Monday, December 19, 2011

Ironies and things of interest...



Drivers rarely signal and are very adept at diving into a very small space. This seemed to be a fairly careful driver, but one did stop in the lane ahead of us and got out. GOT OUT. David said.."Wait..where are you going?"
He got back in after a few minutes and he either was checking the engine, or talking to pedestrian.




This sign was outside some government building, and I couldn't help myself.




We often drive by this tree and at night it is lit up with beautiful blue lights.




Saturday was a huge day for temple visitors. We saw this darling group of girls, who had come in from their homes 3 hours away, and told them we had to have their picture in their look-alike dresses.



Irony #1: A beautiful,huge,expensive CHINESE building in AFRICA

Irony #2: Its empty. And has been for years.

There's a story here. The Chinese were trying to curry the African's favor back in the 50's when Ghana gained independence. Ghana officials did not want to be anyone's puppet, so it wasn't well-received. (Shouldn't they have said something before it was finished?) It was the sight of a military coup in 1966 - and ever since then had become the proverbial "white elephant." It has changed hands and changed plans...but the bottom line it sits there...empty.



The view is looking upwards at the tree tops. If you look closely, you can see some "pods," or something that looks like "pods." They're bats. Ewwuuuu. Bats. And they are monsters. There is about a 3 block area of huge trees and every night from 5:00 to 6:00 they take off and the sky is black with bats, and they are BIG bats, the wing span being about 18 inches...no kidding.



We have found some of the most interesting things for sale on the side of the road - headboards, kitchen items, chairs, living room furniture, but this is a first. Just in case someone was looking for a cement winding stair case -- here it is. Notice the for sale sign.



We thoroughly enjoyed walking along this beach. The sand was very fine and white, with pastel, fluted shells scattered, like someone just tossed them out. There were light colored crabs scampering sideways - and the babies were faster than a quick blink. Their little legs hardly touched the sand. I looked up at these odd shapes and realized we were looking at two giant tortoise shells.















Sunday, after church, we went exploring along the east side of the coast. Our destination was Ada Foah, so named for a Danish fort that flourished in the 18th century slave trade. Horribly sad, I know. At the end of the century it was sold to the British - and they were uncharacteristically mean to everyone around them.(Uncharacteristic, because the British have such a talent with diplomacy.) The slaves were sold by other tribes to the slave traders - and it became a huge business. The shoreline is giving way to the ocean by 1.5 meters a year, so the old slave fort is actually sliding into the ocean. Bars on the windows, small rooms, thick walls, all echo a sad, terrible tale from history.

5 comments:

  1. My little sweetie was doing the best she could with the new blogspot changes. There will be no murmuring, please, because we want her to blog again!

    And the bats are HUGE!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your blog you are doing great, keep up the good work....those are big bats....love you guys...Duane

    ReplyDelete
  3. we wanted to wish you two a merry christmas. It looks like you guys are having a great time and meeting great people. happy holidays. the scharmans

    ReplyDelete
  4. x-mas is huge in ghana !! What is that thing.

    ReplyDelete