A first look at Ghana

Yes! I am alive and in Ghana right this second! Its not quite as hot as I thought, but it sure is humid. Right off the plane you can smell that the air is different, whether from the tropical climate or the sanitary conditions of Accra is up for debate. Accra is a large city, but unique from others I've been to because although it has somewhere over 3 million people, a vast majority live in small one story houses. Additionally, they have an 'open' sewer system which means just that - the sewers are above ground and smell terrible. The people, however, are extremely friendly and outgoing to everyone they talk to. They will smile and wave to you as you drive by in a tro-tro.What is a tro-tro? Imagine a 15 passenger van but with an extra row squeezed in and the aisle down the side has fold out seats to accomodate more people. At one point today, a tro I was in had 22 people! The tro-tros are pretty much like a bus system - there are semi-designated stops and meeting points, but each is simply owned by the driver and conductor. Some are of questionable quality at best while others are full vans, minus the seatbelts. Finally, in order to conserve power, tro's generally do not turn on their headlights at night to save on gas money. This leads to several obvious problems, so Peace Corps reccommends we do not travel after dusk.