This week’s Elubo overnight outreach with Crystal Eye Clinic in Takoradi was rather eventful.

Have you ever heard of grasscutter? I just looked it up on Wikipedia because this is the first time I’ve had internet access this week. I knew it was a rodent that looked like a rat. I knew it wasn’t anything that anyone in the United States eats. I knew it’s considered to be a delicacy in Ghana and Western Africa. I knew I wouldn’t be pleased when I looked up what this animal is.

I was still surprised. I ate this thing???


It tasted sort of like chicken. It was fried and in someone else’s fufu dish. I only had a bite. It’s formal name is the "greater cane rat." Now that I've seen this photo I don't think I'll ever try grasscuttahhh (spelled with the correct Ghanaian pronunciation) again... even though it was tasty.

I'm going to Cape Coast today to hopefully do a canopy walk. Maybe I'll see a grasscuttahhh there.

The entire week I had the impression that Takoradi was a much nicer city than Accra, until I saw the downtown Osu district last night. Takoradi's markets were much more abundant and fertile, and the streets were mostly paved and less congested with traffic. Many palm trees were seen along our routes. People here cook with palm oil, which is a derivative of palm trees, which are part of the natural fauna here. Palm oil isn't harvested or sold in the U.S. because of its high saturated fat content. But it's here. Everywhere. The locals also drink "palm wine," which I tried last night, and which I found to be appalling.

The UFS van took us to some nice markets where I had some yummy fruit, including an African "apple," which is not the type of apple that I have grown to love. You eat it by ripping it apart with your hands. The fruit's inner heavens are white and soft and have the natural flavor of sour apple. Be careful to not let the fruit sit at the bottom of your bag with your belongings when it has been ripe for at least one day, for it will rip itself apart and open up its inner nectars to the loins of your bag, which becomes sticky and a haven for mosquitoes.

Noms!

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Things I'll share once I've returned from Cape Coast:
- armadillos and leprosy
- power outages
- "couching"
- how outreaches work, and Crystal Eye Clinic's staff
- pales, breastmilk, etc. research.
- ghana church sign thing
- events of last night: frankie's pizza, clubbing, street circus performers, better taxi experiences.