Author Archives: Jessica

First Days

Posted on by under Africa, Ghana

Last night, I spent about 30 minutes relying random events of the day on the phone. The first day was a blur of several, seemingly unrelated events. I’ll start from the beginning. I woke up at 7am to a luke warm (thankfully, not cold) shower and was picked up a 8am. I had nescafe, apparently Blue Bottle doesn’t have an Accra outpost. The farm, just outside of Accra and east Legon (the upper-class region of Accra-house prices near 350k US). The farm itself is huge, with animals roaming around. Side thought, when returning to the US do I have to declare I’ve spent time on a farm? If yes, what will they do to me? There are quite a few goats, much smaller than the US variety, and the newborns are beyond cute (I can keep one in my room right?). Accra is very industrial and congested, so the farm is a great refuge.

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Arrival

Posted on by under Africa, Ghana

After a fairly uneventful 10 (not 8 as I for some reason thought) ride from DC to Accra, we arrived.  Given there was only minor plane-sickness (me) and an almost lost passport (almost), we made it easily through security and got our bags (not lost!).

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The Importance of a Sandwich

Posted on by under Africa, Food, Ghana

Sitting in the DC airport, excessively early. Excessive being, a great understatement. It’s so early in fact, we can’t even go through security. In part because the heat index is in the triple digits, and in part because we didn’t feel like trekking through the city with our backpacks. Mostly, though, it’s hot-and humid enough to rid ourselves of any semblance of cleanliness, something I personally hold onto as much as possible when traveling. Though the inevitable takes over sooner or later. My travel companion has taken to mid-terminal dancing to the instrumental hits of the 90’s playing overhead. We cope how we can.

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En Route: Accra

Posted on by under Africa, Ghana

In T-10 hours we’ll be on our DC-Accra redeye. Now, we’re in D.C. on a 24 hour layover. Which, I haven’t ever done, on purpose anyway (reluctantly remembering the Atlanta stopover after Peru), and I have to admit, I really like it. A chance to regroup (and shower) before the international leg, which is a an easy eight-hour flight that I hopefully will sleep through.  So far this hasn’t felt like an absurd international trek, rather two easy flights, neither of which involve getting up early or spending 20 hours in planes/airports. I think this is a method to keep. Plus, it minimizes the probability of lost luggage, though Accra has a bit of a history with this, so we’ll see.

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