Recycled Glass Bead Makers

So we spent the morning lounging while Dela scrambled to outfit the car … I deliberately didn’t take any photos of the parts so as not to worry any worry warts.. but it involved a lot of big steel parts … Chris, my awesome auto mechanic in Montreal, would have been quite thrilled I am sure. Dela assures us the car is perfect! Hmmm….

Then we packed up the car with all of our luggage and chugged off..

We stopped to visit Tet first … He is working hard to bring recycled beads to a more contemporary and modern level .. It was fun to check out his new designs. Having Lisa around is great as she loves to put all the colours together and seeing them all together is so amazing so more and more strands found their way to my pile … After all …

…who is going to stop me??

…or me??

… a great way to recycled bottles!!!

… moulds ready for the next batch …

… beads ready to be hand grinded to a smooth finish

… each bead is polished smooth!….

Then we made our way through the thrumming, swarming, delightful chaos of the traffic of a neighbourhood outdoor selling spree ..

 

….to see another favourite Recycled Glass Maker : TK . She makes the ‘old style’ recycled glass masterpieces .. hand painted recycled beads, the translucent ‘bottle’ glass beads … It was fun to see Lisa totally absorbed by the beads. She gets it. Somehow these little masterpieces call out to us …

 

 

Then we were running much later than we had planned as we headed off to our final destination of Ho… Here the sun sets and is completely asleep and snoring by 6 pm. So we ended up doing what I had firmly told Dela we mustn’t do : drive in the dark. I mean, the potholes rival with Montreal’s for sure… so you can Imagine! And then to really darken the mood there was a huge power failure that seem to go on for miles. When you would try to look beyond the headlights the darkness was like a yawning black hole wanting to suck us in so I kept my gaze firmly in front … It was actually (in hindsight ) quite beautiful with the stars glittering out of blackness and the air soft and warm ( but that is from the perspective of having arrived)

We arrived at the Marisel Hotel .. I always find it so beautiful all lit up and welcoming. So therefore it is always a bit of a shock to go in to the sweltering heat of the place … But the staff is always so welcoming and happy to see you..

We got all our luggage ferried up to our hot rooms – and escaped as quick as we could to go have supper. At the White House which by the way is not white but nevertheless has a lovely little courtyard in the back where we sat drinking ice cold beer … Somehow arriving in Ho is really arriving in Ghana .. Accra still has echoes of home but Ho is Africa. And the Marisel epitomizes this feeling… rooms, as I said, that are hot with a fan busily trying to move humid, heavy air.. showers that trickle out tepid water… Why am I so happy to be here… in Africa????