Wednesday, October 4

Today we spent the morning putting together some work and took a few hours in the afternoon to go see some of Accra's sights.

First, here's what the chalets we're staying in look like - each of the rooms is off this central lobby.  I think it's intended to look like a traditional Ghanaian village hut.


The grounds are nicely maintained, and you can see why it's called "La Palm"


The kit's pool has a ship theme, but the pools are both closed for extensive renovations.  When open, the pool here is the largest in Ghana.


CJ with the Bay of Guinea surf behind.


A wider shot of my. 


We decided to climb into the guard house to see what the view looked like.  CJ awoke the guard...


But he let us come up anyway...


"The grass is always greener on the other side."  True in this case.


The beach, looking west.  During dinner at the Ghanaian Village restaurant at the hotel, we found that there was a locked gate that permitted beach access.  A guard is stationed there during daylight, so we took a quick run down to the Bay, touched it, and ran back, while only being solicited for purchases by one person. We did not buy the map of Ghana.


CJ in a pensive mood. 


While waiting for our ride, we noticed these interesting trees in front of the hotel.  Check out this page - do they look similar?  The climate could not be much more different.


Who says the US doesn't export anything anymore?  This rice is "Product of the USA."  See the flag?


We also export the desire for fried chicken.  There's also a "Chick'n Lick'n" nearby.


You see signs like this all over Accra - different government agencies and projects.


The Accra airport.


Hoping this is a candy...


I had a few STAR beers and they're not bad. 


No one at the office knew there was a mall in town.


This taxi was flying a US flag.


The National Theater building.


That doesn't look like a Chevy Caprice to me.


Animals roaming free.  Today we also saw chickens, and two goats chasing a dog.
 

Good for Ghana, good for the USA?


You've been warned.  100,000 cedi (pronounced "seedy") is about $11.


This is a market near a bus holding area.  There are lots of privately-provided buses and large vans that provide transportation for workers in the downtown district.


Construction downtown.


An interesting-looking downtown office building behind the theater. It's kind of pyramid-shaped.


More buses queued up.


More vendors.  Also thought the knobby tree was interesting looking.


Here we are at the tomb of Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of modern Ghana and the individual most responsible for its independence.  With CJ is Frank and Jason from our vendor.


Me, CJ, Jason.


The 7 horns are a biblical reference, and their placement intended to be a procession in front of the ruler.


The Ghana supreme court.  The parliament building is to the right but behind some trees.  This is the building that I took a long-distance shot of on Monday.


Rap is pretty big in Ghana.


This is an old lighthouse at the edge of Jamestown, a tribal fishing village in Accra.  It is still operational.


This is the Jamestown fishing village.  Once again, be grateful for what you have.












This is in a commercial district about half a mile from Jamestown.  Saw this guy with several antennas and wasn't sure what it is he's carrying but thought it was cool.  GPS maybe?


We also went to a government-sponsored market and did some shopping for local goods.  We were successful, but it was 45 minutes of intense high-pressure sales and haggling.  Not for the faint-hearted.  They were each trying to steal sales from each other, and while we all got very good deals (we think), I don't know that I would call it "fun".  But everyone knows CJ's name now...  We call him "the ambassador".

That's it for today.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.