A few weeks ago we experienced the full force of the Harmattan season. I don’t know the exact cause of it, but every year around this time the winds blow up dust and sand from the Sahara. I read somewhere that some of this dust travels all the way across the Atlantic ocean to the East Coast. Here the seasonal difference is really noticeable, the sky is dark all day long, and on really bad days when you breathe you can smell the dust in the air. It settles on the surface of everything, but you really notice it progressively coating the cars. We joke that it’s winter in Ghana. I wondered if it was at all like the ash settling on Portland after Mt. St. Helen’s erupted an experience I dearly wish I could remember. This is probably as close as I’ll ever get.

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