A Pleasant Surprise

I don't know why it took me so long to fly the trip to Ghana.  With all our wanderings around Africa you would think that I would have been all over that particular destination.  After a few inquiries around the base about the trip, most of the flight attendants I talked to were pretty luke warm about it.

The Labadi Beach Resort

It could have been all the vaccinations and medications required in order to take the trip...or maybe it was the extra computer based training indoctrinating you to the African culture that put every one off... possibly the insufferable heat was a turn off.  All things considered, you have to really want to go to Africa to bid this trip...it just so happens I really did want to go.
The shots and medications weren't a problem for me as I'd already been there, done that...the only thing for me was to update my malaria prescription...so I threw caution to the wind and worked the flight from Washington's Dulles airport to Accra, the capital of Ghana, which leaves at 10:30 at night, thank you very much (another possible deterrent...?)
We land around 2:00pm the next afternoon and the airport is like many others I've seen throughout Africa.
It's a ramp operation, so there's no air conditioned jet way.  Just straight on to the tarmac and into the terminal building.  There's a small bank just outside of immigration where we all change money for the trip, and then board the van to the hotel.
 The crew layover hotel is a resort right on the beach and absolutely fabulous.

  My first mission is get the camera and head out to the beach.  So after a quick shower and change, I come across two of my flying partners who have beat me out to the beach and are in discussion with one of the locals.  I join in and quickly make friends with my first Ghanaian, Osa.

Me and Osa

He is friends with my flying partners, as they come here all the time, and he sells jewelry by day to support his music habit by night.  A budding musician will always have a spot in my heart, so  I take a look at his wares.  He is very soft spoken and gentle and doesn't employ a hard sell, so needless to say, I'm going home with a few pieces of African jewelry.

Anxious to capture the beach scene in the soft light of sunset, I leave my new friends behind and venture further down the beach.


























There's lots of activity and I'm not disappointed ... lots of pictures to take.

The next day we have to work a turn to Lagos.  Mostly a waisted day spent in airports as we sit in the lounge at the airport for three hours before working the trip back to Accra.

The following day I set off for some sight seeing.  After hearing that it's not advisable for a woman to travel around town on her own, I commandeer a couple of my flying buddies to venture out with me.  We hire a guide and go to James Town.   A suburb really of Accra, it's an old colonial outpost build around  James fort, and now is a quaint fishing village.  It also has a very cool light house that affords magnificent views up and down the coast line.

On our way back to the hotel, our guide takes us to a children's school.  It's a loose structure, all open air, with partitions of sorts that I imagine are class divisions.  There are a few dry erase boards with very basic lessons in English written on them.

The kids are pretty well behaved and they all have some semblance of a uniform on, that  includes a smile.  Wonder and curiosity beams across all every face.

 They range in age from 2 to 10, and have just eaten lunch and are trying to get settled down for nap time.  That is... until we showed up. The kids are so excited to see us, and when the camera comes out, it's a mob scene.

We saw and felt a lot that day... much of which was heart wrenching... but those kids...they are what will bring me back... again and again...
the innocence and promise in their eyes...that will bring me back...very, very soon.

For more photos of Ghana click here to visit my Picasa album: