Accra, Ghana.

After quite a few detours we are finally in Accra, Ghana!! We missed our flight from London to Accra so we got to spend an evening and a morning in London. We quickly toured central London and enjoyed our last bit of cool fresh air. We were expecting to be in Africa so we only had thin long-sleeves and we were all quite chilly, but we embraced it because I don't know when I will feel chilly again.

Then we had to get off our re-scheduled flight just after boarding because something on the plane was broken -- leading to another 3 hour wait. I'm told we will get good at waiting so that was just a little taste.

And now Accra. We got in at 2:00am and didn't get settled to bed until 4:00am... after carrying all our luggage up four floors! We didn't get much sleep either -- we were up by 8am.

My first thoughts of Africa.... It's hard to say. I can now say that I have gone from being chilly and having goosebumps to sweating in an instant. It was a blamy 29 degrees when we landed, with 92% humitidy. Goodbye fresh air!! I had a man try to teach me the language for 20 minutes while waiting for taxi's. He was talking so fast that I had no idea what he was saying, but I played along and tried to repeat all the words he said to me. He thought it was hilarious. Getting taxi's from the airport was an adventure in and of itself. There was a lot of yelling and pushing and commotion.... and we weren't doing any of those. We thankfully had a Ghanaian friend helping us out.

We just spent the morning walking around Accra. We've dodged through traffic, sweated our rear-ends off, bought a cell-phone, exchanged our American money, went to the post-office, met a Canadian man from Kelowna, and are now at the internet cafe cooling off. I have never been so bombarded. People just grab your arm and force you to stop because they want money or they want you to buy something from them. The worst is when it is little kids who come rest their hand on your arm -- that breaks my heart.

One thing I have struggled with in my four hours here is taking photos. I love taking pictures and want to take them of everything, but I don't want to offend or anger anyone. And I don't want to pay people for photos. There is so much to take in though and so much beauty and sorrow and joy all at once. I really don't know how to describe it (I have a feeling I will be saying that often!).

I have never drank so much water in my life! I went through 1.5 litres in the first 2 hours of our adventure. I do not want to get dehydrated though and I am sweating from every pore in my body. Speaking of sweat, it actually feels good to sweat. I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but I am really enjoying the heat for now. And the humidity. It feels so good!

I love the noise and the constant bustle. I love the smells -- not because they are particularly pleasant, but they are different and just part of the whole experience. I love being in the minority. I love seeing so many people outside. I love having no idea where I am or what is going on. So far I love everything about Africa. But as I said, it has only been four hours. I don't mean to say that it is all good, but it is lovely and unique.

I've decided to not get stressed out or be scared. I will be cautious, but I feel like you could be scared about everything. It's all a little bit terrifying, but isn't every new experience?? I'm just going to take things as they come and go with the flow. Things have a way of working themselves out.

We've already met a Canadian! From Kelowna no less! He was born in Ghana, but he now lives in Canada -- just down the road from me actually. We exchanged numbers and he may come visit us when we are in the north.

I feel like there is so much I am feeling, but I have no idea how to articulate it. I think it will take time to figure out how to process everything. These posts will be a bit jostled until I get in a groove and figure things out. It is still surreal to me that I am in Ghana, Africa. I boarded a plane and I am now halfway across the world from my husband, my family and my friends (except those Reimers... Hello from next door!!). It's just amazing that you can even travel from there to here. How bizzare.

I am so excited for this trip. I hope to update as often as possible, but the next few days will be spent traveling up north. I have no idea what kind of access we will have to the internet, but I'll write as often as possible.

Hey Erik, I listened to Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse on the plane!! It was one of the few albums they had, which made me smile.

Love from Accra!