Ghana Tastes: Day 17: Salsa!

Accra: I am slipping. I need to take time off from interviewing. I have stopped taking pictures of the foods we eat. Yesterday I felt as if I asked one more interview question, I was going to kill someone. So I think I'd better start taking the weekend off....

Anyway, today we started off with a meal at Dez Amis across from the French Embassy. This is the first restaurant where we have been repeat customers. Tim had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries and a slice of lemon meringue pie. I had sauteed vegetables, half an avocado, and baguette with olive oil. We shared a tall bottle of San Pellegrino. We have been eating Ghanaian food for two weeks straight and I needed a change.

We finally walked to the end of the nearby neighborhood called Osu. It is located off the Danqua Circle and if full of all sorts of international visitors, European and Chinese restaurants (where Chinese people were actually eating), and casinos. This would be a good place for missionaries to hang out and hand out tracks, I thought to myself. Tim likened it to the Las Vegas Strip.

The KFC in this area was three stories high, and looked like a bank building. We noticed that when everyone's power was out for a few minutes, theirs was still on. This area along with the area around Kwame Nkruma National Park is where the bracelet makers and hawkers get most aggressive. I just pretend I can't see anyone and if that fails, a nice "No thank you" and not stopping usually does the trick. Nevertheless, I am so impressed with the comportment of Ghanaians. There is no fighting or loud talk in the street. You don't have to fear any shooting in areas like this or too many homeless people chasing you down. People conduct themselves with dignity. Even in restaurants, we tended to be the loudest people in the room as Ghanaians eat in silence and speak with hushed tones.

We finished out the evening with a free La 33 salsa concert in the neighborhood called La. Sponsored by the Colombian Embassy in Ghana, along with Alliance Francaise and the German Cultural Institute, this was ground zero for Ambassadors in Ghana. We waited over two hours past the posted time for things to get started, but it was well worth it as they began with some Ghanaian hip hop dancing first. Due to the late start, we left shortly after the band started playing, since we need to get up early for church at Calvary Baptist in Adabraka.