This is from the back porch at the music school, which is in the middle of town. There was some sort of parade for something or another, which happens fairly regularly. There seem to be an abundance of brass bands, though none of the players seem to be taking lessons with us.... (and it's rather evident at that!)
This is a shot of Market Circle in Takoradi. We sat for a while at a second floor restaurant, drank a Coke, and watched the world go by. The market is huge, very busy, and full of anything you could imagine. From tooth brushes to giant snails (which apparently they cook and eat).
This is how a lot of people make their living, selling things from baskets on their heads. Hard work in the heat, and a lot of women do it with babies on their backs too! You'd be surprised at how many "western" goods there are. This lady has a lot of designer purses, though I could imagine many of them are imposters. It's crazy to watch people balance so much stuff, and I can honestly say I have yet to see anyone drop anything! Even children carry stuff like this very well. Pretty awesome.
Produce section :)
It's kind of hard to see, but the lady with the backpacks has a baby on her back too....
This is how everyone carries babies around here. Pretty neat, leaves your hands free. Older sisters carry babies too, and you never see them crying! Must be hot all shmushed up on mom, but I guess they can't complain that they aren't being held!
We see this girl often at the tro tro station to go home. She sells candy from that strip she's holding. A lot of products are packaged like that, designed to be carried and sold, so you can just tear off on package from the strip.
We went to Secundi, which is a sister city to Takoradi, on Good Friday. Apparently they have one of the biggest Easter celebrations in Ghana. This is their fish market.
The Secundi fish market from a distance.... you can't smell it from this far away!
Cute kids in Secundi... we played for a while waiting for the parade.
These guys had a parade of their own!
Tried to be his friend, but he just wasn't having it....
Statue of a cultural dancer in Secundi. There is a little square around this, and most of the "happenings" were around this.
Good Friday Parade!
Jon, Katie and I grabbing a drink while we were waiting for the second part of the parade. To the left is the ocean... quite lovely. We even caught spray from the waves crashing on the rocks... we've got it so tough here....
Waiting for the parade to start... once kids see you have a camera, they all want their pictures taken, and then they all want to see. :)
Brass band in the parade.
This is an effigy of Judas. This, apparently, was the whole point of the parade. They took him all around town, then hung him from a pole and stoned him. (Pics to follow)
This is another park area in Secundi. The fish statue is in the middle of a roundabout and the parade circled around it.
This is the stoning of Judas! Crazy... apparently his head is stuffed with cash, pinata style, and so people chuck rocks at him, hoping to knock him down so they can get the cash!
The stoning of Judas... every once in a while they called a truce, and everyone ran out to gather the stones from the ground. Then it was back on again. Must have lasted at least 30 minutes!
Our school is associated with an orphanage outside of town, and over the Easter break we took the kids to the beach. The beach is only like a mile from their house as the crow flies but it's through a swamp, so we took a cab. There were 20 people in this taxi (this really doesn't do it justice...) six adults and 14 children. Ridiculous really, but hey, we got it done!
Kids at the beach playing football.
We had this little boat thing, which was a total blast!
More football.
Couldn't figure out how to turn this, sorry. This is a 7 year old kid climbing a 50 ft palm tree to throw down coconuts! And, yes, that's a machete in his teeth! We were totally freaked out, but apparently he does it all the time. He just shimmied up, spent about 15 minutes throwing down coconuts, then slid down. Crazy.
This is him sliding down.
This is us waiting and watching that guy climbing up. The guy in the black is Peter, our guide. The other boys are kids from the orphanage.
This is Katie and Abba from the orphanage. She is about 6 years old and has some sort of cognitive disability. She is non verbal, but very affectionate. She wants to be held all of the time, and poor Katie's arms nearly dropped off by the end of the day!
For some unknown reason there's this giant cargo ship hanging out near the swim spot. It looks rather decrepit, to say the least. Kind of neat though!
This is the boys chopping up coconuts for everyone. They are different from what we call coconuts at home, but I think they are essentially the same. The hack off the top, cut a small hole and drink the water. Then you chop it open and eat the meat. Hard work, but worth it for a drink! And, yes, once again that's a child with a machete, which does not seem to be such an ordeal here.....
This is another picture of market circle with a storm rolling in. It's interesting to compare the "old" with the "new."
Well, next week we'll be traveling from Takoradi, to Kumasi, to Tamale, to Mole National Park, back to Kumasi, Lake Bosumtwi, and then back home to Takoradi. Should be quite the adventure, and I'll be sure to post a million pics and tell a million stories when I get back! Sending my love!
Ecua
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