How I Spent My New Year's Eve...

When I'm in a situation involving explosives or fire, I tend to think of my brother. I bet many of our friends would agree- when you think of explosives, you think of Adam. But when I'm in a situation that I feel would make Adam nervous, then I know I'm in trouble.

But let me start from the beginning. Mus and I wanted to go out for New Years- in the past, we've always stayed in on New Years Eve and I wanted something different this year. I requested dancing and/or fireworks. Big mistake.

The whole things even started off on the wrong foot. Mus and I decided to go to Osu, which is where most tourists stay in Accra, for their New Year's street carnival. Now, Osu is a good 45 min. cab ride from where Mus's family lives, and there's a really good secondhand book store there. I was in need of some new novels, so Mus and I set off at 4pm so we could make it there before the bookstore closes. I knew it would be too early for the carnival yet, but I thought it was dumb to make two trips to Osu, and I figured the carnival would start around 7pm or so.

Error followed by error. We arrive at the bookstore to find a lady standing in front of it. She owns the store next door, and she tells us that the man who owns the bookstore just left; in fact, we passed him on the stairs coming up to the second story shop. She points to him below us and we wave, asking him to let us shop. After all, according to the sign, the store doesn't close until 6:30pm- and it's not yet 5pm. He shakes his head and leaves. We look at the lady, and she explained that he wanted to leave early because of all the people who were coming into town for carnival.

I blink. “You mean, he wants to leave because of all the people, all the potential customers that will be choking the streets in front of his shop?”

She nods. “Wow,” I say, “that's a good business model to follow.”

Apparently, on New Year's Eve most people go and spend the whole night in church. He didn't want to be late for church, I guess.

So I was annoyed that we came in early just to go to this shop, and without warning, they closed early. So Mus and I got some food and settled in to wait for the carnival to begin.

It was quite a wait. 7 hours later, it's midnight, and the “organizers” (you need a pretty loose definition to call them that) are still setting up the stage and sound equipment! The party wasn't even started! I was pissed and tired and bored. If we hadn't come early to buy the books, Mus and I wouldn't have arrived until 8pm or so- and would have been waiting 4 hours, not 7. And we didn't even get the stupid books! Aaaagggh!

But just wait, the night's not over yet. Right after midnight, people decided to some up with some of their own entertainment. Street hawkers had been wandering the streets all night with fistfuls of fireworks- bottle rockets, sparklers, roman candles, and such. Now there were a few set off here and there early in the evening, but after midnight, the action started in earnest.

Picture this: 50 boys under the age of 15 with handfuls of fireworks and no parents in sight. Then surround them with hundreds of 20-something boys who have even more fireworks.

The place looked like a war zone. Basically, the 20-somethings split themselves into two groups who stood across the street from each other, with the little kids running and scampering in the middle. Then the two groups facing each other would light fireworks and either aim them at the other group, or sometimes just light them and throw the whole stick into the crowd across the street. The young boys just shot their fireworks any old direction. I actually saw an 11 year old boy take a lit sparkler and thrust it in another kid's face. If all those kids went home intact, it would be a New Year's miracle.

And, as another fun and exciting twist, someone decided to bring their horse into the war zone. That horse should be freakin' sainted, because he stood there in a smoky, crowded street full of loud music, and let his owner stand up and dance on his back while fireworks literally whizzed past his head and exploded. I was convinced the horse would start and his idiotic handler would fall and break his neck.

During all of this, Mus and I were stuck on a raised platform up against a building. We had relatively few fireworks stray into our direction- we were definitely safer than the people on the street- but we couldn't leave and get out of harm's way without going through the line of fire. I tried to video from our vantage point, but it seemed like every time I got the camera rolling, a firework flew at my feet. Eventually I gave up the camera in order to use my appendages for the all-important task of covering my head.

At about 1AM Mus and I decided to try and dance- there was music playing, though not very good music, and a few people were dancing up by the stage. First we had to wait until the fireworks subsided enough for us to sneak out. We got in the group, and the scene wasn't that good. Very few people were dancing, and the music kept skipping and switching. After a few minutes, someone threw a lit bottle rocket into the densely packed crow we were in. Everyone shrieked and started running, and I got pushed over, dropping my purse. I scrambled to pick up myself and my purse, and then I was done. It was time to call this night a wash and go home. I mean, I'd had just about all the fireworks and/or dancing that I could handle.

So I pieced together the fragments of video I'd taken- I know it's hard to see. The lighting definitely isn't the best. I also didn't film the craziest most active parts because of my need to duck and cover. Some highlights to look for- About halfway through, you'll see a firework zoom right over a guy's shoulder. Also, at the end, you can see the guy with his horse- I didn't get good footage of him dancing on it, but it'll give you an idea of the noise and terror that poor horse went through.