Getting to work ….

5:00 am comes early when you head to bed at 1:00 a.m. but it can’t be helped as it’s the only time I seem to be able to get a constant internet connection without dropping.  We’re finding that a connection will last 5-10 minutes at most and downloading Lotus Notes is nearly impossible so I’ve resorted to partial downloads only of documents coming in for the project.

Now that I’ve figured out the hot water tank in my room, my morning routine is pretty smooth.  Breakfast is quite another thing though.  Most mornings, I’m the first to arrive for breakfast around 6:15 and I enjoy the morning sun and solitude at the breakfast table.  But arriving first for breakfast doesn’t mean you get your order first…the waiters are still getting to know our names and faces so most times Kerstin (who also has dark brown hair) gets my order or vice versa.  We laughed this morning as I was eating off of Joanne’s plate and waited a total of 45 minutes for my one slice of toast and jelly when it finally arrived at 6:58.  Our drivers (we have 2 drivers, Achampong and Yao) were to pick us up at 7:00 am. 

Our trip into the office in Accra takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to travel (20 kms).  The first 12 kms is smooth sailing on the highway until you hit the Tetequarshie Circle where traffic comes to a hault.  Tetequarshie Circle is named after the first man who brought cocoa to Ghana many years ago.  Mr. Tetequarshi came from a village in eastern Ghana called Mampong. Cocoa was previously was not something that grew in Ghana but is now a major export for the country.

From Tetequarshie Circle it takes another hour and a bit to get through the maze of roads, turnarounds and traffic circles to get to the office.  The roads are a mixture of vans, cars and pedestrians…there are no sidewalks generally speaking.  Traffic moves so slowly that its “sort of safe” for pedestrians (I remember our briefing materials saying “run across the road so you won’t get hit”…and they were serious!). Mass transit comes in the form of vans (they call them buses) that carry people into the city.  The vans only go if full so if it’s not a busy time of the day you could wait quite a while at your bus stop.

When we get into the thick of the city we pass a few embassies and businesses which have high security walls around them.  They are nicely white washed walls with wrought iron gates and generally some type of barbed wire deterrent on the wall tops.  There are also some very nice homes along the main highway from Tema in a community called Spintex.  Large homes likely 3000+ sq. ft. 

We also see a lot of children walking to school at 7 a.m. (boys wear shorts and pressed shirts while girls wear dresses).  Each school has a different uniform and all are brightly coloured.  At one particular school in Tema near the hotel we see the boys training at the soccer field.  Most mornings they are running laps with car tires tied to ropes and dragging behind them.  They’re moving at about a 4 and a half to 5 minute pace.  No wonder some of the African countries are home to some of the world’s fasted runners! 

As we drive through the city you notice one street in contrast to the next.  I’m learning that contrast is very much part of this culture but I will save that topic for another blog.  One street has large homes or businesses and the other huts and shelters that are for shops and/or homes.  The huts are made of wood, with and without floors and have swing doors that open up so that the entire front of the hut is open to the public. 

When we get closer to the office we pass the Bridge Market which is a very crowded outdoor market area along a main waterway in the city.  Just after the bridge we turn off the street…a short cut through a field into the office parking lot.  It was a short ride but the ruts were pretty bad so I was glad to be in a truck.  The short cut saved us about 10 minutes of traffic so it was worth it.

On the way home, it’s the same, only reversed but I notice that arriving back in Tema 2 hours later there is a distinctly rural feel here.  Although Tema has 500,000 people it’s very much like a small town.  There isn’t the same level of hustle and bustle, there’s a lot more grass in the yards and some open spaces between the houses.  It’s Home Sweet Home for the month.

Speaking of home….the weather here is generally a humid 90+ degrees and sunny.  There’s been no rain yet although there have been a few cloudy periods some days.  I’m pretty sure the weather isn’t quite so pleasant in Toronto. Sorry to rub it in guys but I have to say “I’m lovin’ the heat!”