One of our favorite things about Elko is that we were practically a stone’s throw away from the grocery store. If we needed something, we just stopped on our way to or from work. On the weekends, we spent a couple of hours doing our entire shopping. Not so much here. This is like any big city, and shopping for groceries is at least a 3-4 hour event, and that is if you just need some milk for your cereal! Not only is the traffic unbelievable, but there are multiple stores to visit. OK….to be honest, if I wasn’t looking for particular items; namely inexpensive fruits and vegetables and American products, one stop would probably do.
My first official shopping trip was taken with Michelle, and thank God for her! She knew all the right places to go, and had great advice for me. After buying a $10 head of lettuce at a grocery store, I found a much more reasonable fresh fruit and vegetable stand. I was able to purchase a big basket of food for just 20 GHC (cedis - equivalent to $13 US dollars). The assortment was quite large and I was able to buy apples, mangos, green onions, avocados, star fruit, carrots, a cantaloupe, and some limes. You should see the size of the avocados – they are three times as big as U.S. fruit. Once you cut into it you find the pit inside is also three times as large, so the overall amount of fruit you get is not as much as you might think. Once I brought them home, my maid simply washed them up, and they were ready to eat. I bought just a sample of the variety offered. The stand also had watermelon, honeydew, lettuce, onions, peppers, potatoes….I was delighted!
I randomly find American products such as Ramen soup (yea Taylor….you can come and visit me and still eat!), Uncle Ben’s rice, Ritz crackers, and Rice Krispies. So, when I see something I recognize, I purchase it, as you never know when they might carry it again! There are lots of products that come from Lebanon, consequently, the labels are in Lebanese. It’s sort of a crap shoot on what you are buying.
There is this one little store called “The Hacienda,” and from time to time they get shipments in from Sam’s Club. Michelle is on their “text messaging” list and so when they get a shipment in, she’ll receive a text. This is the store where I found Welch’s Grape Jelly! Yippee! Now I can eat my peanut and butter sandwiches!!
South African meat is probably the best meat you can find in Accra. Again, there is a little store, “Stellar’s Catering” that has a variety of meat, chicken, pork and fish. All of the meat is imported and they receive their shipment at the first of the month. I was able to buy some bacon, rib eyes, t-bones, and pork chops. We’ll see how they taste over the next few weeks.
Oh, the all-important alcohol. Well, you can buy just about any flavor of alcohol you want, but wine appears to be a favorite; especially red wines. I did find a reisling, but have yet to try a glass. We’ve been drinking Star beer, but was tipped off at a party the other night….Ghanaian brewerys are not the most sterile places. In fact, this gentleman called Star, “malaria in a bottle.” I quickly switched to Heineken – why tempt fate?
Dave and I attempted to go to a furniture/grocery store on Saturday, and decided that might be the last time we do that. What should have been a quick jaunt down the street to grab some food and check out some furniture ended up being a three hour car ride! We had to go by the mall, and as is typical at any mall, Saturdays are BUSY! The advice we have been given is if you want to go to the store on the weekend, do it on Sunday at 11 a.m. That’s when everyone is in church. Hey! Maybe I should be there with them! God knows we could all use some spirituality and prayer….especially in West Africa!
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