A Trip to the Bead Market

After a week battling a cold (quite unpleasant when you are around so many people all the time; I feel bad for those sitting next to me on the small trotros!), I was so ready for a relaxing weekend. All of us had an exhausting week, and so we decided to do a relaxing day trip on Saturday since Leah was off. The options were to bike ride through the Aburi Gardens (after us all recovering from illness), or to visit a bead market in Agomanya which we had heard about. Since we were feeling slightly lazy, we decided to go to the bead market and I am so glad we did!

Agomanya is about two hours away from Accra including the city traffic. After what felt like a very short trip, we arrived in an extremely busy area quite unlike Accra. The main street was jam-packed full of tros, taxis, and people, and honestly we were not even sure of where we were when the tro stopped! Luckily, as always, we were not out of the tro for more than five seconds before someone offered us help. We followed a young man into the market who led us through winding pathways dotted with stalls filled with anything you could ever desire - everything from fabric, to fish, beans, grains, bowls, and produce. Before long, we arrived in the bead section of the market (which I am sure we never would have found without help). It was as if we stepped into a whole other world; stall after stall was lined with the most vibrant and varied colours I have ever seen. Large, small, round, square, opaque, translucent, patterned, plain, you name it. If you could dream it up in your imagination, you could find it in this market. 

The men and women selling the beads were just as bright, colourful, and fun as the goods on display. The would chat with you and try and sell you all kinds of colours and shapes, but in a good-natured way. They were also very helpful in helping you decide which colours went best together! We were even lucky enough to find one table that had a large selection of brass jewellery, from pendants to necklaces which all of us had a lot of fun looking through.

Each table had a different selection of beads, and we all went rather crazy trying them all out. The prices, as all are outside of Accra, were also very reasonable if not low for the quality and quantity we were able to secure! We spent a couple of hours browsing the wares, chatting with vendors, and admiring each others' purchases. When Jessica, the sickest of us all, looked like she was beginning to fade, we decided it was time for lunch. We stopped and looked at the expansive market in front of us, but remarkably we struggled to locate an area with a chop bar, or at least a stall with rice and beans or some other basic dish. In search of food, we head off through the labyrinth of aisles that each housed different items. (We all struggled a bit with our senses when we went through a huge fish market - it was a very hot day and it seemed as though half of the sea was in our sight). After recovering from the fish experience, we stumbled upon a chop bar and a place to buy drinks - an oasis with the heat and hunger wearing us down! The rice was delicious and we sat for some time re-hydrating and comparing our purchases.

After lunch we went back through the market for round two (carefully avoiding fish whenever we could) and enjoyed a long second look at the market. Personally, I liked just looking around - all the hanging beads in their infinite rainbow of colours dazzled the senses and it did feel as though we were in a treasure trove. I would have liked to take more pictures, but I was honestly a bit over-whelmed with it all! We finished at the bead market before too long and started the trek home, arriving at our humble abode just after dinnertime. 

Sunday this week truly was a day of rest - we attempted to sleep in (to little avail; getting up at 6am each day has ruined me), read our books, and were generally leisurely. Later in the day we decided that pizza was absolutely necessary and so we went all the way to Eddy's Pizza on Ring Road to finally experience its culinary delights. Jessica and I drive past this place everyday on the way to and from work and dream about pizza, and so finally getting to go inside was very exciting! The restaurant was actually quite fancy, as was the service! I began my meal with a hot towel to wash my hands and everything - very decadent. The pizza was to die for and we would argue that it is the best in the city. Despite stomach problems off and on for the last week, I polished off my pizza with no trouble at all and even had a FanIce on the way home! When it needs to be, my stomach is quite the champ.

Only six weeks left on this amazing adventure - excited to go on more adventures, but also very excited to go home!