After all the experiences since i arrived in Ghana, it was nice to have a relaxed start on my third day. Kajsa and her husband slept in and then we had a long breakfast. In honour of what happened 52 years ago on this day, 6th of March is Ghana´s Indepence Day, Kajsa made a beautiful fruit sallad consisting of papaya, melon and starfruit (carambole). Mind these colours are the same as the Ghanaian flag (red, yellow and green with a black star in the centre)! The starfruit represented the star, though yellow, not black (luckily)! She took a picture of her creation, it was not only beautiful to look at, but tasty as well!
Isaac (her husband), Kajsa and me then went for a swim in a pool at a hotel situated by the ocean. Once again the presence of the sacred appeared; at the entrance was a statue of a saint in human size. The place is apparently called Ave Maria. Yes i have taken pictures, but i have to find a way of transfering them since the memory is full on Kajsa´s mac. It was beautiful there, i have never been swimming in a pool filled with salt water before... Sitting on a terrass afterwards, at the hotel, the Atlantic right beneath you... What can i say? I don´t think i need to, you get it.
On the way to Isaac´s mother´s place i took some pictures of the place in the harbour where the cocoa beans are being stored...
I met Isaacs parents when they visited Uppsala in December. They spent Christmas and New Years on Gotland with Kajsas´s family! I was genuinely happy to see his mother again, i simply like this woman. She had prepared food for us, and it was delicious! Yes... I´ll describe what i ate... You know me... I appreciate good food, a lot!:) The dish is called fufu. You start out by boiling cassava and plantain (matbanan) without water, so it becomes a dough. But the dough needs to be firmer so you put it in a bowl, and this part is quite something to see (which i did later that evening in another house when we went for a walk through the community), one woman sits with a long pole in her hand moving it up and down and while it´s up the other one quickly move the dough around. Really hard work, and risky if you´re not focused. When it´s a firm dough it´s ready to be served. But it´s not ready yet. On top of this you put a delicious and slightly spicy red soup. His mother also put three pieces of smoked fish in it. You then eat it by scooping some dough up with your hand, grabbing some fish... Yummy! You finish the soup with a spoon. I found out this dish is very popular where i´m going next week, think it´s going to be a lot of fufu on my part! ...and the mother of Isaac and Kajsa were impressed by my skills of eating with my hands, apparently some westerners refuse doing so and for some it takes a bit of time to learn. I have always liked eating with my hands, but being Swedish one doesn´t get the chance to do so on a daily basis really.
After the meal me and Kajsa watched Isaac´s mother bathing her grandson, only five weeks old. She put the boy on her lap, placing the feet in a baby shower and started wiping the boy. It was obvious she had done that a few times before. We then went outside, some kids were dancing and singing in the street. I took a picture of them and they all came running towards me, wanting to see it. Then they continued their dancing and singing. Seeing them made me very emotional, it was pure happiness that was appearing in front of me and it was transfered to me. We then went to pick up Isaac who had gone to see a friend, and on our way there in the narrow streets with no lights, many people greeted us and smiled. At one point all these women and children gathered around us, touching my arm, shaking hands and asking who we were. Kajsa said they never did that before, maybe it was because we were two that they approached us? When Kajsa told them she was visiting Isaac´s mother, that Isaac is her husband, they started laughing and clapping their hands. I believe they liked us being there!
We never went to the beach because by the time we left it was dark, Isaac was tired, Kajsa had been drinking a bit of wine and didn´t want to drive, and so had i. But even if i hadn´t been drinking two glasses of wine i wouldn´t have driven. i´m not ready to drive here just yet. It´s intense. So we stayed at home relaxing instead.
This morning me and Kajsa went to Accra to attend a string bead course provided by a friend of Kajsa, a canadian woman named Trish Graham. She is making her living by giving courses and selling her creations, which are really beautiful! Only me and Kajsa participated in the end, and we both had a great time. She is talented this woman. So now i´m sitting here with a necklace and bracelet, created by me, with some help from Trish the artist. There are pictures available of us at her beautiful house!
Afterwards we had lunch, smoothies and sandwich at a modern place in downtown Accra. We both felt tired so after grocery shopping (some products are very expensive!! One bottle of orange juice was almost USD 14... One better look careful before) we went back to the house and have been relaxing, chatting, drinking orange juice (of a slightly cheaper brand)... It´s been a good day, again!
Tonight we will probably go out for dinner. I hope you are all well and thank you so much for writing me, it means a lot to me! Many hugs from a happy, and sweaty, Jessica:)
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