March 25
So in case you’re wondering why I have time to post all of a sudden – at the end of my vacation no less – it’s because I decided to pass the last couple of days in a western style hotel (the Ramada, but don’t tell anyone) on the coast just on the outskirts of Accra. After a road trip from central Mali to southern Ghana that began Sunday and ended yesterday, I decided I have no energy left. While a buzzing city of 2 million beckons just beyond the confines of this hotel by the sea, I’m overcome by inertia. This place is beautiful. Nice food. Gorgeous pool. Palm trees. Almost no one here (end of the tourist season). Spacious, air conditioned rooms. Best of all, no dust. My nose works once again. I’m not drinking 5 litres of water a day.
But it’s SO dull. Where’s the traffic and congestion? Where’s the rabble-rousing street vendors? Where are the goats, cows and sheep that normally roam everywhere? Where are their landmine-like droppings that I’m usually trying to avoid stepping into? Where’s the carnival-like music or bleatings of radio evangelists that is normally blasting at 11,000 decibels out of minibus taxis and streetside shops for everyone to hear?
Wait a minute…there is music here at the hotel complex. Of sorts. Yes. The staff here have created a musical purgatory, actually. Why, just today over lunch I heard these gems:
You Needed Me – Anne Murray; Heaven – Bryan Adams; Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper; Lay You Down – Bon Jovi; Milkshake – Kelis; Alcohol – Brad Paisley
And this is from one single radio station here in Accra. Oh the horror. I leave the pool to go to the reception area. But the music is there too. I hole myself up in the business centre so I can work on my blog – and it’s here too. I can’t imagine that the Ghanaian staff likes this music. Are they playing it for me?
It’s probably a $15 taxi ride into the city but I think I need to get out of here before I lose my mind. Until nightfall I’m going to camp out in my hotel room and watch Al-Jazeera in English.
sedativegunk 