Happy Valentine’s Day from the road!!! …The featured photo is of a little sweetheart in her Valentine’s best!! Daughter of a lovely staff member at Koforidua Guest House….
You are wondering why i am drinking my beer in a carpark!! Right? …well the thing is i had been looking so forward to coming back to Koforidua Guest House mainly because there is a great place to sit and work next to a pool with a delicious breeze …. and we could have pizza cause it was Valentine’s Day …. and there it is another: who knew??? … Valentine’s Day is a very big deal here! Next to the pool were lots of young women dressed to the slinky nines and young men in the pool showing their muscles by tossing a ball back and forth … LOL … and LOUD music! I know i am a grandmother when i say the young people love to listen to this really insipid music with a regular beat VERY LOUD … i mean, they all move very nicely to the music but my head started to pound after awhile so i opted out. But again i get to tell you about the wonderful side of Ghana .. at home if you make a tiny fuss at a restaurant or hotel the staff get all agitated, uptight and pass the buck quickly as they can as that is not in their job description. Here there will always be somebody who will understand and strive to fulfill your needs!!! Hence the beer basically in the carpark!!!!!!! … but in relative peace and quiet … and outside!! Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!!!!
Ok back to Day 8 from the beginning….
Today we headed back to Koforidua for the market Thursday! We had several memorable encounters – couldn’t take pictures.. you’ll understand why!! First a little background there is a LOT of police presence here in Ghana. You are continually being pulled over so they can ‘check’ you out. Apparently they look for infractions so they can fine you, then you slip them some grift. And off you go … With us they eye Grandma (me) (i am everyone’s Grandma and have been since i was 55!!)… Dela schmoozes with them, i smile warmly and they reluctantly let us go. But it is quite irritating because it is all so arbitrary… Well today, as we drove along we came upon a police truck just belching black smoke and two officers sitting on benches in the back of the truck with no seatbelts and neither did the three officers in front … it’s Dela’s fault .. he egged me on! So i yelled over “i am arresting you cause your truck is smoking and you’re not wearing seatbelts!!!!” The Boss Man was not amused but all the other officers were laughing their heads off!!! … felt good, a little retribution! Then, as the Togo border is apparently not far off at the bridge that crosses the Volta River we were swarmed by Immigration Officers .. A very very young female Immigrant Officer just puffed up by her Power flicked her finger indicating we should pull over to the office … Dela was protesting and i blurted in a scandalized voice What they want money?? Oops wrong thing to say as she got even higher on her high horse protesting loudly that she didn’t want my money!! … everyone got a bit excited after that … it was all pretty scary as there were 7 of them all dressed in military gear and looking pretty threatening!! Finally Boss Man comes over … and i have my Ghana visa all ready for him. Dela explained the history of the comment and again Boss Man was not amused but all the other officers (not the young officer – she was likely off happily power tripping some one else) were nodding and smiling in a reassuring kind of way … Ghana – you just gotta love the people! – Anyways Boss Man was an understanding fellow and nodded a bit appeasing the affronted Grandma Tourist and waved us on after perusing my passport carefully… me and Dela dissected the encounter for at least an hour tossing back and forth all the things we should have said … my favourite was “Granddaughter you would disrespect your Grandmother ?… you want to see my Ghana Visa??” all said in a very hurt voice.
On we went and the mango sellers came into view … so we stopped and got some more mangos .. they are heavenly!!
Then we were going through a small village, Adukrom and an intriguing stall caught my eye….
I thought Ansah Kofiman, the artiste was so cool!! I kept thinking my darling grandson, Theo would just love these head pieces!!! I will have to do a project with him making a headdress …. the photo doesn’t do justice to the intricacy of his work!
And he was delighted i wanted him to star on the internet… he gave me and Dela a present, , me a leather bangle and Dela a necklace … i was really touched!!! So World send him some love on Valentine’s Day!!!
And just a few shots of the road so you will know it is not all roses roses here!!!
