Last night i just fell into bed and went to sleep... i just couldn't keep my eyes open another minute!!
Our full day had ended with a visitor, Jerry. He is a volunteer working with handicapped people and an old friend of Christianne's. It was a beautiful evening and we sat out on the porch munching on plantain chips and drinking ice cold beer... a real meeting of nations: Jerry (Scotland) Christianne (France) Cathy (England) Shoko (Japan) and me (Canada) !!!
Later we moved to the table on the porch to eat supper by candlelight... at one point there was a blackout and beyond our flickering candlelight was inky blackness... at another moment the night was suddenly disrupted by a loud roar from the neighbours... Ghana must have scored!
We told Jerry and Shoko about our day.
We had started out in the morning lingering over our coffee. I remember saying to Etienne, back in Montreal, that the one thing i would miss in Ghana would be good coffee. Last time we had this horrible Nescafe and powdered milk... it had been just drinkable..very strange in a country that exports coffee! But this time i had really lucked out ... as i said Christianne is from France ... and we all know how the French feel about their coffee!! She had actually brought her own stash and generously shares it with us.... and we have a Moka pot (an Italian stove top coffee maker) that makes excellent coffee. A bonus is that i have learnt how to use this coffee maker after years of thinking it was just way too complicated for me, au contraire.... it is an amazing elegantly simple machine... i feel very handy these days as i light up the gas stove with a spark maker to make the coffee!!
After breakfast we set off for Agomanya Market. Even in a truck, an hour's drive here is something... the roads are asphalt .... But some of Ghana's potholes rival Montreal's ... and that is saying a lot! ..here during the rainy season whole sections of road can be washed away.
On top of this ... the road runs through villages which are not very far apart... Christianne told us that this is done deliberately so business will come to the villages... There are small stalls with thatched roofs all along the road selling whatever the village produces... Sometimes it is yams which are big rootlike vegetables here... in another village it is pineapples, another, mangos and avocados and okra .. and so on..
The village is located on both sides of the road so people are forever dashing back and forth across the road... and apparently accidents are far too common .... So the government is forever coming up with ingenious new ways to slow down speeding drivers going through the villages. Christianne told us about the time they decided to plant huge cement blocks in the middle of the road that the car would need to swerve around... she said what would happen is people would be driving along at 70 miles an hour at night and suddenly these things would loom up!! anyways they didn't last long ... now they have put in speed bumps! And there is every variation possible... the single large bump, 5 smaller bumps all in a row .... anyways, you are being jostled and bumped 75 percent of the time! I admire Christianne as she never seems phased by anything these roads can throw at her!!
Agomanya is a one of these villages (though larger) that has a market that is one of the nicest in Ghana , the Bradt guide says. ...and in my humble opinion i agree!
It was Market Day so there were dozens of tro tros picking up and dropping people.. the main road was crammed and clogged... The energy and aliveness needs to be experienced to be believed!!
Another thing i have come to understand is that if i don't FEEL like a sore white thumb, i don't stick out so much. I had begun to get this feeling the other day when i deliberately ignored everyone's gawking and instead pretended to fit in. This time i was able to be 'one with' my surroundings with much less effort. I just let everything wash over me, the bright glaring sun, the colours, the shouting and cajoling of the sellers, the kids crying, the red of the tomatoes... the flash of batiked fabric... the 'alivenes' just entered me and i felt at home.
We weaved our way around for awhile... It was a market i had visitied once last time i was in Ghana.. i had photos i had gazed at while dreaming of going back... But the market was so big i couldn't find the bead section... so I picked a studious looking young man who was delighted to show me the way.. he immediately stepped through to the back through some stalls away from the main throughfare and there were the bead stalls!! ... just as i remembered!
The same sellers were there, too! In fact one lady told me she remembered that i had been there before a long time ago and.. she had been waiting for me for a long time!! I believed the part about her remembering me because i recognized her..
The stalls were only about a quarter filled ... because there were a lot of funerals today, i was told. And it was true... we had seen several large gatherings of people all dressed in red and black along the way....
Funerals were a big deal here.. bodies are often kept in the fridge while the village raises enough money for a proper send off.. If the person was 'important' enough this could include many villages involved in the preparation.. Then everyone gets dressed in their finest to celebrate the life of the person with singing and dancing and food.
But for me, this was a perfect introduction to another bead market, having less bead sellers made it less overwhelming ... It was starting to sink in that the idea of importing beads is a lovely one BUT how to go about it?? Which beads did i buy? How many? I am very much a dreamer ... but the the practical aspects of this endeavor keeps shifting and changing with experience...
I pushed all these thoughts aside ... and decided to just assess the market like i had at Kofaridua.
There were two stalls of beads from other African countries... and then there were many stalls of the Ghanaian recycled glass beads..
Once i got my bearings i decided to concentrate on the two stalls with the variety of beads because i knew these beads from buying them myself from various places.... and I decided to have a go at bargaining... i carefully chose strands of beads that interested me, asking for the prices as i went.. i had a small card with the Ghanaian amount converted to Canadian dollars.. it was a slow process but the men were wonderfully patient and not pushy. When i had chosen a little pile that looked like it was from Ali Baba's cave.. lovely ruby red, sea green, golden brass.. i took a deep breath and made my offer .. 100 american dollars.. He pretended to look shocked and brought out his calculator ... But i knew this was a fair price and said 'No, take it or leave it." I pretended to be calm but my heart was hammering away... It is hard to be firm even if you are sure. He capitulated and started wrapping up my treasures. The next negotiation was much easier...
And then i moved on to the stalls selling the Ghana beads..
The Ghanaian recycled glass beads are going to be much harder to choose because there is such a variety but on the other hand they are much the same ... if you know what i mean... it is like trying to choose a fabric. The fabric is cotton but there is an assortment of patterns and colours. The beads i had just bargained for were quite distinct... going with the fabric analogy again..those beads were like buying a bolt of silk fabric, of corduroy fabric and of a jersey knit fabric let's say (and making it easier as well was the fact that the choice of colours and patterns are limited!) ...
I bought some of the tiny waist beads which come in all colours and are 60 cents a strand.. from Elizabeth, who is the lady who remembers me!! This was a good ice breaker as they are so cheap and pretty.... and i got the feeling of bargaining with her!
I could have spent a lot more time at the market but the others were ready to go...so i went off with them vowing to come back again.. my treasures tucked in my bag.
Our next stop was Cedi's Beads. The Nene Nomada family, which runs the bead factory, have been bead makers for 200 years.
Beads play an important role in the Krobo culture of Ghana. The Krobo people, whose spiritual home is the Krobo Mountain, use beads as a symbol of family status, and on special occasions for example; rites of passage (ie puberty).
Cedi, for whom the factory is named, made his first bead at the age of 7. He showed us how the beads are made, which is still pretty much in the same way his ancestors have done for centuries but with small improvements...
I took some photos of the factory which i will include. Each series of photos will be numbered so you can see them in order if you like.... as i have said the layout is very constrained and i don't have a lot of control of which photos show up when for some reason ... but today the order should be Sunday, The bead stash and then the 6 series from the Cedi Factory.. even in the series the photos are out of order..sorry but i just cannot figure out how to take control... but maybe this is a good life lesson!!!
It is quite fascinating to see the painstaking care these beads entail. It makes you appreciate the individual bead much more when you realize the craftsmanship behind them.
Our next stop was for a bite in a restaurant located on the shore of the river. I was delighted to recognize a dish i knew ... boiled plaintains and palava !! It was almost as good as what i had at the house! ... and from the shore of the river there we could see the Adome Bridge, a large suspension bridge that forms one of only two places where cars are able to cross the water..
And lastly, Christianne took us up to see the Akosomba Dam, Ghana's largest dam which provides hydro-electric power. The dam was inaugurated by then President Nkruma in 1966 and hems in Lake Volta, the biggest artificial lake in the world. (From Bradt guide) This area is very green and lush with beautiful flowers like bougainevalea. It is a real oasis especially when you come straight from from dusty, red Ho!
Christianne took us up to the Volta Hotel which is definitely a luxury class hotel even in western terms. The terrace where you can have a meal and drink has a bird's eye view of the dam and lake.. very beautiful..
We couldn't linger as we were to meet Jerry at the Whitehouse to bring him home for supper!!
All in all, a very full and interesting day!
Now, this morning, i am writing the blog with the sound of singing in the background, sitting on the porch where a lovely breeze is blowing.
Lizards scurry back and forth along the top of the cement wall... i smile to myself remembering a moment in town, on Friday i think it was, when i was chasing a lizard with my camera and a man walked by laughing at me .... i chuckled along with him thinking to myself, 'Laugh if you like but i KNOW you would be chasing our silly squirrels trying to take a picture of THEM if the the tables were turned!!' (i will be more tolerant of those tourists in the future!! ..must remember!)
Anyways right now i am much too lazy to think of chasing anything ...
It is a very lazy Sunday morning...
