February 14, 2001

Of course, all work and no play would not be the Ghanaian way. On Saturday, I had the great opportunity to go to the big market (Makola) with Ethan, the founder of Geekcorps who was in town and wanted to do some last minute shopping, and his friend, Fortune. Fortune really knows her way around a market and the negotiations that are difficult for me to get the hang of. I wanted to watch Fortune in action, and it was great. Ethan got some wonderful batik cloth and antique beads. He also got a big bag of gari (a kind of dried cassava flakes) for a Ghanaian friend back in the States, and special "sher" butter to condition his xylophone which he brought back to the States on an earlier trip to Ghana. At the end of it all, we stopped at the table of a couple coconut vendors. These guys are just amazing to watch. With big machetes, they knock off all the husk of the coconut, and then just tap off the top of the shell so you can drink the coconut milk. After you've done that, you give them back the coconut, and they whack it into pieces so that you can eat the coconut flesh. You can ask for the coconut "hard" or "soft", the flesh of the latter being kind of jellied. I opted for "hard", but I will have to try the soft variety sometime. At 600 cedis a whole coconut (about 8 cents), I could afford to give it a try! I think these guys could come to South Beach and set up business--tourists to Florida would snap these fresh coconuts up... just like tourists in Ghana!

Next it was back to Geekhalla to prepare for Tomas' 27th birthday party. We all invited our work partners, and we expected other random guests, since Ethan was inviting everyone in Accra, down to the shoeshine boy. First a word (or more!) about Tang: all the geeks are addicted to it. It helps with the flavor of plain tap water, and its chemical components are good for rehydration. We started out with a jar of orange Tang, which was everybody's favorite. When it ran out, we could only find other fruit flavors: pineapple (Jean-Luc and I are partial to this), mango (not unpopular), and strawberry (universally hated). We still haven't tried peach-apricot, but I am scouring the stores for more orange, and also for Gatorade powder, which we finished off pretty quickly. I think my dentist, Dr. Bade, is going have some new business from me when I get back... Ethan's gift to Tomas was vodka in cans (also pictured), which he thought would go well with strawberry Tang. Voltic is the mineral water most preferred (since it's Ghanaian, it's not outrageously expensive, like Volvic or Evian. We actually drink boiled tap water most of the time, which is germ-free, but not necessarily good-tasting...hence the necessity of Tang.

Accra Dispatch - page 3