Ghana from the backseat..

So now that I've covered the food of Ghana (you can see where my priorities are..), we'll venture out on the roads of Ghana.
This is one of the roads to get to Ray's mom's house (she lives in 'the bush' as she calls it). I only hit my head a couple of times while riding over it..

It doesn't take long before traffic becomes a MAJOR issue. But I've heard this is common for most 3rd world countries. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting it..

The good thing about Accra was that the Message was everywhere, and I really enjoyed seeing God's word on businesses, public transportation, and personal cars. As America is taking God out of everything (the Tulsa parade eliminated Christmas from the title), it was nice to see such a free use of God's word.

Another thing I didn't expect was the abundance of 'salespeople'. Stores were set up all along the road, and anywhere traffic came to a stop, people would walk up and down between the cars selling their goods.

We bought mainly snacks, but they sold clothes, movies, end tables, fabric, board games, flashlights.. anything they could carry with them.

And the necessity of carrying item on their heads became obvious.
Sidenote: They are selling things to people who are driving, so when traffic starts to move, the vehicle has to go and the salesperson runs beside the car to exchange change and goods if necessary, even with something on their head. Now that's skill.

Of course the heart breaking part of this is seeing the children who sell goods. Children who should be in school learning and playing. Children who should be building skills and planning their future. Thus is the terribly sad cycle of poverty.
I bought sunglasses from these kids, and they kindly posed for a picture.

Then I turned around and shot this. It doesn't have a story, I just like it.
Oh! I just remembered. There was a point to the shot, it just didn't show up. A ton of people rely on public transportation, and they pack these buses and vans full!

Cell phones are HUGE in Accra, with most people carrying two (so they can work their minutes the best). The 4 main service providers advertised everywhere, but apparently this car wasn't supposed to be parked at this bus stop. So what do the cops do? Let the air out of the tires..

The following pictures were taken from inside the car as we traveled to the market.

LOVE this 'open air' barber shop shot

There's just something captivating about the women in the next 3 pictures





I did not realize how common this scene really was in Africa

But I tell you what, these women get the job done!

The market was full of clothes and belts and purses and food = full of color!

and packed with people











After getting turned down when I asked to take one lady's picture of her food (I shot the above 3 pics from the hip (not looking) because I was afraid people wouldn't like some white American with a big camera taking their picture, and for the most part, I was right), but someone told me I could take a picture of this sweet boy. Then they offered for me to take him home :c(

Makola Market, Accra Ghana

This is the view from Ray's mom's church. Traffic and people are a constant in Accra

This is where I got the octopus mentioned in my last post

And this is the set up by the turnpike

I realized that I love clothes on a clothesline

A shot on our way to cape coast

Fishing boats in the ocean

Not quite what you picture when you think Africa, huh? Ghana is coastal and very tropical



Love the palm trees and grass huts :c)


So most of these shots were from the car (where we spent a lot of our time due to pic #2). I don't claim them to be excellent photographs, but hopefully it helps give you a picture of Accra Ghana and the coast line.