Day 11: Travel from Accra to Cairo & summary of Ghana (January 18, 2011)

I'm writing from the plane on my way to Cairo, and will post when I'm at the hotel tonight. I've discovered I can actually sleep on airplanes, maybe because I feel such relief when my planes actually take off. Not relief about leaving places (at least not yet) but relief that another logistical hurdle has passed without problems. Accra's airport was pretty comfortable. Plain, but plenty of room and some amenities like snack bars. And since I'm comparing security checkpoints as I go, the system here was walk through a metal detector, get a simple patdown (no one's grabbing anyone's junk here!) and if your bag set off the detector (like mine did, being full of electronic equipment), it gets a cursory hand inspection. I didn't see anything more invasive than that.

From the plane, I just watched the sun set over the Saraha Desert. I hadn't counted on seeing anything cool from the airplanes, but I hope to see more sights as cool as that!

So, Ghana. I won't know until the end of the journey how much I liked it relative to other countries, but I'm certainly glad I saw it. I already mentioned some of the stuff I didn't like... how poor it was, how little I understood how to do anything basic like flag down a cab, etc. (Althought that last bit is more ME than Ghana.) But I suspect that there will be few other countries where so many locals just want to chat with me. I've been to Europe 5 times and never once did I have a local just want to chat for a while, let alone walk around with me or socialize over a beer. As a solo traveler depending on single-serving friends, the willingness of Ghanaians to be nice was really great.

I really liked the food, and the art and music, although I wish there had been more of both of the latter. And I like old buildings that are full of history.  Ghana is not loaded with those, but I saw several, and they were very different from anything I've seen before.  And Ghana certainly met my definition of "different from home" which I know a lot of countries won't do as much.

Once or twice it annoyed me when people wanted money from me because I was a rich American, but that was not a constant bother. And only one person tried to outright rip me off (a cab driver who tried to double charge another passenger and I). But we stood up to that pretty easily, and took pleasure in pissing him off.

And I sure would have liked there to be some kind -- any kind -- of orientation about the place. Like, brochures at the airport, or a sign at a bus stop listing some things to see in the area. Or a map in a visible place. Unless you have a computer handy or really get to know the locals and the area, finding things to see is hard. Now, if you're content to just wander around or jump on a tro-tro and see what happens, Ghana is a great place. I'm somewhere in between, I guess. I like to wander but eventually I like to find something. And the finding it was moderately hard here!

Another plus: I sneezed a total of maybe 3 times the entire 9 days in Ghana, so the climate clearly agrees with me, at least during the dry season. As someone whose screen name on the internet is usually SneezyG, that was a nice little perk.

Would I go back? Probably. I only saw a very small slice of the country and I'd certainly find it more comfortable on a future trip, since I'd be familiar with some customs, how much things cost, etc. Will I go back? Probably not, but more because there will always be new places to see, rather than because I had enough. Overall, good job, Ghana!

I can't let myself wonder if I created the "perfect" itinerary, because of course no itinerary will never be perfect. And even if the initerary is bad, it should still be pretty good (kind of like sex?). I am wondering, though, if I will routinely find myself growing comfortable with a new place just as I'm about to leave it, and if scheduling a little more time in each location would have been smarter. Oh well, if I was looking for comfort I just would have just toured Ohio for four months. :)