I'm really in Africa

Getting to Africa went from a relatively short wait in the Charlotte airport to lots of waiting as the day progressed. We boarded in Charlotte (late, I might add) and then the waiting began. We sat in the plane, on the runway for a little over an hour! No bad weather just waiting.


After arriving at Kennedy (only about an hour late), we grabbed a bite to eat, checked in at the Ghana desk, verified passports and visas and began to wait again. At about 5:00 pm we were boarding the plane. My seat was 20D in the middle of the center section of seats. I walked on the plane, passed through the coveted Business Class section and then began to look down the aisle anticipating who would be sitting in 20E (my friend Davi is in 20C on my other side). Well, I'm a rather large person as you all know, but I was totally unprepared for the gentleman sitting in seat E. He had to weigh at least 400 pounds and I am not exaggerating. It became evident really soon that there was no way he could, even if he had wanted to, move for me to get to my seat so I had to go around to the other side of the plane. Davi came and sat down and we started trying to figure out how in the world we were going to sit for 11 hours of flying as crammed together as we were. Davi and I are sharing a room, aka a double bed this week, and I'm sure she was already thinking "I'm going to know Becky a lot better than I really want to - does it really have to begin on this flight?" After everyone was loaded, Davi noticed there was an empty seat behind Anita and David, so I asked the flight attendent if I could move there and she was fine with that. After a couple of minutes, she came back and said there was a center row of three seats in the back section, if Davi and I both wanted to move back there. Boy, did we and we wasted no time in collecting our carry-ons and moving. It was awesome - almost like being in First Class (but not quite). We were able to spread our stuff out in the middle seat and have plenty of room to relax.

Imagine our delight at the seating changes when we sat on the airplane from 5:00 until 7:30 when we finally took off. There were apparently several problems that delayed us but the biggest problem was weather as we discovered the airport was shut down for about an hour because of tornadoes in the area.

The fight itself was quite uneventful (thankfully) and we, even after all that waiting, were only about an hour late arriving in Accra, Ghana. I was a little sad I didn't have a window seat as I really couldn't see much at all from the center section but I got to see plenty after de-boarding, entering the terminal and driving to the home where we are staying.

The airport was very interesting with different sounds, smell and sites than I am accustomed to back home. We were met by Chief Tachee of the village of Lobo Tota, Pastor Ritchie and another gentleman, Stephen. It was quite a relief to have them there to pick us up, assist us with our baggage and "help" us through the masses of African men offering taxis, luggage assistance and I don't know what else :)

On the 30 km drive from Accra to Tema, where we are based for the next two weeks, I was completely enthralled. I saw shepherds with herds of cows (right on the side of the road), goats running down the middle of the road, little cardboard houses, beautiful expensive looking homes and an assortment of other things. I really could only grin from ear to ear and think after all these years, I'm finally really here in Africa.

Our hosts are all so friendly and kind. Mary Godly, lady of the house where we are staying, is a lovely young lady and very gracious hostess. She had a wonderful lunch ready for us. A quiche type dish with tuna (very yummy), toast, fresh pineapple and baby bananas. The pineapple here is unbelievable. Never have I tasted any so sweet and tender. Craig, you would absolutely love it and I suspect little Dashon would even swallow the fruit it is so tender. They could not believe it when we told them we pay 3-4 USD for one pineapple. They get them by the dozen for under 10 cedi (appx 7.50 USD)

I've been in Ghana now for about 6 hours I'm still grinning from ear to ear. Just think after all these years, I'm finally really here in Africa.