This week I did errands. Today it was four. I am happy to be home at last. The dogs greeted me with exuberance. Henry jumped into the air. Nala wiggled her butt and tried to jump on me. It is a wonderful thing to be welcomed home.

The capital of Ghana is Accra. It is quite a distance from where I lived. The ride down country included a ferry ride from Yeji which is on the shore of the Volta Lake. We used to buy water in bottles while we waited for the ferry. We’d hold the bottles up to the sun and buy the ones with the fewest floaties which is what we call the debris floating in the bottle. Sometimes we’d buy the fish which was cooked over the fire, barbecued I guess. I don’t know what kind of fish they were. Most times we never asked what we were eating on the road.

Accra was Nirvana. There were movie theaters, restaurants and shops. The movie theaters were all outside. If it rained, we just moved our chairs under the overhangs. The movies were old, but we didn’t care. Our favorite restaurant was Talal’s near Peace Corps. It was Lebanese. I first ate tabouleh and hummus there.

We stayed in Adabraca at the Peace Corps hostel, 50 pesewas a night (about 50¢) which included breakfast. It was always a reunion of sorts there. I’d see friends with whom I’d trained but hadn’t seen sometimes since swearing in. We went out to eat together and roamed around the city. I did some shopping for stuff to bring home. The supermarket had an escalator. Ghanaians used to go for the ride.

I remember walking at night in the city. It was quiet back then. Sometimes I’d see some men sitting on wooden chairs on the sidewalks. I could hear them quietly talking in Twi as I walked by.

I had a friend visit me in Ghana. We stayed in Accra a couple of days. We took a taxi to the hostel. I gave the driver 20 pesewas, the going rate for anywhere in the city. He said 30 pesewas. I said he was cheating me. We went back and forth a couple of times. My friend waned to know why. I told him the driver wanted 10 pesewas too many. My friend said just pay him, but I told him it was a matter of principal. I told the driver take 20 or nothing. He took the 20 and said, ” I hate you Peace Corps. You always know the right price.” My friend got it.

The ride up country took forever. We had to wait hours at Yeji for a VIP. Finally we took off, but when we got to the terminal in Tamale, 100 miles south of Bolga, they told us no busses until the next day. The Ghanaians were not happy. They complained vociferously. The company gave us a bus to Bolga. It was really late when we got there. The driver told us to come back in the morning for our bags. I didn’t want to leave my bag. I pretended to climb the ladder to the bus roof. The driver stopped me and said he’d get my luggage. Bolga had one taxi at night. We rode it to the school. The driver told me it was 60 pesewas. I told him no. It was 40. He said I had been out of town when the price went up. I laughed. He took the 40.