Now this is the Anthony Bourdain I know. The one who will eat all the crazy food. He ate a barracuda for crying out loud. And raved about it!
In tonight's episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Tony is visiting The Republic of Ghana in West Africa. This is the type of place I will probably never actually go to. But the secret backpacking wanderer inside me knows this is the type of place I would really love. Wide open markets with people selling their wares. Lots of wonderful colors. Lots of SPICY food.
Honestly, I love watching it all on TV, but I'd be kind of scared to go there. But with the language barrier and the Ghana markets being so crowded, fast-paced and confusing, I'd just get frustrated. And with my red hair I'd stick out like a sore thumb which is as good as having the word 'sucker' written on my forehead. At least that is the problem I always ran into when visiting the Caribbean or Eastern Europe. They see "rich female American" and I always get scammed. But in my dreams I wander around markets like Tony does, touching all the fabrics, watching the local people, listening to the music, smelling the foods cooking and stopping to taste a few different treats.
Once he got out of the city, he went to one of the most amazing places in the world: Ghana's Mole National Park. Over 800 elephants live there and they are just beautiful. Tony's sacrine dialogue voiced over all of this wonderful nature and it was quite funny as he was describing a New Yorker's uncomfortableness around wild animals. He even let his viewers know that "you do not want to be anywhere near a farting elephant."
Ghana is a beautiful country and we got to see it all through Tony's eyes. River villages, national parks, uniformed school children, wild marketplaces, beachside communities, and of course a lot of interesting cultural food.
Next week Tony comes back to the States: Portland, OR in the Pacific Northwest.
