Road Trip to Accra

                         A three day trip to Accra just isn't quite long enough considering two of                                                              those days were driving.  So, we made the most of it!

African dolls....a mother with a baby on her back.

                                           More photos from our fast and furious trip this week...

Accra Soccer Stadium

I LOVE to see the temple in Accra,

I'm going there some day, when it's not closed for cleaning...

               Yes, unfortunately that was the case.  Its ok, it just means we have to go back again.  :P

Shopping in Accra!

A photo of a portion of a painting that hangs in the Accra West Mission office.  

This past week we had the pleasure of going to Accra with the Cosgraves to meet the Area Office employees and the Accra West Mission leaders.  It was a fast trip, drive all day on Wednesday, spend the  night, meet with people and do a bit of shopping, haircuts, and dinners with our new friends there, then drive home again on Friday.  It was very enjoyable to be out and about and seeing new people and places and the Cosgraves are pretty fun to be with!  A change of pace is a good thing!

This is coco pod growing on a coco tree trunk.  Inside that pod, you will find many coco beans which are harvested, dried and then made in to chocolate products.  Cocoa is one of Ghana's biggest exports.

A hunter trying to sell his trophies along the side of the road. One is a small deer, the other is a pangolin. He was not very    happy that I was taking a picture....

Checking out the dinner menu at Lord of the Wings.  Great name for a restaurant, don't you think?  By the way, the food was really good and they had more than just wings on the menu.

Batty in Accra!

It is about 2 or 3 in the afternoon and the bats are everywhere. Along one street there were several trees with hundreds of bats hanging in them. They even fly around when spooked out of a tree. They are about the size of a magpie. Sister Halladay and Sister Cosgrave  were headed to a hair salon while we were in Accra. We asked them if they wanted to walk from here. NO WAY! was the answer.

Spooked from a tree and flying around.

Multiple trees along this one road. Only place we saw them.

And there were A LOT of them too!

Filling our 1500 Gallon tank again!

Agona Branch (our Branch) Missionaries on the left with four baptisms, and the Asamang branch missionaries on the right with two more.

Miscellaneous

Its really a duplex. Our landlord lives in the near half and we live in the other side.

Front view of our truck and house.

Wiring from the pole shown below to our home. Yep, that's electrician's tape and twisted pairs. Kevan (our electrician Brother) where are you?

Our water tank. occasionally we have to call a water truck to refill it when the city water is low and does not run a little each night. 1500 gallons costs about $55 to fill.

Support for a power crossbar. The middle stick not the two outer posts!

Lemons! They even LOOK puckery don't they?

Christmas craziness

                  Too much time in the Kitchen cooking can make us women crazy you know!!!!

Some a little more crazy than others!

180 Sugar cookies for the Missionaries!

So, this year, we decided to break tradition and go out to eat for Christmas Day.  It was a great idea!

Dessert first?  hmmm....

A monster size fish cooked with all the parts attached... I think I'll pass.

Christmas dinner at the Bean Hotel.  Fa- ra- ra- ra- ra!

This is what the inside of a large cocobean shell looks like.  Its kind of sticky and the beans are inside of the creamy colored pod you see here.  They remove the cocobeans, dry them and then sell them to companies to make chocolate.  It didn't taste chocolaty to me...more bitter like cacao which is chocolate in the raw.

...Santa's favorite place.

Our hostess.

The end of the year celebration at our Branch in Agona was well attended this year....mostly kids.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Craftsmanship of the people of Ghana

I want to share some of the beautiful art pieces here in Ghana so.....here goes!

Deluxe Umbrellas for sale

They have beautiful basket weaving here.  The baskets are called Bolga baskets, named after the town Bolgatanga which is in the upper northern region where the weaving originated many years ago

An interesting piece of artwork at the Bean Hotel.

Our Christmas splurge....what could be more beautiful?

You will often see the men here dressed in these shirts on Sundays.  They're made of Kente woven cloth and are heavy.  They are very wide and have ties at the side.  There are several hanging here for sale.  The booth to the left is lottery.

Beautiful woodworking

Same bowl, different side

Another traditional type of men's clothing.  Usually worn on the weekends to funerals.  These robes may be from Kente cloth or just colorful Ghanaian weaves.  I think we need to get Elder H. one of these...

Market Days

Today we Sisters decided to kick off 2016 in a fun way!  We spent the day going from one craft vendor to another just to see what's out there.   That's not usually a normal activity for us but, we were all game for and adventure and we really enjoyed our day!
                                                                           

Welcome 2016!

Car parts anyone?  These guys are selling parts.....

....everywhere.

Roadside Marketing

We took a wrong turn.  Now we are headed into the market place near Adum.  Each town has their own market days.  It happened to be on this day.  I told Sister Cosgrave that I love to go with her on her adventures because I get to see lots of places that Elder Halladay would never go!  :-)

See the men in uniform, they are policemen.  They carry loaded rifles everywhere they go.  I'm not sure why they think they have to go to that extreme.  Its a show of force I guess.

Market Vendors set up everywhere.  Mind you, we are trying to drive on this road.

  The crowds were unbelievable.  It was of course extremely crowded because of market day there.  The wall you see is covered with shorts and shirts.  I'm not sure how they make them stick there.  Maybe they're on bars or something.

See the cute little child in the metal wash pan?  This was on a side street that was a bit less crowded.  I love that these women seem to be taking a break together in their busy day.  The women here work very hard all day long!

Kente village weaving stations in the village of  Bonwire (pronounced bone ray).

We visited the wood carving village where there are many different carvers that all want you to view and purchase their products.  There's lots to see there!  Every shop is packed full of beautiful carved canes, benches, masks, bowls, animals, etc
The wood carvers all swarm you because they want to show you their items for sale.  It can get a bit crazy!  One man got pretty upset with me because I didn't follow him to his shop.  He wanted to know when I'd come again so I told him MAYBE Saturday.....he said he'd be waiting for our return.  :-/   I think I'm gonna need a nap...