rory + stephs travels: Harmattan

To stick with the ole Irish way lets talk a bit about the weather. For the last 2-3 weeks I haven't seen a decent blue sky. It's constantly hazy. this is because the Harmattan season has started. During that season Ghana weather is very dry and dusty due to the northeast trade winds blowing from the desert. It also is a little cooler at night. In short: It's the Ghanaian cold and flu season. At an average of 30 degrees Celsius I do find this most peculiar.
Thursday last week I felt courageous once again and joined the guys at the library for lunch. This time they escorted me to a different 'chop bar' or restaurant. There was quite a vibe about the place when they realised I was about to be their first Obruni customer. I was equally excited (or worried?) to have my first experience of eating Fufu.
Fufu is made by boiling starchy root vegetables such as cassava, yam, plantain or rice, then pounding them into a glutinous mass. It is eaten with light soup, for example tomato or palm nut. We had it with a chicken soup and bits of lamb. Oh yeah... it is eaten by hand. You right hand to be precise. Soup... by hand. Interesting experience. It isn't actually as bad as I had been told (I had been warned of Fufu's tastelessness and gooey consistency by several of Rory's colleagues). Admitted, I wouldn't let it become part of my daily diet for nutrition reasons alone, but if it was put in front of me again I'd eat it, no problem.
When I couldn't make it the next day, the restaurant owner enquired about my whereabouts and insisted to send the guys back with a gift of 'bushmeat' soup for me. Well presented in a plastic bag. I had to ask a good few times what kind of meat 'bushmeat' is and only after a while Sammy explained it was Antelope. So I'm guessing 'roadkill' is more like it... I tried it but it was way too spicy for my likings and tasted too much of the local 'pepe' sauce which has fish in it. The combination didn't float my boat. I was genuinely happy about the gesture though, especially when so far it has been a rare experience for me to be given presents by a Ghanaian.
Instead and sadly in the past 2 months I have perhaps met a handful locals who seem genuine and friendly for no superior motive. There is hardly a week that goes by without people trying one of their many tactics for you to give them money or any type of present. People over here are poor, no doubt. Amazingly enough though, it isn't the poor that have the cheek to ask for money. It is the ones that are doing well enough, have 2-3 mobiles, new clothes, a job... They are opportunists and I don't blame them for that. I'm frustrated with their way of thinking and expectant attitude however. It can be tiring, especially when you look around and see the potential that surrounds each one of them and how little they seem to care. Instead they go begging :( Not sure if I'm able to bring across what I mean. Maybe it is a bit of a culture shock I'm going through and I will be able to deal with it better in time. I doubt it though...
On a more positive note. After many weeks of a testosteron filled environment we're now one step closer to hormonal balance at Purple Rocks. Rozahn, a young lady my age from South Africa has moved to Ghana a couple weeks ago. Her husband works for one of the contractors on site. This is good news :)

Akoasi roundabout with traditional goat randomly passing the road - we're still waiting for proper roads but at least the roundabout thingy is tiled ;-)