The next couple of days we are in travel mode … for one thing because of Easter almost everything is closed and people are celebrating. From Coconut Grove we headed back to Accra where we stayed at Affia Beach.
The beach and ocean is filthier than ever … apparently because of the rains whipping up the ocean the waves bring in a lot of debris which covers the beaches. Amongst all this garbage young people are doing various exercises (running, stretching, skipping) all in barefeet … Such an oxymoron – doing healthy exercise in filth.
There were a lot of people ‘enjoying’ the beach and ocean – one young person was reading sitting amongst garbage. Others were swimming in the foul ocean… I couldn’t help but think this huge group could clean up the beach in a single day … but what to do with the garbage? Dump it on the roads. This would make the big, fat politician in his huge SUV with dark tinted windows, sit up and take notice. Apparently having all this garbage in their backyard doesn’t seem to bother them but put it in front of their CAR and i am sure all hell would break loose…
Poor Affia Beach Hotel …. they try in vain to clean their beach front but they say it is never ending … the young athletes seem to enjoy this spot of cleanliness as there are lots of them there.
Even though it was Easter weekend one place that is always open is the Cultural Center … so we popped in. I wanted to pick up some masks and fetish figures (with lots of beads wrapping them) that i had really liked and thought would be perfect for the new page ‘Baskets and Curios’ ….. After a round of energetic negotiations i finally got the price down from the stratoshpere that they always start with here !!!
Back at the hotel a nice cool shower was welcome… Now that we were back closer to the ocean the heat was completely different … not so glaringly hot but HUMID! You just felt like you are breathing under water and just sitting you could feel the sweat bead up and you sit around feeling like a sopping rag :)
The next morning was more road trip to Ho… it was a lazy, drowsy ride …. for the copilot! The driver was as alert as ever… He surprised us by pointing out a huge … what gang? of baboons sitting casually on the side of the road. There were giant males with big red bums, moms with babies clinging to their tummy and lots of youngsters … obviously drivers feed them because they came up quite fearlessly only to turn their backs on us when we were disappointingly empty handed… Apparently there is a park where the baboons are protected in the Shai Hills…
Then we continued on to Ho… Christiane had generously offered for us to stay at the house again … since for me it was a bit like going home it was great.
This time Dela unloaded the whole car as we were going to send off some beads from the Post Office in Ho as with all our bags – we now had filled our second one up with goodies – the car would be just to jammed packed … so we needed to lighten our load :)
We spent a fun hour or so sorting through all the things we had bought along the road … i packed the masks and fetish dolls into my second suitcase i had brought along empty for this purpose… And it looks like i will have about 4-5 boxes of beads … not too bad :)
That night we retired early and missed the homecoming of Christiane and her gang… we greeted them in the morning !!
Today was Easter Sunday so Dela took the day with his family … we went and cooled off in one of the hotel’s pool … where a lot of Ho was had had our marvelous idea!!!! It was a lot of fun watching the young kids swimming … in the tiny kids’ pool! We, the bigger kids, were in the main pool … we weren’t quite has crowded :)
Throughout the afternoon families all dressed in their Easter Sunday best came for a sprite or coke … so great to see!! The little ones seemed to look enviously at their brethren frolicing in the cool water….
Then we were off to see Albert and one of the seamstresses about our order. They were so kind to come on their day off … We worked this all out and then the rains came with a roar… thunder and lightening and rain whipping around!! We had had the idea we would go out for pizza with Christiane and her gang and Dela and his gang but this idea was literally washed away!! The pizza joint is an outdoor affair…
Christiane said ‘no worries we will go home and make salad and pasta’ Mmmmm! What a treat … salad! We saw Dela off with promises we would try again tomorrow…
The supper was really delicious!! It really felt like we were home for awhile at least….