Speaking of things for sale on the roadside...

There are lots of vendors on the sides of the road. Some are 'stores' in shipping containers and some are just tables with fruit or baskets or traditional African clothing. One common thing for sale roadside is coconuts- the vendor sets up early in the day with a huge pile of coconuts- green ones, not the brown hairy ones- a table, and a machete. He proceeds to whack the top of the coconut with the machete until it is tapered and then sets it on the table. Customers come and pay for a coconut, the vendor whacks the very tip of the coconut off and the customer drinks the contents. Watching them whack away with a machete while holding the coconut is a frightening thing for a person like me who should never be trusted with a large sharp implement, but they are fascinating to watch nonetheless.

Another enterprise is hawking just about everything to cars stopped at intersections. It's technically illegal and occasional sweeps by police send the vendors running in every direction, but there is no way to stop the practice all over, so it continues on a massive scale. On any given day, while sitting at a traffic light, I will be offered toilet paper, lighters, maps of Ghana, plantain chips, bags of ice water, loaves of bread, gum, breath mints, chamois cloths, toy cars, peanuts, popcorn, chocolate milk, apples, meat pies, blue jeans, newspapers, and countless other items. A simple head shake will send most of them on their way- many just walk by without slowing unless they see a signal from you, and a very few will stop at any car containing a white person and insist that their item is "cheap" and something you need very badly. They almost always make me laugh, which makes them laugh, and usually causes them to ask me to buy it just because I think they are cute. So far I have never bought anything from the people who pass my car...