There Are Faces I Remember

It was Easter Sunday, 2009, and my bony carcass was surveying one of the most marvelous and magical locales I have ever witnessed. The Kejetia market in Kumasi, Ghana is the largest market in West Africa. I have also heard it said that it is the largest open air market in the world. Given that the far end of the market disappears over the horizon, I would be shocked if its not in the top five.

Christianity is an integral part of society in much of Ghana. Chances are that if you're not hearing some awesome drumming, you're passing by a chapel emanating beautiful voices in inspired unison declaring their faith through the power of song.

So, of course Easter Sunday is one of the largest events on the calender and as a result the massive market was positively subdued by local standards. By Western standards it felt busy, but I immediately sensed that it was not the teeming cauldron of human endevour that it normally is.

I'm a little sad that the market is not its usual vibrant self, but the relative quiet presents an opportunity to drink it all in, to banter with the locals, and to savour the sheer enormity of this incredible place.

One issue I'm very sensitive about when traveling is taking pictures of people. People the world over deserve the right to privacy, and our day to day existence is not some freak show paraded for our collective need to satisfy some voyeuristic vacuum. Besides, I'd already had two incidents in Ghana involving using a camera when I shouldn't have.

As I strolled the market with wide eyes, I passed by this lady, and something sparked.

She was selling yams and obviously bored. Our eyes met, and I smiled and nodded at her. She said hello and we engaged in some small talk. I asked if I could take her picture, and she posed for me. I  gave her a small dash (tip) and as I did so she held out her hands to me, which I instinctively accepted.

She looked me directly in the eye and said to me, "I love you". Deeply touched, I returned her stare and I said " I love you too". I began to release my grip, only to feel her hands tighten and her eyes grow more intense.

"No" she said, "I mean it, I really, really love you". In that moment I feel something shoot through me as the depth of our impromptu exchange dawns on me. I look her back in the eye and tell her that I mean it, too.

We release our grip. My buckling legs bid farewell as my welling eyes turn away. I marvel at the sheer aliveness of the people I have met in Ghana.

And I know I'll often stop and think about them.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com

Ewww, They Eat Snakes?

William Shakespeare via last.fm

Yes. Yes they do.

Over the past 10 months I have embarked on two journey's. One to Asia and one to Africa. The period prior to, during, and after these trips I noticed a compelling and instinctive pattern among all of us to be afraid of venturing into the unknown.

I am no expert traveler, and I will never have a show on the Discovery Network. I am nothing more than a wide eyed rookie traveler venturing forth.

One thing I have noticed is that we humans seem to be hard wired to not travel. On my first trip to Ghana, many people warned me about the potential perils. Others looked at me as if I was going to the moon. This persisted during my trip to Asia.

Admittedly, I was scared when I went to Ghana, but I also took a leap of faith that my fellow human beings are as decent as you and I. This was a big mistake, as I actually learned that my fellow human beings are at the very least, as decent as you and I, and in most cases, far better.

The world is not scary. While I do not recommend traveling to Iraq or Somalia at this time, most of the world is filled with fellow human beings who are just trying to get by. Just like you and me, they want to live in peace and harmony, take care of their family, and live with the hope that the kids will have more opportunities than they did.

I guess what I am trying to say is, that for the most part, everyone else is like you and me. Do not be afraid to travel! It is a beautiful and friendly world out there!

The world is overwhelmed by decent people, though I think William Shakespeare said it best regarding overcoming travel fear.

Be not afraid, the isle is full of noises,

Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twanging instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices,

That if I then had waked after long sleep,

Would make me sleep again; and then in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches

Ready to drop upon me: when I wak'd

I cried to dream again.

It is a big beautiful world out there and there is nothing to fear, except maybe, fear itself.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com

How I Inadvertently Smuggled A Weapon Onto An International Flight

Seriously, it was an accident. A stupid mistake that could have caused me great aggravation. In this age of paranoia I am slightly reticent to even post this. I only do so as a cautionary tale for all travelers and a warning to those who keep us safe while flying.

It all started in Hanoi, when I tried to check my luggage for a flight to Bangkok. The Air Asia agent informed me that my bag was overweight. This was because I had zipped my backpack to my larger bag and was trying to check the whole shebang. While this may have worked in Chicago, the purchases I had made on the way had pushed me over the edge. I moved a bunch of books to my carry on and all was fine.

I made a mental note to remove the backpack from my checked luggage on my flight home. So thats what I did. The thing is that if one wants to carry on a bag that was previously checked, one should study its contents. In the rush to catch an early morning flight, I did no such thing.

In the early hours of a Bangkok airport morning this fact dawned upon me as security politely asked me to step aside. Compliantly, I stepped to the side. My bag was opened and to my great humiliation, the security guy pulled out a knife.

I was mortified, but very fortunate that the knife did not cause me a delay. The knife was confiscated and I was allowed to proceed to another checkpoint, just outside the departure lounge. I had never seen this sort of secondary checkpoint, and I was surprised and annoyed, yet confident that like most flyers I had nothing to hide.

Nonetheless I was still checked through, and off I went to the flight. The thing is that I still had a knife on me, though I did not know it at the time

While I was surprised in Bangkok, I was truly mortified at Narita. To see another knife pulled from my bag as I was called to the side yet again was humiliating.

I know what you're saying. "Why is this moron traveling with two knives, when it is pretty clear that he can't handle one?" Personally, I blame everything on my travel guru, Miss Jocund. Prior to heading to Africa, she recommended that I buy a knife, but I did not. While traveling through Ghana I had several occasions where a knife would have been very handy. That is why she is a guru and I'm just a blogger.

So, prior to leaving for Asia, I bought a knife, which I packed. On the eve of my departure, Miss Jocund gave me a knife. I threw it in, mostly because it was a better knife. I had no idea that I had unwittingly carried a weapon on a flight until security in Japan caught the second knife.

Thank god that this happened prior to the underwear bomber. Believe me, I have learned my lesson about knowing exactly what is in your carry on.

The thing that I find the most unsettling is the fact that I had two similar contraband items and only one was found

Not much point in catching the first thing if you can't catch the second.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com

Be A Believer

Image via Wikipedia

In the days prior to my trip to Africa, I began investing heavily in my own disbelief that something that I had planned was about to come to fruition.

I had spent many years dreaming about taking a trip to Africa, and many months researching the journey. Yet, in the days before leaving, I lost all faith in the groundwork I had done and went into "disbelief mode".

As the reality drew near, my own disbelief increased. When I told people where I was going, and that I was traveling by myself more than a few looked at me as if I was Neil Armstrong.

This only made my own disbelief worse and I began to panic about everything that could go wrong, to the point that as I was driven to the airport, I could barely speak.

I had fully embraced scarcity and abandoned abundance. I had thrown away all the empowerment that I had earned through countless hours of research.

By the time I had been dropped off at the airport in Toronto, my dream trip of a lifetime was feeling more like a monster that I had to slay, something that I had to get through. I was letting disbelief and doubt rule the day, and I was paying a heavy price for my foolishness.

Once I cleared customs in Toronto, all of it melted away. I let go of the scarcity that I was clinging to and realized that whatever the road ahead contained didn't matter, because I was now on that road and there was no turning back.

During the long journey trust began to envelope worry. I had made informed decisions that put me on the path I was on and that the unknown is not something that should be automatically feared.

I wasn't Neil Armstrong, I was doing something that a lot of people do everyday.

When I arrived at the airport in Accra and I saw the sign that I had seen in so many pictures on the internet, I teared up a little. The sign says "Akwaaba" which means welcome in Twi. I had achieved a goal in spite of my own disbelief.

My last moments of doubt evaporated when my checked through bag finally came off the plane, the guy at customs sent a line cutter back to wave me in, and the hotel I booked had a driver waiting to pick me up, as promised.

Each moment after that was pure wonder. I look back and laugh at my pointless anxiety. I knew what I was doing, but I didn't fully trust myself. Someday I'll figure it out.

www.goyestoeverything.com

Gratitude or lack thereof

Image via Wikipedia

After I returned from my trip to Ghana, I was deeply dismayed by the demeanour of my fellow citizens ( and myself ) and the spoiled sense of entitlement that WE ALL have. I was also struck by the petty anger that seems to be the pathetic throughline of our national identity.

Make no mistake, most of us are decent people who would like to do the right thing. However,our perspective and lack of appreciation that we have for our privileged place in the world is turning us into a society of spoiled babies.

Anyone who is reading this is among the top one or two percentile of all the human beings that have ever walked the face of the earth. Ya might wanna consider that before you send your eggs back for not being over medium.

Look around you, appreciate how wonderful things are for us, and take a moment to consider the fact that you could have been born into a less desirable space. After all, most of the world lives with a reality far more bleak than our own.