Day 4 - Recovery and awaiting the trip to Anomabo

This morning my stomach felt much better and another dose of antibiotics were extremely helpful in settling my stomach. I woke up early in the morning, around 3 or 4 am, because I had been sleeping all day and was a bit off schedule with the time change.

Eventually I fell back asleep and woke up later in the afternoon. Tom called me and wanted to go out to eat at a traditional Ghanaian restaurant. I felt up to it and since I hadn’t really eaten anything for more than 24 hours. I was willing to try.

It was about a half an hour drive and we made it to place called Asanka Local, which was seemingly very busy because there were many cars parked close by and live music playing. This looked like the place to be on a Sunday afternoon.

Oh, and by the way, happy fourth of July everyone!

A Ghanaian who has been affiliated with the project named Kojo drove us there and we entered the restaurant. The restaurant was packed and a full band with guitars, two drummers, a keyboardist, and a trumpet player were blasting music in this comfortable eatery adorned with many West African flags. The waiters and waitresses all had on traditional outfits with vibrant colors. I forgot my camera so no pics, sorry. :( We might go there again so hopefully you can see this amazing place with your own eyes.

I really wanted to try some of the traditional food but opted for chicken and rice weary that my stomach wouldn’t be able to handle it. When I feel more confident, I am definitely going to try it; maybe even tomorrow when we travel to more rural areas along the Gold Coast in the Central Region. Tomorrow were are headed out of the Adenta part of Accra and traveling down the coast to Anomabo to start making plans for the analysis and excavations that will take place in the coming weeks.

At the restaurant, Tom and I both had chicken and rice but Aimee and Kojo had more traditional dishes. Many of these dishes contain broths or what is known locally as light soup. Kojo had rice balls with several types of meat including fish, chicken, and goat. All of these items are in a bowl with a dark broth. The spoon that is given for the dish is solely for scooping the broth. Everyone eats with their hands, scooping up some of the rice ball and then mixing it with some meat and consuming it. Aimee had what is known as fufu. Fufu is made with pounded cassava (also known as yucca) and some plantains. It is usually served with your choice of meat; in this case, she chose fish. Again her dish was in a broth with the fufu and half a fish. The fufu is to be grabbed with your hands and can be combined with the meat and is to be swallowed whole. It grosses Ghanaians out if they see people chewing the fufu. Her fish was about half of a fish, probably tilapia, with the tail still present and not filleted. The head was also not present and likely the head was removed because she is Western; Ghanaians would prefer the whole fish but the restaurant prepared it this way as a courtesy I assume. Many Ghanaians, especially older folk, eat the whole fish including the head. They do spit out some of the larger bones after they are even chewed up but the head is put in their mouths and they are skilled enough to eat out the eyeball, the head and throat meat and skin without swallowing the gills or head bones. Even some elder Ghanaians enjoy snails and also consume the shells in broth-type dishes such as the ones aforementioned.

We spent a good hour at the restaurant enjoying the music and watching some of the locals dancing and having a grand ole time. The chicken and fried rice that I had was good and a bit spicy but the important thing here is that my stomach appeared to accept the food, though I didn’t eat too much and picked at it like a bird. This is very exciting! Thank goodness I feel confident to eat again!

After the restaurant, I went to the internet café for about an hour until the power suddenly went out and actually the power on the whole block was out even at our hotel. I soon saw Tom and Aimee and they informed me that they were going to meet some students from the University of Cape Coast who have worked on the project for the past few years.

We had a few drinks with them there but then headed back to our hotel for a few more; though, it was only soda for me, Coke and Fanta, until I felt a little better. Also, I’m still hesitant to drink alcohol while I’m taking antibiotics as it reduces the efficacy. And these same antibiotics are protecting me from malaria!

It was a short night as we are leaving very early for Anomabo, like 5 in the morning. And we are leaving so early as to avoid the morning traffic in Accra. I am excited to go down the coast and begin to see some of the archaeological sites – old colonial forts and castles mostly. Also, we are going to eat lunch where they have fufu and rice balls and I want to start trying some of these foods.

Wish me luck!