My first taste of Ghanaian culture was while the plane still on the ground at Heathrow Airport terminal 5. I must have looked confused while trying to find a place for my bag in the overhead locker because before I knew it, 3 Ghanaian ladies were all telling me where to put it as though they were taking care of me. Then after sitting down, one of them offered me a pack of crisps. The Ghanaians were shockingly friendly. For someone who has been used to plying the route between JFK and Heathrow where passengers shuffle around each other with complete indifference, this was a very welcome change.
One amusing thing I found during the flight was the fervour with which Ghanians attacked the duty free. While disembarking the plane, each of them to a person must have been carrying a filled duty free bag along with their normal hand-luggage. I never thought people actually bought things on planes unless they needed a last minute present to give to someone on arrival.
It was a humid 29 degrees Celsius (at 8:30pm) when we landed at Accra. Lesley picked me up and ushered me into the welcome air-conditioned car after an almost two hour wait to get through the confused Ghanaian security. It was then a short ride to Lesley's beautiful house situated in the lovely gated community of Trasaco. After a quick meal with Lesley and Emily, I headed off to bed.
My Ghanaian adventure had begun.
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