Immediately the differences between Ghana and Togo were apparent. The car that I had hired to take me to Accra was: a) Nicer and newer than your average car in Togo, b) There were no goats as passengers, c) there was a/c, and d) I actually got to wear a working seatbelt! And, that was just the car. Outside I could see signs for many different cell phone companies: Airtel, Tigo, MTN, Vodaphone, and more…Togo has just two. When we finally got to the road to take us to Accra, it was immaculate. It was well paved, wide, was striped, and had a shoulder. As we got closer to Accra there were overpasses over the highway, overpasses! There is not one overpass in the entire country of Togo.
When we entered the city of Accra, it could have been a city in America. All the roads were paved. They have stoplights, a mall, movie theaters, 5 star hotels, pizza places, fried chicken, and even had a fast food joint with a Playplace! It was absolutely mind blowing. I had not seen anything like this in almost a year and it was kind of overwhelming. I actually had a few bouts of anxiety do to the hustle and bustle, which was hard to get used to after my snail paced life in village.
The car eventually arrived at the auto station after a three hour journey. I immediately got in a cab and told him to take me to the area of Accra known as Adabraka. I had booked a hotel there for us to stay in called, Hotel Beverly Hills (staying in style). I had only chosen this hotel because it was in a good price range and did not appear to be too seedy. When I finally arrived at the hotel, the guy at the front desk said the room I had reserved was taken because whoever had taken the room before me had decided to stay longer (service here is not like it is in America). The only rooms they had available were two suites and a room with a king size bed. All of these rooms were more than double the price I was originally planning to pay. I argued with the guy for a bit and got him to knock down the price so that it was only a bit more than the double room I had originally requested. When I finally got to the room, I laid down and fell asleep for a few hours.
When I awoke I was pretty hungry. It was about 5pm and since I did not know the area, I wanted to go search for food before it got dark. The area I was in was pretty residential and the only place I found was called “Hot Chillies”. It was an ex-pat Lebanese man’s attempt at an American Chillies restaurant. It was kind of fancy and I ended up ordering some Lebanese food. After dinner, when I got back to the hotel, I asked the people working there how easy it was to get a taxi on the street early in the morning. You see, I was nervous because Megan’s plane was not landing until 3:30am and I was a little hesitant about traveling around a place I didn’t know at that hour. They said it shouldn’t be a problem and that the night guard could help me get one. I went back to my room and then hungout/slept until it was time to go to the airport.
At 3:00am, I left my room and headed for the road. The entire complex of the Beverly Hills Hotel was fenced in and there was only one way in and out, which was through a large iron gate. It was locked and I could not seem to find the night guard. It took me about 5 minutes before I realized that he was literally ten feet from the gate, laying under a blanket that in the dark, resembled trash. I woke him up and he unlocked the gate and helped me flag down a taxi. He made the driver give me a good price and we were off to the airport.
The taxi driver dropped me off at the airport and then took off. After ten minutes, I realized that the driver had dropped me off at the departures gate. Luckily, the Accra airport is pretty small, so going from departures to arrivals was as simple as taking a flight of stairs. The arrivals area was pretty interesting. They had a covered outdoor seating area that faced a wall of windows that allowed you to see people who were arriving on the plane. They also had seating inside, but it was such a nice night I decided to sit outside. Eventually people started arriving and long lost family and friends were being reunited. More and more people I didn’t know kept coming through the gate, but no Megan. I was starting to get nervous. It had been a half hour since that first person from the plane had come through, but it was starting to seem like all the people had gotten off the plane, sans Megan. I was starting to think two things: she missed her flight, or, they lost her baggage and she was dealing with that. After another ten minutes I was starting to think she never was on the flight, when from a distance, I saw her walking slowly through the gate. I jumped up and ran into the interior to wait for her to come through. When she finally came through I was so happy! I went up to her and embraced her for the first time in 9 months. It was great. The only problem was she was obviously unhappy. The airline had lost her luggage. That was not good. We were planning on leaving Accra in two days and the transportation structure here with lost baggage is a little more complicated than in America. I was scared she might never see her bag again and have to wear the same clothes for the entire trip! But, that was not something to worry about at that hour of the morning. We left the terminal, got in a taxi, and headed back to Beverly Hills……
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