Caught in the Rain

Last Thursday, we ventured out of Accra up to the north. Our road trip took us up through Kumasi, Tamale, and Mole National Park. On Friday, our full day spent in Kumasi, we visited the Kajetia street market, which is the largest in West Africa and the second largest on the continent.
As we prepared to enter the expansive market, we split into two groups. About six people went with Leslie to go to the fabric section of the market, where they would stay the whole time to sift through the fabric selection. The rest of us stayed with Sonny, who planned to guide us on a tour of as much of the market as we could see in the hour and a half we had to spend there.

From the city streets on the outskirts of the market, all one can see is a layer of tin roofs sprawling over a massive chunk of land. Upon entrance, this rusty shield gives way to a labyrinth of crowded corridors filled with life. We quickly snaked through the pathways behind Sonny in a single-file line, trying our best not to get separated by the men and women going about their business. We passed through areas filled with stands selling metal products, spices, fruits, cloth, etc. Some items were a little more outlandish, such as the bin full of dried chameleons which Sonny stopped to show us. Every section of the market had its own smell, ranging from pleasant to gag-worthy. I definitely had to hold my breath as we walked through the meat section, a small, covered warehouse filled with every part of every type of edible animal imaginable. I had to duck out of the way to avoid a face full of horse innards as we passed a man carrying a horse head on his shoulder.

We left the meat section of the market and continued on through more pathways. At this point we had been following Sonny at a fast pace for about half an hour, and were deep into the heart of the market. While the shops of the market are covered, the pathways are not. This detail became important as we began to feel small drops of rain landing on us. As we have figured out through multiple experiences, light rain usually turns into a monsoon in a very short period of time. Knowing this, we picked up our pace and tried to get out of the market. We weren’t fast enough, however, and the clouds started dumping on us as we ran for cover. It had been hard enough to stay together as we walked through the market, and in the chaos of the monsoon we lost half of our group. Shawna, Megan, Jake and I managed to stick with Sonny, but we soon realized that everyone else had been left behind. The five of us stopped under an overhang just large enough to shelter us from the rain. Sonny went back to find the rest of the group, leaving the me and the other three to wait out the storm.

It was this experience, among others, that has made me realize how happy I am to have the types of people my housemates are on this trip with me. So many people I know at home would have been either upset, annoyed, angry, and probably started complaining relentlessly about our situation. Instead, here we were, stranded alone in a monsoon in the middle of the second largest street market in Africa and laughing our asses off. The flexibility and low-maintenance attitude of our group have made this trip infinitely more fun and enjoyable than it would have been with a more high-strung bunch. We stood there for at least half an hour laughing and joking about what was probably floating around in the flood waters that were lapping up over our feet, rain pouring the whole time.

Once the rain finally let up, the pathways were flooded and we didn’t have much time left, so our tour was over. While I was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of the market, getting caught in this monsoon was definitely a memorable experience.