The night before I introduced myself to another study broad student from Pen state who was rooming in the Chalet across from ours. She gave us all the inside scoop on Cape Coast; where the clubs are, how to get internet, where the cheap food is.. We made arrangements to go to the club that Friday. It seemed like her group was just a boring and sheltered as ours so we ended up exploring a near by town at midnight. All the way at the end of this dusty path on the out skirts of the town was a small shop ran by a woman and her two children. She scolded us for being out so late and demanded we come back and visit her in the morning. She reminded me so much of my grandmother...I mentioned this to Rachel and of coarse she took it and ran..'mother' this 'mother' that bla bla bla..
The next day we got a 'formal' tour of the campus. I really just wanted to go to sleep cause this was all stuff I'd found on my own the last few days we've been here. After the tour was over we went back to the other side of campus so get our 'Urban Drop-off' assignments. Urban drop off was exactly what it sounds like; they dropped us off in a market and told us to go buy specific items in our groups. Me, Rachel and this girl Nichol were told to go buy Gari. I had already eaten Gari for breakfast that morning plus I had asked the bus driver what it was made out of and how else it can be prepared, basically I had everything I needed before we even got to the market
It was so strange to me how the whole economy seemed to be based off of foreign goods. I came in there thing thinking WORD im about to get maaaad Shea butter and Black soap (Alata Semina) but I really had to search in the inner market for those. Everyone is trying to be American so hard its ridiculous....
Gari is made from fresh cassava, which is grated and the excess liquid is then squeezed out. The remaining cassava is then fried with over an open fire, on a broad metal pan that has been greased with a little oil, could be palm oil or other vegetable fat.
The result product is crisp and crunchy to taste, and is stored easily and can be eaten with stew or soup or shito and fish. Or in secondary schools it can be soaked with water milk and sugar. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/food/gari.html
I had this theory that having us find Gari was our T.A. way of proving to us that we dont know everything..were we supposed to get Gari or Cassava? It wasn't exactly laid out so I just go cassava. The market was like any street market in layout. The western goods and sold on the outside of the market on the main street, there's a taxi stand near by, the inner market it mostly children and older women selling kente cloth soaps, seasoning and other fresh local foods and meats.That evening Rachel and I walked to the near by beach. I was more interested in walking around and talking to the fishermen but Rachel wanted to show off her skim board while I was stuck taking pictures of her like always. I ran into some fishermen who let me take pictures of them and help carrying some nets and pull the boat up from the beach. They had about 9 other guys pulling at the same time. Its really hard work.
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