A long, long time ago, in a city far, far away, I went on a pretty cool adventure and then got really lazy and took over a month to write about this adventure... But at long last, I am coming to tell the story of my adventures in the land of Accra!
Accra is the capital of Ghana, located about 150 miles, and 5 to 6+ hours, from where I reside in Kumasi. Kumasi is a very large city and it is fairly developed as well. However, compared to Accra, Kumasi is a small village, years behind in its development. Before my weekend trip to Accra, I had only passed through briefly and I never really got to see much of the city. This trip was very interesting and it was a lot of fun. We traveled down to Accra to hang out with some friends we had made while at the Village of Hope(a bunch of goofy college kids). On Friday we got to Accra in the early evening and met up with our friend Enoch. He took us to their school where we met up with our other friends, Phillip, Ato, Derrick, Joshua, and Caleb, and we got a tour of the school, even meeting the president. It was a cool school, very small but a nice campus. After touring the school, we headed to a very large, very nice hotel where there was a very big High Life concert going on. High Life is a genre of music originating here in Ghana, that is kind of like pop, with hints of jazz, raggae, hip hop and other genres. I guess it was a very famous Ghanaian musician playing at the hotel, although I have never heard of him, and don't even remember the name... But anyways, the music was pretty good, although it wasn't my favorite, and it wasn't entirely captivating. After awhile, me and a few other of our friends went inside the hotel to the "Jazz Bar". This place was soo nice, I couldn't believe I was still in Ghana. It was such an awesome atmosphere and the room was dimly lit with a very small stage up front. It was quite an intimate venue for a concert, and the vibe of the place was very much Jazz Bar-like. After a few minutes, a keyboarder and a drummer went up to the front(about 10 feet in front of the red leather couches we occupied) and started playing some really funky tunes. They just went on jamming for about 20 minutes or more, and I was blown away by the talent of the keyboarder. The drummer was great as well, but the guy rippin up the organ was just melting my brain with his very jazzy and funky keyboard playin. Then the bassist joined and very shortly after a horn player joined the gang. The next 2 hours were incredible, and I could not believe the talent of these jazz musicians. They were playing just straight jazz, and the style of their music was so complex and intriguing. The horn player switched between tenor alto and soprano sax. It was a ton of fun, and it was much needed because I was really having withdraws from the lack of live music. After staying at this place till about 11 30 we headed to the beach and ended up hanging out there until about 3 AM! It was a very fun night, and the time we got to spend with our friends was a great blessing.
The next day, Saturday, we went exploring the town a bit. After breakfast, we went to a couple souvenir/gift shops that had a ton of cool stuff, drums and paintings etc. We also went to a gelatto shop that was very similar to a coldstone in the US, except that the Italian ice cream blew coldstone away! We also got to go to a fast food restaurant that was 3 stories tall!! And full of people too! That evening, we met up with our friends Paul and Earnest, who were raised at Village of Hope, and we went to the mall to look around there. The mall in Accra is very nice; however, everything there is ridiculously expensive and you can really only shop there if you got some big money. But it was cool to walk around there, and check out the 2 grocery stores inside it. We ended up getting some pizza at one of the restaurants in the mall. After this we went back home and got to sleep at a much more reasonable hour that night. We went to church the next morning with Paul and Earnest. It was a church of Christ, located at the University of Ghana, which has a HUGE campus. The church service was really fun and it was a very upbeat worship service. After this we ate some lunch quick and then went to the bus station, where we waited about 2 hours for a bus! There was a big football match in Kumasi that day, so any bus that came filled up right away, and there were very few buses that came. We finally got a bus and got back to Kumasi safely.
So this is how my exploration of Accra went, and I really hope to spend some time there again. It was a ton of fun and it was cool to see how different it is from Kumasi. Some parts of Accra could really pass as a town in the US! I didn't get many pictures of the city, unfortunately, but if when I visit there again, I will be sure to take a lot of photos.
I hope everyone has had a great thanksgiving. I actually got to celebrate a real thanksgiving with all the traditional food! But that will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day, because it is getting late and I'm getting sleepy!!!
I miss you all! even if I don't know you. And I appreciate the support and prayers you are all saying for me! God bless you all!
Much Love
Jordan
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