Cape Market
We have a meeting with a class this coming week, and so in the same way that we brought our Seattle kids some stickers, measles-cupcakes (baked by Jordan), and tangelos (Jay likes to be a healthy influence) on our first day with them, well, we wanted to bring something to the kids here. The question is … what?
We agonized over this somewhat while in the States still and I’m sad to say with everything else on our plate finding a good and cheap answer sort of slipped through the cracks.
So today we hit the market to see if we could find some stickers or candies or something that maybe says “USA” in a cultural sort of way, but that I didn’t feel totally weird giving the kids (e.g. not “USA” bracelets made in China).
Well, soon Miranda found the best gift ever. Their teacher had even suggested pens. And everyone here loves Obama. So, really, what could be better than Obama pens?!
Shortly after the pen find we stumbled onto a booth selling pineapple Alvaro. There is a drink brewed here (I think the company is owned by Guiness) called Alvaro, it’s either pear or pineapple. It’s quite good, but no one ever has any but the pear. So anyway, we finally found the pineapple! It was warm, but good 
nonetheless. We sat inside the one-hundred-degree shop of the woman selling it and drank our warm Alvaro soda and sweat poured off my body.
I also took a chance to snap several other photos, to share some of what I have maybe already written about here.
Walking to Oasis for lunch we were accosted by a flash-mob of semi-nude kids yelling “Obruni!” This is really nothing new, but I snapped a photo from my waist, to give you a sense of what you might encounter if you were in our shoes.
Just before the flash-mob Miranda had bought a big knife for $1.25CEDI and a whole pineapple for $1.50CEDI. We have been trying to avoid street food vendors, due to the unhygenic practices thereof, but this deprives Miranda of pineapple slices. So, since pineapple is a thick skinned fruit (and thus safe to purchase and prepare yourself) she decided to do something about it.
She carved the pineapple up at our table at Oasis, getting juice pretty much everywhere. It still looked pretty good, though, and she ate the whole thing before our lunch even arrived.
I also took a portrait or two of Tequila, aka “obrunidog” (this is what I call him, although I think his name is Tequila). He belongs to the owner of Oasis, and basically spends his life lounging in the sand, eating leftovers that people feed him, and occasionally getting kick
ed in the face (see a prior post for details). I am not sure if the laziness of his life really comes through in these portraits, but I think it does. It’s always a treat for Miranda and I to see him, since he will actually allow you to pet him (unlike most other animals here) and we are both such animal lovers and miss petting various dogs and kitties.
Everything here does seem to happen at an “African pace” and Obrunidog is pretty well adjusted to it. In general we’ve adjusted quickly and well too, I think, although partially that is luck (always our tro-tros seem to fill quickly, and so forth). In general I tend to have a “what’s done is done” attitude, though, and that seems to mesh well with the outlook of most people in Ghana.
I will say the difficulty in getting certain large organizations to
answer their phone (or return emails, and so forth) is a little annoying, however, and I am not willing to chalk that up to “the way things are” or “this is how things are done.” If millions kids need to get immunized, getting around to it when you feel like it is not acceptable.
Anyway, pens in hand, stomachs full of pineapple and alvaro, we made our way back home to rest for a bit and do some work while it cools off before heading out to try and get a drink with Dom.
