carelessly allowed my tourist visa to expire, mostly because I didn’t realize how simple it would be to renew it. I figured it’d be more difficult to convince an immigrations offices that someone could legitimately be a tourist in the same African country for 6 months straight, but apparently as long as you pay the fee they don’t ask too many questions. It helps that a few Busylab employees had dealt with one of these officers before, and with some extra bribe money spread around, I got a 3-month extension (I’ll leave the country and come back in before then), and no hassles for being illegal for the past month. Not nearly as big of an adventure as I expected it to be. Funniest thing about immigrations is definitely the entrance:
They mean business with that “Vehicles only” message. If you accidentally walk through the larger gate, which is seldom allowing entry to a vehicle and is always open, they make you walk back out and then back in through the proper entrance. Somehow this all seems less silly when the person telling you to do it has an AK-47. But it’s still a little silly.
So, until I embark on another trip, I’ll try and make more regular updates about the little things about living out here that make it interesting. I think that’ll mostly just require keeping my camera on me more often (for instance, I would’ve loved to have my camera yesterday to take a picture of the “I Heart Texas” graffiti on an overpass I drove by yesterday), and of course once I get some permanent transportation I’ll be able to see more around here that’s worth sharing.
If you’re a geek, have a java-enabled phone, know how to download and install an app on said java-enabled phone, and are interested in seeing what’s kept me too busy to blog or do anything worth blogging about (is there anyone reading this that fits all those criteria?), www.tradenet.biz/mobile allows you to download a version of my mobile app, customized to a country of your choosing. Nothing breathtakingly exciting yet, but definitely progress! Rather than doing my own thing, I’m becoming more integrated with the work everyone else is doing, and it’s been nice.
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