Day 16 (sunday)

Kejetia market when we first got there...vendors and people as far as the eye could see.

Me at the shop that the people opened for us.

The cool mask that I bought.

 

Woke up at a good hour, Maureen was back from staying the night elsewhere, just to prepare breakfast for us and then was going to set off to her family's house to get ready for church, which means she wouldn't be back until after noon.  I have a couple new bites so it seems that the nets aren't all that effective.  Maureen went to church and I had a cup of coffee and a while later I took a shower and the girls were ready to walk around.   They decided to go find a seamstress and I decided to walk up the road to a small supermarket shop to buy a box of water (man, i'm going through this stuff fast and it's also the only thing i'm drinking) then walked back with it (totally gives me more of an appreciation for the [mainly] women who carry things on their heads).   The girls arrived a short time later and we sat out on the porch and enjoyed the breeze as we were waiting for Maureen to arrive. We all warmed up some lunch and relaxed for a bit and then took off for kejetia market (I recommend that you google it for adequate photos) which is a big market in town.  We got there and it was absolutely insane (and a lot of the vendors weren't even there because they close on sundays...hmmm, sounds a little familiar) and we didn't even know where to start and stop.   I knew that I wasn't going to buy anything but since the Alaskan girls were leaving tomorrow, they wanted to check through the shops.   We saw everything, various animal carcasses being taken to the butcher shops, clothes, food and just about anything you can think of.  We took a cab to another part but when we got there it looked deserted and completely unfamiliar.  It turned out to be the area right by the DSW but I didn't recognize it because there were so few people and all the stands were empty.   Some guys said it would be ok for them to open up their shop for us to look around, so we did and everybody ended up finding something, even me.   It was funny too because one of the guys ran up and kept high fiving me and saying we were friends and that we knew each other.   It turns out he remembered me from looking around the couple of times I had been there before.   The girls got some cool bags and other things for their friends and family, Maureen got this cool little coin purse/bag (for free because one of the vendors said he liked her), and I got a cool little mask (my plan was to see how much he wanted then offer him less and then tell him that I would come back another time [they knew that I was going to be around for awhile and come see them again] and offer him less to see if he would take it. He started out saying “these normally go for 27 cedis but for you...20” and I said “yeah, I probably won't do anything today” then he said “ok, how much would you pay for it?” and I thought about it for a minute to maintain the interest and said “maybe 15” and he said “hmmm, ok, for you 15 but that's a big discount.” I told him that “you know I'll be around so I am not really interested today” and just kind of walked away but Maureen whispered to me that he said he would do it for 10 cedis so I decided to buy it).  We were all sufficiently exhausted and ready to come home and instead of waiting for a tro tro, which would have had to stop several times before we got to ted junction and then we would have had to get another one to our house, I decided to just pay the little extra for all of us to take a taxi all the way (Maureen was quite popular today and she exchanged numbers with the taxi driver too!).  We got home and immediately Maureen began preparing and cooking dinner while the girls went on a walk and to find the seamstress to check on their items.   I helped Maureen a bit and watched some tv with one of the other residents.  We ate dinner (palm oil is really heavy and is used in a lot of dishes here) then took showers and prepared for bed.  Tomorrow begins my research journey and starts with the children's home...so excited!  Today was absolutely wonderful, good people, good food, amazing time, and a beautiful experience!