Kamikaze Canuck

After my computer crashed yesterday and I lost the blog that I had been working on for 2 hours

I gained my composure and tried to blog again today – and if you’re reading this, it was a success.

Let’s catch you up on what Meg and I have been eating, how we’ve been getting around, and where we’ve been staying.

What have we been eating?

Everyone here RAVES about Fufu.   Fufu fufu fufu fufu fufu is all you hear about.  Meg and I were invited to try this “Fufu” by Gabriel and his girlfriend (below).  Gabriel was a teacher at 2 Ghana Universities who happened to be staying at the same guesthouse as us.  When we mentioned that we would like to try fufu, he offered to take us to a place that prepares fufu “the local way”.

This is the result…..

So what the heck is it?

Fufu is boiled cassava (a starchy root) that is then pounded with a huge tool called a pestol (seen below).  As the cassava is being pounded, someone slowly adds the plantain until the mix is approx 50/50.  After 30-45 minutes of pounding, you end up with a doughy substance that is then shaped into balls.  Those balls are then plopped into a spicy soup containing ground ginger and liver.  Then the meat of your choice is put on top.

Fufu is eaten with your right hand by using your fingers as scissors to cut the dough and use the dough to shovel soup into your mouth.  You don’t chew it either – just swallow.

(In Ghana, you use your right hand for eating, shaking hands, dealing with money, passing items, etc.  Left hand:  Wiping your bum)

The first time we ordered it, we ordered it with salmon.  Thinking delicious pink fluffy Canadian salmon.  Wrong.  They plopped an entire salmon on top of the fufu.  ENTIRE salmon.  Skin, head, eyes, everything.  I thought Meg was going to pass out.

I didn’t mind Fufu, Meg wasn’t a big fan.

The next time we went to a restaurant I ordered Fufu:

Meg ordered this:

Where have we been staying?

Barbara’s Highlife Village in Kokrobite was the second place we stayed.  Nice little huts with basic amenities including a fan that worked when the power wasn’t out.

The place we are currently staying is the Oasis Beach Resort which is a nice place with an ocean-side  view.  The cleanliness is somewhat questionable, but the staff is friendly and the beer is cold.

How are we getting around?

Tro tro is by far the most economical and adventurous way to get around in Ghana.  A Tro tro is a large 15 person van that you stand on the side of the road and wait for.  Their are hundreds or even thousands of tro tros’ in Ghana going every which direction.

Meg and I just got done a 3 hour tro tro trip where a farmer got on with his 3 goats and shoved his goats under the seat we were sitting on.  Every once in a while a goat would brush up against Megs leg and she would give out a little shriek which would incite laughter from the farmer.  I snapped a quick undercover video of the situation for your enjoyment:

We met a Dutch couple last night and were talking about how crazy Ghana is over a beer.  The Dutch lad summed it up best when he said “You must be thinking….. how am I going to explain this to the people back home?”

Yep.  That is what I’m thinking……