Jambé’s, drums and balophones

Accra/Ghana. Between the Arts market and the beach is a small under priviliged quarter. There, Mensa, a rastafari, runs a drums and balophone (a xylophone made of tropical hardwoods and calabasses) workshop. Feike, de percussionist van PRIVATE ABGRUND assembleert zijn eigen djembee. Waarom? Omdat je hem dan altijd zelf kunt tunen en repareren, zegt Mensa. Natuurlijk worden we ook getrakteerd op een spontaan concert.

Mensa and friends in concert

Assembled drums

Feike maakt zijn Djembee

Amex cards and Danish kroner

Valueless. That is what we discovered our plastic and currency are. Feike, a 24 your old kid of Dutch farmers making a living in Denmark and me went to the head office of Barclays bank, to get some cash advance on Amex (me) and to change some Danish monopoly money. An official of Barclays emailed me that an Amex and a passport would yield cash at their High street branch. Dream on.
Cedis from Kröner? Dream on! We figured out that every 1000 Kröner should yield about 260 Ghanian Cedi-s. Dream on. He ended up with 150 Cedis.

And me? Empty hands. No way to get Cash in Ghana with an Amex. Me asking them for a job cheered the Forex-people up (funny obrini).

Nana’s Highlife Band

Just outside the hostel Nana has a artisan shop: masks, statues, etc. The fun part is that doubles as hairdresser and as singer in a highlife/hiplife band that rehearses outside, between Crystal’s back gate and Nana’s shop. Enjoy the video’s of Seawater International below.

Amsterdammed

A three minute walk down to Kaneshi market on Darkuman takes you to Amsterdam. A 24/7 liquor and beer shop. From 20:00 onwards there is teras as well. Nice to escape to when Lovers closes. Stay away from the liquor or you may got Amsterdammed.

Amsterdam: 24 hour beers, liquor and terras

Kaneshi Car Part Market

Let’s check out some business, I was thinking, so I went with Clement – a local baba from Lovers – to the Kaneshi car part market. Incredible. The Kaneshi market erea is probably 4 to 5 KM-square. Everything you can think is available. Thousands of shops and stalls, visted by a vibrant crowd. The car parts section is one of the biggest in Africa and probably in the world. People from as far as Mali and Benin flog to this huge resource of spare parts, new and used. The funny thing is that the trade isn’t organised by car brand but by type of part. So every shop or stall sells just one kind part of parts or part category: axels, brake shoes, valves, bulbs, you name it.

Kaneshi car parts market - homokenetics (axels)

Kaneshi car parts - bulbs

Krokrobite (croccobeatay)

I spent the (long) weekend at Krokrobite, the beach side weekend escape from Accra for volunteers and backpackers alike. With good reason. Big Milly‘s is there. A resort blending decent food, a well stocked bar, beach front and a party atmosphere. Friday nights there Ghana style drumming and acrobats. Saturday is regea night featuring a life band. The set and setting faintly resemble an eco-lodge. Very well organized, though, with very tight financial control in place. Especially in and around the bar. For every drink you write a note with name, drink, room# and date. The bar guys (photo) consolidate this in the late (or better: early hours). The staff counts the inputs (beers, soda’s, liquor). An airthight system. Poor guys. First you have to listen to all the crap of the crowds. And when they are finaly at sleep, you have to go for the bookkeeping. You may overhear fearfull questions like: “How is this possible, I’ve counted only 10 brandy’s and the brandy bottle is empty”. Monday morning I had a swim – Goan style. 15 minutes out into the deep. Float for a few minutes. Back to the shore. This time was quite different though. I nearly drowned. A combination of underestimating the surf and a lack of shape. A lethal combi. Happily i am not really on a holiday. It’s sort of cynical when you drown while should enjoying yourself. And that on top of having your Panasonic T27 camera stolen the day before ….. and that really happened.

Crystal Hostel in Kaneshi, Accra

So finally I arrived in the Crystal hostel located near Darkuman road in the Kaneshi neighborhood of Accra. See the link for photos of the place. It’s nice. The only thing I have to get used to is: no hot shower. How spoiled I am? It’s pretty
hot (35C), so I’m working on http://hetgedicht.com, reading Mobs, Messiahs’ and Markets (predicting the 2008 financial crash in 2007) and relaxing a lot. As Uncle told me this morning with his big smile and basso voice: “I like the way you’re relaxing”. So I think it’s OK and there is no need to feel guilty (not going nowhere). In the evenings, most of the time I hang out in the “Lovers Inn”. No this not an erotic thing, but just a local hangout (Bar and Restaurant).  Nice bar girls, though.

Lots of backpacking and volunteering kids in the hostel (boring). With one guy I was  spending a lot of time. Eric, originally from Burbanks LA. Very smart kid who made some money in London as an investment banker. I laughed my ash off: “that’s not very popular profession nowadays”. Happily, he just left the job in time, to live in Bejing for 1 1/2 year to learn Chinese. Very funny company. And a guy with a PLAN. See: http://banfagroup.com/.

My room (2) is very nice. Lots of windows with mosquito screens. Bathroom en suite. Balcony. Fan. Wifi. So why suffer and freeze and pay more for heating alone than I pay for shelter and breakfast?

Eric: investment banker with a PLAN

Crystal Hostel: view from balcony

Stupid? No! A Blessing in Disguise

The day to early was not so stupid after all. Why? Ein Streik in Düsseldorf. Kein S-Bahn, kein U-Bahn, kein D-Bahn, kein Bussen. Happily I wake up at seven and was outside at 8 and managed to get a taxi to Flughafen. What would have happenend when I had arrived today (4 feb) at 10:00 in Duisburg without a train to the airport, where even for the first (boarding pass) check more than hundred travellers queued up? Probably I would have missed my flight. Not now! Without tension or stress I flew to Tripoli Int. Airport, where (NA) drinks and snacks were free and everybody was smoking sigarettes like crazy. Excellent. And what to think of the Gadaffi portret?

Dikkie and Gadaffi

Smoking allowed and free snacks and drinks at Tripoli Int. Airport

The very sweet time table of Tripoli airport

A day to early

How stupid can you be? On my way to Ghana, I arrived a day to early at Duesseldorf International Airport. The Vodafoon hotspot (10 euro / 2 hours) and Hostelworld.com saved my day. I stored my 50 KG’s of luggage at the Gepäckaufbewahrung and took de S-Bahn to the HauptBahnHof. After checking in the ACON Hotel (excellent value; 55€; wifi; breakfast; friendly) I spend the day by sampling German beers.

Streets of Düsseldorf