Today, we landed in Accra, Ghana after a long overnight flight. The plane got off the ground almost exactly five hours late due to a deicer malfunction which required us to change planes in JFK. The flight was uneventful, particularly if one considers sleep an event, but it was good to get there and our arrival was only four hours late, not counting the twenty four other hours we lost from being delayed in Hartford.
When we landed in Ghana, we descended aluminum stairs to the tarmac and were taken by bus to the terminal. It was 90 degrees and dry, and not entirely unpleasant after a night on a cold plane. When we got to the terminal, we queued up in the immigration lines with our passports, yellow vaccination cards and immigration forms. Immediately in the terminal was a legal sign that reminded me why there are aome places i dont travel. That went smoothly, and we passed through to baggage claim and customs. We met our driver inside and headed outside to find the car. As soon as we stepped out into the heat, we were definitely in a different country. Most notably was the barrage of people that followed us closely all the way to our car asking for tips for “services” like pointing out where the curb was rough or where I might trip.
Our driver is extremely helpful and go an amazing amount of luggage ( at least 14 bags ) into the SUV. This involved some amount of squeezing and packing and putting stuff in our laps since there were five people ( including the driver ) in the car. We then went to pick up the sixth person.
Eric is a partner with Nell in the development of Mafi Dove’s project with the Peace Corps and has been a person on the ground with the village ever since. He helps maintain the communication which helps Nell plan and coordinate with the village.
Excitement rose in the car as we arrived and we saw the last road to the village come into a cluster of mud and thatch huts.