24. Travel to Africa

Here are some random thoughts I wrote down in my phone to tell you
about Ghana (I'll write about days 3-5 of Ghana in the next post):

They have signs everywhere that say: "This land is not
for sale. Please keep off." What does that mean? What does it being
for sale or not have anything to do with trespassing?

I'm still unsure of how to say Accra (some natives say
ahhh-cra or ahhh-craw, and some SASers say ack-ra).

"Do Russians have a problem telling the truth? This and
more stories up next on 90.5." What?? This was said on a radio
station playing in the taxi. Unfortunately I didn't get to listen to
the entire story.

The Mormons. Exactly the same in America (I hate saying
America. It actually drives me nuts but that's what everyone here
calls it).

They are in love with Obama. One person asked how he was
doing (as if I hang out with him everyday). Hands down they know more
about him than we do.

There are quite a few Mercedes-Benz's around. Most of
the tro tros (their bus/van/public transport system) are MB's.

Obruni means white person. You get called it a lot when
you're in the villages. Some of the kids chant. "Obruni obruni.
Hello. How are you? I am fine. Thank you."

The trips to the castle and slave dungeons (offered
through SAS) had a police escort through the bad traffic of Accra.
Not only did we already stand out by being in a huge coach bus,
looking/acting like tourists, and just being white in general but we
also had to inconvenience every other person on the road during that
time.

Speaking of police, they are very corrupt in Ghana. Many
people talked about how if the taxi was pulled over (or more often at
a checkpoint) for having too many people in it, the police officer
would name they're price and the driver would pay it and be off. One
of the taxi drivers explicitly told SASers (who were trying to fit
extra people in the cab) that if they got caught they were responsible
for paying the police officer off (which they did get caught). The
sad thing is Ghana is actually relatively low on the corruption list
produced by the Transparency Commission (which is good).

PS. By the end of my time in Zumba I will know how to shake my butt.
And if not, then I should be shot. ( I realize for only being ½ hour
out of my day I mention Zumba a lot)