Out on the Streets – Oh the sights we see! If we could only share the smells and sounds…
A PRINCE OF A MAN
Prince is one of our two favorite taxi drivers in Kumasi. Their phone numbers are programmed into our cell phones. Prince can often be found next to the fruit stand on the corner of Melcom Road and Maame Serwaah Streets. Camille looks out the window at the local arboretum.
ERIC THE GREAT
Eric is our ‘go to’ guy for shopping forays. Camille is making a list of taxi names such as “Still Chirst in Me.” Favorites to date are “Stay with that, said the Lord” and “They will be done.” Bob’s favorite? “God is Goo”
POLITICAL RALLY AND FUNERAL
You never know what you will see but it is certain to be happening outside and involving lots of people.
CAPE COAST TRO
When Jeremy, Lauren and Justin were considering taking the tro tro to Cape Coast, Eric began pointing out tros headed to or from Cape Coast. They are easy to spot once you know to look for heavily laden and somewhat broken down vehicles heading or coming from the south. It isn’t unusual to see live animals strapped to the top with the other cargo. They ended up taking the bus, Camille and Bob rode with Eric in his taxi.
MARKETING
Marketing in Kumasi mostly takes place on the walls of buildings. We’re wondering who is winning the mattress wars, Latex Foam, which is what we have on our bed, or Ashfoam. We asked Eric which mattress was better and he said Ashfoam. Lots of Cowbell here as well!
VENDORS
Commerce happens on the streets of Kumasi every day in every way imaginable. You can walk down the street and buy a broom, a dress, cassava, or rope without stepping inside a shop. And thanks to the head-carrying vendors, you can buy fried plantain chips, watermelon slices, cell phone minutes or sachets of cold water, and so on without leaving the taxi.
The brown tubers are cassava root, an African staple which is made into fufu, kenke and gari.
Bamboo posts and dresses are generally not sold off people’s heads like cassava although we have seen both women and men walking with bundles of hardwood balanced on their heads.
CENTRAL ROUNDABOUT
The Wesley Methodist Cathedral opposite the central Kumasi roundabout which sports a statue of an Asantehene with a large brown lion, symbol of the strength of the Ashanti’s.
CENTRAL KUMASI
We often take the 10 minute taxi ride downtown where the building with In God We Trust lives. Also downtown are the Central Post Office and Opoku Trading Company, a store which actually stocks can openers. Ghanians are a deeply religious people and name their shops, cars and streets accordingly. Here’s how it sorts itself out, according to information we found at www.religionfacts.com
Ghana: Christian 68.8% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 24.1%, Protestant 18.6%, Catholic 15.1%, other 11%), Muslim 15.9%, traditional 8.5%, other 0.7%, none 6.1% (2000 census)
The United States: Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Vegetarian food is on the rise in Kumasi and Abena, our vegan host at The Green Ranch pointed us towards Saarnak’s downtown for vegetarian lunch and we were not disappointed.
VEGETARIAN JOLLOF
We treated ourselves to a delicious lunch prepared without animals at Saarnak’s Vegetarian Food and Health Shop and came home with a big bag of soy nuggets to use at home. For only 4 cedis ($2) we were served Jollof with fried tofu, a salad and a beverage. It was a treat to enjoy the Shito sauce made without fish oil. We heard that it would be very difficult to maintain a vegan diet in Ghana but this has not proven to be a problem. It helps that since Camille is doing most of the cooking for the house. When dining out, many of the vegetarian dishes are prepared using fish sauce and meat stock but at home Camille is able to prepare meals without animal products including Red Red and Jollof. which is the Ghanian version of Spanish rice.
SIGNS
Billboards are certainly a part of our visual experience when we’re out and about. We find many of them interesting and/or amusing.
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