We hired a driver and his car this morning and got up early so we could go up into the mountains outside of Accra to see what the carvers had to sell. We also went up to the town of Koforidua to check out the bead market. It takes about 2 hours to get to Koforidua. We left early so we could beat the traffic as we left Accra and could get back to the hotel before the evening traffic got heavy. Thursday is the day all the ladies come in from the villages with the beads they have made. The beads are made from recycled glass; mostly glass bottles. Many of the bottles are coke bottles. Colorants are added to the glass that is pounded by hand; the powder glass is heated until it melts in open wood fired outdoor ovens. The whole process is pretty amazing.
We bought several strings of beads and a few carved elephants. My supply of elephants was dwindling. We give them away as gifts; especially for weddings. Almost everyone we know that gets married gets the same gifts from us; a hand woven basket and a carved elephant from Ghana. I also bought a terribly ugly carving; I am not sure if it is supposed to be a monkey or a man or a little of both! I bought it because it was so ugly that I was afraid that it would never get a home! Ha! Definitely a conversation piece!
When we got back to the hotel we had to pack the stuff we bought into our checked bags and carry-ons. Fortunately the small planes that fly about inside the country do not care how much our checked bags weigh because they charge us by the kilo so we just finish filling the bags we carried with us from the states.
This afternoon we exchanged the bulk of the money we brought in because we can get a much better exchange rate in Accra than we can in Tamale. After we changed money we walked to the Chinese Palace restaurant and had lupper (that meal between lunch and supper). We were hungry since we had not had anything much to eat all day except a coke and some chips. Our lupper was wonderful.
Hope you enjoyed your day as much as we enjoyed ours!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
