Home » Ghana » African Adventure to Ghana - Summer 2003 (part II)

My summer of 2003 was a very exciting one. I went to Jonquière, Quebec to learn French for 5 weeks, and with only a few days to prepare (including a party at my friend Paul's cottage in between) I was off to Accra, Ghana landing July 1 (Canada Day, and also Ghanaian Independance Day). After that, within 3 days I was back at Ottawa to complete my Economics degree, so it was a very action-packed summer.

African Adventure to Ghana - Summer 2003 (part II)

Andrew Wozniuk
2006-04-02 10:41:09

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more than in Canada (where new clothing tends to be purchased more). But there are many things that are less expensive. Locally made goods and produce are less expensive. Transportation per trip is less expensive, but not having a real set-up public transport system (with bus passes) makes it more expensive in the end. Same goes with Internet Access. Internet Cafe's only charge between $1-2 CAN per hour, but if you use it often, it will cost you more than you would have paid in Canada if you had access at home.

So all that been said, as with living in Canada without a large budget, you have to watch how you spend so you don't run out of money. I've never been one to like being ripped off, so I always make sure that I am careful. Here, the prices are not fixed, and you barter for everything. The people selling don't make much money doing it, so they try to get what they can. If you look like you can pay more, then they will try to charge more. There are many rich people here in Accra, as are there poor. So if a local is dressed real nice and looks like they have money, chances are people selling to them will try to get a higher price. Same goes with foreigners. If you know the right price, then you can usually get things for that (they wouldn't sell it unless they were making at least a bit of profit). But if you don't know, then sometimes you can be had. The times that this happens the most often is when something is cheaper here than back home, and then when they give you a price that when you convert in your head is a little bit cheaper, but not the real price, it doesn't seem like that bad a deal, but you may still be paying double or triple the price.

If this happened to me in Canada, I wouldn't be too impressed because it's usually a big faceless corporation with millions that's ripping you off. But here, since the people who are making the money aren't people who have a lot, and are just trying ...