Southern Italy? Before This....Only In My Dreams!

As so many know from my previous writings, living in Ghana has its distinct and unique challenges, especially for a couple who have never lived overseas, much less in a third-world country. Conversely, the compensation package Dave received includes things that assist us in dealing with those daily trials. The positively BEST piece of the package are the R&Rs. Since moving to Ghana we have visited:

Buckingham Palace in London

The Blarney Stone in Ireland

 

Spiders in the Puerto Rico Rain Forest

The Seychelle Islands where we
learned to scuba dive
 

The rim of the Ngorongoro Crater
in Tanzania

Zanzibar at sunset

Cape of Good Hope in
Cape Town, South Africa

 

Four Caribbean islands on a cruise

And Lake Tahoe with family.

 Now for the latest….Italy!


Each one of the trips have been unique in their own way and I loved every one of them. But, if I had to rank them and pick one place I could return, Italy would be at the very top.

On October 8^th, Dave and I boarded KLM for a red eye flight that would take us to Amsterdam and then on to Naples, Italy. The trip started out in typical Ghanaian fashion…..late. Our 10:50 p.m. flight was delayed until after midnight, missing our connecting flight in Amsterdam to Milan. In the end, our route was changed having us fly through Rome to Naples where we were picked up by a driver who took us to our final destination in Sorrento. The KLM flight was so much nicer than the Delta flight we take regularly between Accra and New York City. I laughed at Dave’s comparison, when he called the Delta airplane the “flying trotro.”

For me, sitting in the Rome airport was surreal. I just looked at Dave and said, “We are in Italy!”

Sorrento is a smaller town located in the southern part of Italy and sits on the Bay of Naples. The view was like looking at a postcard. It was stunning! The cliffs rise from the bay, and many of the buildings are constructed into the seawalls.

Our driver was telling us that the food in Sorrento tastes different than in other parts of Italy due to the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. Evidently, the volcanic ash and lava affect the water and makes everything touched by the water, tomatoes in particular, taste different. I would agree that everything in Sorrento had a more tomatoey taste than the dishes we ate as we travelled north to Rome and Florence.

We stayed at the Hotel Mediterraneo, a very comfortable place right on the bay. After having dinner in the rooftop restaurant we headed to bed as we were exhausted from our red eye flight.

The next day we had no set plans, and took off for a walk to the city center of Sorrento at which time we decided to head to the Amalfi Coast.

 

While waiting for the public transportation bus to arrive, we visited with a young couple from the Indiana and Michigan. She was a nurse and he was taking a semester off of his graduate studies in Health Information at the University of Michigan. They were travelling around Europe for a month, which to me was a very long time, but what made it even worse (in my mind) is that they simply went from place to place without a room reservation. Every day they checked out wherever they were and landed in what I presume was the cheapest accommodations. One night they spent on a train, and the young woman described it as a bit terrifying; even witnessing the robbery of luggage in the compartment next to them. Another evening they slept on the couch of some people they met while out and about. I hope their mothers don’t know what they’re doing!

We quickly lost sight of them as we crammed onto the bus bound for the Amalfi Coast. Sorrento is located on the western side of a peninsula. The Amalfi Coast stretches along the southern part of the peninsula, and I’ve been told it’s one of the most beautiful in the world. I would agree, to some extent. Trust me, it was so beautiful, but it was different than the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland which I would have to rank slightly above the Amalfi coastline. Primarily because the Cliffs are so pristine and untouched by humans, and the Amalfi coast is inhabited by people and businesses.

 

After visiting the Amalfi Church, one of many churches we would see in the next 10 days, we decided to try our first gelato.

Ironically, we probably ate as many gelato’s as we saw churches, but I rate this first scoop as the absolute best. My dad, who would probably eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if it was in any way considered healthy, told me, “There is no bad ice cream.” I agree, and yet I told him that gelato far exceeds any ice cream I’ve ever had. I wish I could have packed it up and brought a quart of it home for him to taste.

Our day had started late as we had slept in, so we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Amalfi, and decided to head back to Sorrento. While we waited for the next bus, we walked down the pier,

and overlooked the beach. While the coastline is awesome, this particular beach left a lot to be desired. It was essentially a gravel pit. (Check out those buildings literally built into the side of the cliff!)

We got a kick out of this couple who were making out “on the gravel.” I couldn’t resist taking their picture.

Did I forget to mention that we had taken public transportation from Sorrento to Amalfi? I thought the bus was packed on the way to the coast, but trying to get back was an adventure in and of itself! The act of just figuring out which of the many busses lined up would take us back was frustrating as the bus drivers were rude and unhelpful. We must have seen 4-5 busses pull out with people just packed into them. Finally we loaded up, but not before we saw two men almost get into a fist fight over seats!

By the time we got back to the main bus terminal in Sorrento it was raining, but luckily we timed our arrival perfectly so we were able to catch a ride on the hotel shuttle.

After a shower in the smallest shower ever - seriously, look at me in this shower; I’m 5’4” and somewhat petite. Dave wouldn’t let me take a picture of him in the shower - we headed off to dinner.

There was a good storm brewing with thunder and lightning, and by the time we left the hotel, it was raining. We grabbed an umbrella and walked across the street to a cozy, little restaurant. There were only about four or five tables inside, but they did have a covered porch out back, which overlooked the bay (not that we could see anything because it was pitch black outside with the storm). However, we wanted to enjoy the fresh air and the storm so we asked if we could sit out there, and joined two other couples in enjoying the storm.

We visited, ate some bread, drank some wine, and were appreciating the delicious gnocchi and rigatoni, when Dave noticed that the water on the porch was inching towards us. Later we would describe it as a mini (very mini) tsunami! As the water creeped towards us, we picked up our wine, plates, and silverware, and made for the restaurant. The other two couples quickly followed us, as we explained why were moving inside. Dave looked out the front of the restaurant and pointed out the water coming down the 12’ wide walkway in buckets. At the top of the street we could see water spewing out of the drain like a fountain. We sat down and continued eating - I’m telling you, it was yummy!  In under a minute, I noticed that the water was entering the restaurant….from BOTH sides! We had to put our feet up on chairs to keep them dry. We continued eating!

Several of the restaurant workers were on their cell phones. Since they were speaking in Italian I couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying, but in general I think it was something like, “HELP!” Next, the employees went to each of the doors, pulled up a 3’ metal gate, and then pulled down what appeared to be garage doors. We were trapped inside. The water continued to flow into the restaurant, in spite of the gate and doors. Dave looked at me and said, “It smells like sewer water. We need to go.” I agreed, but where was I going to go? He stood up, walked on his tippy toes towards the man standing at the cash register and said, “We’d like to leave.” The man looked at him like, “Are you CRAZY?” He informed Dave that we couldn’t leave until the rain subsided as they couldn’t open the doors. So, still on his tip toes, Dave walked back to our table, sat down, and began eating again. What are you gonna do?

Not more than ten minutes later, the rain stopped, the doors were opened, and help was on site. Three men, presumably the owners, came into the restaurant and they, along with the employees, began pushing the water out of the restaurant. This was obviously not their first rodeo. We were told that this happens each time it rains torrentially, which it had on this particular evening.

I laughed so much that night, especially every time I thought back to Dave telling the guy we wanted to leave!

The next day we woke to an overcast and rainy morning. After checking the weather report, we had some breakfast and then decided to just relax in our room until the wet weather passed. As I looked out over the bay that morning, I noticed two cruise ships that were moored just off of where we were located, and knew that the town of Sorrento would be bursting with tourists.

Later that day we wandered the streets of Sorrento, enjoying the gorgeous views. We briefly stopped in a Limoncello factory. Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur produced primarily in the Sorrento area. I had never even heard of Limoncello until Dave and I visited Ghana on our look-see, at which time we were served the liqueur after dinner at Michaelangelos.  It’s everywhere in Sorrento, as are the lemon trees.

Sorrento was bustling with all of the activity from the cruisers, but we managed to stroll our way through the otherwise quiet town. Before we left our hotel, I picked out a few places on the map I thought we might want to visit, one of which was an inlaid wood factory that our driver from the airport had mentioned. Walking away from the lively center of town, we found ourselves walking up this set up stairs to what appeared….really nowhere. And yet, we were at the Notturno Inlaid Wood Factory. Unless you were looking for it, you would walk right past.

I had no idea what inlaid wood was prior to our visit to the factory, but I came to appreciate its unique beauty immediately. Inlaid wood basically includes decorative and contrasting materials within a piece. I fell in love with the beautiful and enormous dining room tables. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, and even if we could, I’m not sure it could be appreciated without actually seeing. The biggest table was over €20,000 (that’s 20,000 euros or more than $35,000 USD)!

We settled on a nice, small, but still lovely piece - a jewelry box that plays a nice Italian melody.

Very often during the evenings after work, Dave surfs the net. One night he found a link on USA Today to some of the most magnificent pictures of nature that we’ve ever seen. As I was scrolling through them….dreaming of our next adventure….I came upon a familiar one!

As we were making our way back to the city center after making our purchase at the inlaid wood factory, I glanced over the side of the street and noticed this unique, and obviously, long-abandoned building. It was so fascinating and evidence of the power of nature.

We wandered back over to the coast, as the view was spectacular no matter where we went. We came upon a couple of weddings; the first in a very old church right on the coastline. Based on their accents, it was an Australian wedding. The second was just getting set up as we made our way through the church. I’ll bet Sorrento is a destination wedding!

The streets throughout Sorrento are narrow, which is why there are so many motorcycles and Smart Cars!

 

We wrapped up our stay in Sorrento by watching a picturesque sunset.

Next stop, Pompeii.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ghanaian Traffic

I’ve written about it before, but sometimes I just have to write more. Traffic in Accra. It’s like none other. I’ve driven in the largest U.S. cities and have never experienced what we go through every single day….although some days are worse than others.

Accra Ghana is mass chaos, with a strange element of organization and respect. It’s not often that I witness road rage, which is not to say that I’m not feeling it daily! In fact, one of the things that just annoys me more than anything are the police vehicles, and sometimes just the police is their personal cars and trucks. It’s not only common, but it’s accepted practice that while everyone else is sitting at a standstill in traffic, the police have more important things to do and places to be, and so they just make their own lane of traffic. In our case, as we are driving against the traffic, Michael is often relegated to driving in the dirt on the side of the road as they pass. Trust me, these vehicles are in no way responding to a call. They are on their way to work, breakfast, or to drop their kids off at school; just like every other citizen on the street. Can you imagine the public uproar that would occur in the U.S. if the very people who are entrusted to enforce the law are consistently breaking same law?

Yesterday, we took off for the Newmont Office during rush hour traffic. Dave was riding shotgun next to Michael, and I was seated in the back behind the driver’s seat. After maneuvering onto Burma Camp Road, which is always an event, we were slowly making our way down the Airport Bypass Road. Traffic slowed more than usual and soon we were driving by a vehicle accident.

This is what the intersection looks like from our road, Second Circular,
trying to get on to Burma Camp.
This is VERY typical, especially during morning and evening rush hour.

 

On the left side of the road, pointing in the direction in which we were driving was a smaller SUV that had obviously been hit by another vehicle by the right fender. The driver, a woman, was standing outside of the vehicle speaking with a gentleman standing next to her, all the while with a big smile on her face. A couple of feet ahead we saw the second car pulled off to the right side of the road. The smaller car didn’t appear to have as much damage, and I suspect it was the man’s car. Fortunately, it didn’t appear that anyone was seriously injured, and so we continued.

As we drove by I said, “It’s really amazing that we don’t see more accidents like this considering the crazy traffic.” Although, in hindsight Dave and I agreed that the traffic in Accra rarely moves at high rates of speed.

This is Airport Bypass Road. We are about a quarter of a mile from the
stoplight where we will need to turn left onto Burma Camp Road.
It will take us about 20 minutes to get to the light.
This was a particularly bad day, but it occurs more and more (about 5-6 times a month),
especially now that we are getting closer to the Christmas season,
as people are coming into Accra from the outlying villages/communities
to either buy or sell their goods.

 

Next we passed through the airport roundabout, for which the purpose is often defeated during the busier traffic times as there is a traffic cop adding to the confusion. To be fair, the roundabout doesn’t work efficiently when the traffic is backed up for two miles, but just watching the traffic controller direct the vehicles is a story in and of itself. Michael fully understands what he is being asked to do, so I guess it’s a good thing he’s in the driver’s seat!

We finally turn right onto Liberation, which is one of the main thoroughfares to downtown Accra. Fortunately, we are going against the morning rush hour traffic, and arrive at the stoplight at which we will take a left turn. This intersection is also manned by traffic cops….usually there are at least three of them standing in the middle of the street, and I’m not exactly sure which one Michael looks at when deciding when it’s time to go, as it doesn’t always coincide with the light. This is a three-way intersection with cars coming from every direction. After we turn left, Michael immediately puts on his blinker as we then take the first right.

As we are turning, we hear this loud bang. Immediately, Dave and I look to the right side of the car. All I can see is a helmet. Dave yells, “Michael! Stop!” Michael stops and then pulls forward out of the traffic. So, the motorcyclist is driving down Liberation, towards us, but takes a right turn at the light. We have the right of way, and Michael, being responsible, has indicated his desire to turn right by using his indicator. Motorcyclists typically drive on the left side of vehicles (between the traffic), but this one decided to drive on the right side of us, and quickly pulled up into Michael’s blindside as he was turning.

Michael got out of the car, approached the motorcyclist who I could see was checking his leg for an injury. He quickly put his helmet back on, and took off. Michael got back into the car and told me later that the man knew he was in the wrong but didn’t want to stick around as we might insist on going to the Police Station and/or ask for him to fix our vehicle.  Fortunately, our car only sustained a long scratch down the side of right passenger side door, and just adds to all of the other scratches. We felt lucky that the man hadn’t been more seriously injured, but was a good reminder that we always have to be ultra-alert on these crazy roads.

Remember the story about the police vehicles? Today, Michael and I were sitting at the light at the four-way stop by El-Wak Stadium - about ¼ mile from home. We were minding our own business, when…”BAM” a police van drives by us and hits our driver’s side mirror. Fortunately, the mirror moves both front and back, and it just moved it backwards. The vehicle did not slow or stop again. This is the second time we have been hit by a police vehicle in virtually the same location. The first time it occurred Michael jumped out of the car and pumped his fist at the vehicle, who did not even slow down, much stop. As we arrived at the intersection that time, Michael pulled to the middle to tell the traffic controllers what had happened, but he was met with resistance and anger. We quickly moved on.

This time, he again pulled to the middle of the intersection. Think about it….the traffic is continuing to move around us and we are sitting smack dab in the middle of the congested traffic. He explains to the cop what happened and that this was the second occurrence. This gentleman, however, was calm and treated Michael with respect. He had Michael pull out of the intersection and park in a place where they could discuss the situation. He advised Michael that if this happened again, take down the vehicle’s license plate number and then report it immediately at the Police Station. Michael was pacified.

In the end, the traffic continues to be my biggest bone of contention in living in Ghana….and that includes intermittent water/electricity problems, smelly burning trash, mosquitos, and being far away from those I love.

The good news here is that the traffic was very light. The bad news?
Check out the enormous load this trotro has on top!
I'm not sure how many people were in the trotro, but there appears
to be bags of rice or some kind of food just packed into the vehicle.
In fact, there are what look to be trotro seats on TOP of the vehicle!
Maybe they had to remove them to make more room??? :)

 

 

What Century Is it?

While I was in Colorado in October, I told my mom and dad about a funny text message I had received from Dave while I was in the U.S. in August and he was the lone ranger in Accra. The message went as follows:

"Whipped up some Aunt Jemima waffle batter. Noticed black specks. Dead bugs. Tried the second box - more black specks. Opted for Bisquik. Bugs happily crawling and breeding inside the box. No longer hungry, but now on a waffle quest. Found recipe online. Used frozen flour. Waffles yummy, bugs defeated, quest fulfilled."

More than once I have found bugs in something I was preparing to cook or eat; an occurrence that had absolutely never happened to me prior to moving to Ghana.

This afternoon I made a pot spaghetti and a loaf of bread. As I was pulling out the ingredients for the bread, I got to thinking about the conversation my mom and I had had about flour after I relayed the story of the bugs to her. She told me that it reminded her of when she was a child and her mother would place a small spoonful of flour in the sink and dab it with water to see if anything would move. Keep in mind that this was in the '30s and '40s!  I did the exact same thing this afternoon, and fortunately, there were no crawling creatures of which to speak.

However, it made me really stop and think about why things are not like they are in the U.S., and why changes occur so slowly in Ghana. Above all, it made me ask myself why I have to do something my grandmother had to do 80 years ago.

I am a member of an "Accra Expat" facebook page, and unless you were a veteran expat here in Ghana, you would likely find the entries or questions from years gone by, as they seem so basic. Here are just a few:

"Does anyone know where to buy nice lamps in Accra (looking for more simple designs ie: NOT modern cheap Chinese style u find at orca)?"  Can you imagine not being able to go to a Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, or a specialty store to find a decent lamp. As an aside, when is the last time you changed a light bulb in your house? In my house in Ghana, I need at LEAST one bulb changed on a weekly basis. Seriously.

"Good morning! We've just installed a bore hole and initially intended on using the water for the garden. We are now considering linking it to our main house water supply, but we will need a water filtering / purification system. Does anyone have experience with this? And did you buy the parts locally or import them (due to the high cost of these systems in Ghana)?" I guess in a way you could compare this to a well, but still....most American dwellings have running water inside and out.

"Please where can I buy vegetable glycerine?" Vegetable glycerine is used in Ghana to clean fruit and vegetables. I know that in more recent years, American companies have begun to market fruit and vegetable cleaners, but again, I think most people simply wash their produce under the clean tap water.

"Hi all, how is garden refuse meant to be dealt with?" I have always dealt with garden refuse (or ANY kind of refuse) by simply throwing it into the garbage can or the back of the truck and hauling it to the city dump.

These are just a few examples of the unique challenges of living in Ghana, and trust me, most expats have it SO much easier than the locals; especially those who live in poverty.

The question remains....why does this country continue to lag behind first-world countries, and what, in particular, must change in order for them to move forward in a real and meaningful way? On the other hand, maybe they aren't really interested in becoming a true first-world country. God knows the USA has its fair share of problems, many of which come hand in hand with money and wealth.

Since the day Dave and I arrived in Ghana - more than 2 1/2 years ago - a four lane road linking two busy roads has been under construction. Michael and I drive by it 3-4 times a week as there is a dirt road that runs parallel to the majority of the project. As a result, we have been witnesses to the progress (or lack thereof) of the construction. Last year at this time, Michael heard the road was to be completed by December, and we were definitely seeing movement. The year 2013 also happened to be a presidential election year, and Michael informed me that right before these types of elections, construction projects move into high gear as the incumbent wants to demonstrate that improvements are being made throughout the country.

Just as Michael predicted, immediately following the election, construction grinded to a halt. More than once we have laughed and questioned what YEAR the project would be completed. Now, here it is November of 2014 and the road remains unfinished. However, during the month of October, most of which I was gone from Ghana, several large concrete fences have been constructed just off of the construction site. I laughed and told Michael, "If only they would put that much effort into completing the construction of the road."