More pictures to tell the story

Well, I'm back at it again, I don't know where to start and again these pictures are mixed up, but you will still get to see them :)

This is us, out one evening

Cutest little girl walking with her dad

One of the busy streets in Osu, the touristy area
(part of town where you get to see white people :)

So before I put up pictures of Fufu, but this time I actually got to pound it! So, this is me getting lessons. You have to keep pounding at an even rate because someone is using their hand in the bowl below, turning the fufu over and over to make it soft.

On our way to watch the USA Vs GHANA Football game!!!
Notice the headband and jersey :) I was decked out!!

Philip, Ernest and I

Yup, that's right, that's us and the game in the background. They put up big screens on the streets and project the game for all to watch :)

It was a sweet victory, Ghana 2 USA 1

Waving the Ghana Flag after a hard fought victory

When we got home, we realized that I should have been wearing this flag as my skirt!

Philip and I went to the airport to pick up Clinton Lewis, a boy from Calgary that is here in Ghana for 6 weeks for a part of his medical school elective.
On our way there, we saw this poor man....he clearly was tired, because how else can you use the cement as a pillow?

The walkway to the airport, such a cool canopy of trees

This was the day after the USA vs GHANA game. This was a truck full of Hooligans celebrating for their country! Not to mention that there were 5 people killed in accidents that night from celebrating. Oh wait, I should use the proper term..... People here were "Jubilating" :) That's what they say when they celebrate. I find it funny.

Another day in town, this cute little girl was sucking her thumb....
how do you resist a picture of her :)

Philip and Clinton riding in the front of the Tro-tro. Clinton is quite tall, 6 foot 5inches, so it's a tight squeeze into the tro-tro. This was the best option, so I rode in the back with the rest :)

We went out for pizza one day after a long day in town. Love the graffiti for decorating restaurants :)

Clinton, and myself and Philip
(notice the bottle of tomato sauce, not sure why they think I eat ketchup with pizza, but I guess you just never know)

YUMM

Even Coca Cola gets involved in the FIFA World Cup action :)

Philip and I went to a pool at one of the hotels on a hot day

We went to the beach one night, and on the way there we saw the football stadium!

Beautiful beach in the background, you just need to use your imagination :)

And so then there was another football game.....GHANA vs Paraguay. . . This was the celebration at half time, because Ghana scored with about 20 seconds left in the half to make it 1-0. However, the celebration didn't carry into the night, as they lost in a much heart breaking shootout.

Marium and I

-I have to clear this one up, Marium is actually Philip's cousin. His mom's sister's child. I had my story wrong. I said she was just a random child. But yeah, she lives with us :)

Hmm, I must be getting used to the house when I say lives with us..hehe

On Saturday, Philip and I went to Cape Coast, west of Accra 3 hours by bus. We drove along the ocean for a lot of the trip. Unfortunately there were many little houses of not such fortunate living conditions. sad.

Roadside selling...This is Kenkey (the food they eat with their hands) for sale, in blue bags. If you are driving along and are hungry just stop and everyone in the car can be fed.

Always a welcome (Akwaaba) to the cities. This is the President of Ghana and the USA President. He visited here 1 year ago, and his name is still muchly respected!

So at Cape Coast, there is this little place that is called Kakum that we were going to see. It is where there is a canopy walkway built above the rainforest. There are leopards and elephants and many snakes here, but we didn't get to see any that day. This was built by 6 Africans and 2 Canadians! It opened in 1995. Very cool. It is 30 meters above the forest floor, and I think 250 meters above sealevel.

This is us walking into the place.

Climbing up to the "start" of our adventure

Who's going to take the first step.... :)

Philip was first!
(he was slightly scared, but soon overcame his fears)

Then me..

The beautiful green rainforest/jungle

Hide and seek with a gecko along the way...our only wildlife sighting

looking from one of the towers down to the forest floor.
Definitely doesn't show depth perception at all

Looking up...These trees are HUGE!! If Philip and I joined hands and hugged the tree, we would just get our arms around it...big!

US :)

On our way back from Kakum, the forest walk, we stopped in at Hans Cottage. This is a crocodile haven. You can spend a night in their hotel there, over the swamp, We just ate our food in the restaurant there.


While we were eating, all of a sudden the tree next to our table was filled with these pretty yellow birds. They have built their nests all over the tree and each bird had one. However the funny part is that they have to hang upsidedown to get inside or to feed the young inside because they built them with the entrance at the bottom...not sure why.

When we were finished eating food, our waiter asked if we wanted to touch the crocodiles... pls remember these are not tamed, they are not used in a show, like in a zoo etc., but yes, we were brave....hoping that they were well fed :)

Can you see the fear in Philip's eyes :)

Then I had to try also :)
Notice he moved his front leg in between pictures. This slightly scared me!!! haha

This is Uncle Vincent, being silly, as usual. I asked to take his picture with his siblings, and he told me "wait, I have to get ready" and so this is how he did....tucked his pants in his socks...what a geek ;)

This is the 3 siblings from the Oyortey family that still live in Ghana.
From left: Uncle Sami (lives in Tema), Auntie Teiko, and Uncle Vincent
All the other 4 brothers live in the UK.

Relaxing on the porch of the house... From left Eunice (from Benin, but living in Tema), Matey, Ernest, David (Philip's cousin from Tema, a town 45 mins away) and Philip

Here is a lovely praying mantis that flew at me last night :)

This was the same night that a mouse ran in my skirt!!! I was sitting on a bench, my long skirt was on the ground and the mouse went by and ran through my skirt!!! Ya, I jumped and then it even had some of the boys standing on their chairs :) haha

I guess I should tell you, that there won't be anymore football pictures, it even makes Philip sad to see anything reminding him of the Black Stars, because they had a painful, controversial, loss to Paraguay.... But, they come back from South Africa tonight and I'm sure there will be many there to welcome them home. Ghana Black Stars still made history, the first African team to score on African soil, the first African Team to win on African soil, and the only African team to get to the quarter-finals. I am not from Ghana, but I am still proud of these boys :) Well done!

Well, I don't have any more pictures to tell you the story of how my days are passing, but there you have it. Keep the comments, I appreciate it. This blog took me about 3 hours to do this time...I have to re-size all the pictures at home and then put them on a jump drive and bring them to the cafe, then load them. However it didn't like the type of fil this time, so I had to re-size them all over again. ANyways..... I know what it's like to want to see someone's trip pictures so I am continuing to do it. Besides that, it's Africa, and what else should I be doing?? Life is muchly relaxed here :) :) But I love it!

Miss you all at home. It really was a hard this past week, as I know all my family was gathered at my Grandpa Halbert's Funeral. However, we all know that he had a very good 94 years of life. Thanks Grandpa for your great example!!! You will be missed!

Take care to all of you, and until next time.....
I'm out :)