Trifter

First off, the reason I went to the Cantonmento’s used clothes/shoe market is because I am in the Model United Nations and need a suit. My friend came over at 9:00 AM so we could get to the market fairly early to the and avoid most traffic. At about 9:30 we hailed a taxi (we being my dad, my friend, and I). The taxi was an old Peugeot. The taxis in Ghana are white and orange and usually have scratches and dents all over them. This one was NO exception! The window was half cracked and the brakes squeaked.On the way to the market, we passed the new Presidential Palace, the Accra mall, and the new Holiday Inn and Hilton.

After about a 35 minute ride, we made it to the outskirts of the market (which is in downtown Accra). We had to walk about a mile to get to the used clothing section, and found a suit stall. My dad asked if he had a suit my size and the man said yes. It was a pinstripe brown suit so my friend tried it on instead. It looked good on him so we asked to man if he could hold it for awhile for us. Now, this particular shop only had one suit my size – and my friend was going to get it, so we asked the man where we could find another suit shop, he led us for about 1 minute and showed us another stall. We thanked him and walked into it. I ended up getting a charcoal color suit for 20 Ghana Cedis which if about 18 or 19 US dollars!! My friend also paid 20 Ghana Cedis! My dad found 2 white, long-sleeved Marks and Spencer button down dress shirts for 4 cedis each!!  The suits are both good quality suits from the United States and the Marks and Spencer shirts are from England! In total, we spent only about 45 dollars on 2 full suits!  This proves that you can get really good deals in Africa if you look around enough.  I forgot to mention that the man who was selling my suit wanted 55 cedis for it at first and my dad bargained the price down to 20 cedis!!!! It was a fun “argument” to watch… 

On the way back to the main square to find a taxi, I think about 23 people grabbed at my arms and I had to keep jerking my arms away from them. The reason for this is that I am white, and, they think I have unlimited cash to buy all their stuff!! Sometimes it gets really annoying…