Last misc pictures

For too many Ghanaians, there just isn't enough business to keep busy, so instead of figuring out economics, they just subsist and that means frequent naps and just plain hanging around (reminds me of American youth who don't know the value of work).  I don't believe Ghanaians are a lazy people, but they refuse to change their economics so that's what it looks like -- a perpetual siesta, or just chit chatting waiting for customers.

Then there are those roadside attractions/vendors that just make Ghana, Ghana.

Cell phone credit vendor is given away by the umbrella

 Clothing

 Multiple vendors

 Empty vendor booths near the toll booth

 Lower class vendor booths

 One of the water factories -- While there is bottled water in the country (there is no water distribution system for potable water), most use little plastic bags of drinkable water that holds half a liter.  This is one of the drinking water factories near Ayikuma.

And finally a couple of shots of transporting people.

First the full!! trotro (private bus that's cheaper than a taxi, but you pay in smells and being squished).  They'll load these Asian mini-vans that normally hold 8 with 12 people by installing folding chairs and the like.  It doesn't look fun, though Mariah got around on them a couple of times.

Here's the trotro's "hustler" -- the guy who drums up business by calling out his destination, takes the peoples fare and tells the driver when to stop to offload someone.

And the friendly school bus that got us to/from work nearly everyday -- what fun!!  It held up to 35 people!

Roads or the lack thereof

Very little of the country is paved (at least outside the city center), and that is pretty flimsy (potholes everywhere, and they don't have to worry about freezing conditions deteriorating the roads), so most of the roads are dirt, and many of them remind me of a stream bed that's being used as a road.

Standard crooked dirt road, but not bad.

 Dirt road ending as a field or may the other way around

Long and narrow dirt road

Long and wide dirt road.

Ruts!!

 End of pavement and start of dirt (not much of a transition)

good paved road with the standard gutter system (if they would only cover it so the smell of the sewer didn't reach your nose).

 Main road to Accra from the country getting crowded

 Wide dirt road.

 Is it a parking lot or a road or both?

Close up of the gutter system.

 Paved without gutter system

 Road?

 Police at the toll booth

 The most hated sign in Ghana -- the speed bump which serves as the police system for slowing everyone down.

 A stream that is used as a road.

 Approaching the toll booth.

 The traffic problem -- everyone wants to use the same road -- trucks, cars, pedestrians, bicycles, etc.

 Another example of traffic of all kinds.

 Road or path?

 Gutter system and a dirt road.

Various Housing pictures

Cement, not wood, and poly tanks as cisterns, not running water since the water isn't drinkable, and plenty of barbed wire for protection.

Laundry is always hung outside to dry.

It may be apartment living, but by golly, we'll have sattelite TV!

 Typical squalor.

The ubiquitous poly tanks (cisterns) holding water

 Again, it may not be much, but heck if anyone is going to break into my home!!  I was shocked to see all the barbed wire and other defensive measures to defend a home, but Emmanuel explained that the police don't do much when it comes to protecting against burglary.

Construction, car repair, and furniture

All construction in Ghana is with cement since the ants and termites will destroy nearly any wood structure (they do use wood for roof rafters to hold up the metal roofing).

Bamboo poles used to support concrete forms

 Hey, if you can't hold your roof down with regular construction, use whatever you can.

Car repair is also closely aligned to getting rid of undrivable cars awaiting some unknown future.  Here is a good use for all those old tires.

Ghanaian furniture is good quality, but I chuckled at the method of selling it alongside the road as a vendro