January 4. Day 4 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and already I am feeling challenged. It is a beautiful sunny day but I am not feeling one with it. I am feeling heavy and plodding. It didn’t help that I drove into a snowpile trying to make a perfect entry into the garage. Thank goodness that the guy was not too far away. Thank goodness for a very helpful daycare worker nearby. She was an expert in getting unstuck. Too bad she can’t help me here.

I’ve adopted new goals for this challenge. They are to show up every day with a post and to have fun. I’m not going to beat my head on the wall to come up with something interesting. Instead, I’m going back in time to March, 2011 when I visited Ghana. I had posted a few notes on FB during the visit. Here is one of them. It seems like a good day to travel back even if only in my mind. I feel lighter just thinking of no mountains of snow, no heavy coats, scarfs, snow pants, boots, mitts and hats.

A Day of a Visitor in Ghana

I am sitting out on our little deck, listening to the surf, feeling the warm African breeze ripple through my hair.  All my cares and stress prior to leaving seem absurd somehow….melted by the African heat.  What do I need of makeup or perfume when sweat is a constant thing?  Or even taking a bath when you get sweaty just the same right after?  I had worried about my hair…whether it would have body or hold its shape.  Do I need to bring my mousse or glue?  I laugh now because quite often, I do not even comb my hair.  All I had to do was to fluff it with my hands, sans mirror.  And then one day, Miss Charlotte showed up at Escape3Points.  After that, I tried at least to put on my eyebrows.  To me, Miss Charlotte was bigger than life.  I don’t know why Gladys Knight came to mind but perhaps because the name sounds big.  Miss Charlotte was what I call ‘dressed to kill’, with tight black pants and high heels, wig, makeup that glows and perfume to sweeten any sweat.  I wish I could be a Miss Charlotte on occasions.

Yesterday, we went to Takoradi.  We thought that we had to take Paul, one of the workers here, to a hospital to have a hernia operation.  But in the morning, Paul came to work, saying he felt better and that someone had advised him a white European doctor was coming and that his services were free. Paul decided to go with someone on Monday to check it out.  So we went by ourselves.  Rod had broken the frame of his glasses so that was one of the tasks we had to do.  So we proceeded down the red dirt road again, raising red dust behind us.  Unlike in the West, we passed many people on foot and bicycles.  Everyone waved.  Many people, I think mostly women carried things on their heads.  How they stayed up there is amazing to me.  I saw a woman in Takoradi with a suitcase on her head, a baby on her back and carrying things with both her hands.  When I see things like this, I wonder if Africa is the last frontier.  I am not sure myself what I mean by that.  In Africa I still see, with my Western-Eastern eyes, that many people are still tied to the land, whether it is by walking the earth in their bare feet or working closely with the land, harvesting the crops.  On roads, streets, villages, etc. you see people together in little groups, big groups, maybe one by one.  Back home, in Canada, I have remarked frequently since I got a dog and we have to go for our walks/runs, that there are seldom people on the streets, especially in winter except the dog people.  We go everywhere in our cars.  And though many of us have big yards, there’s seldom any people in our well manicured front lawns. I often feel I live on a lonely planet.

I was not sure what to expect of an optical shop in Ghana.  I was not sure of what at all to expect in Ghana.  We climbed up some stairs to the optical shop.  Some man was cleaning the window to the door and he stopped to allow us in.  He is a salesman.  There is pretty young girl also behind the counter.  They showed us some frames before the technician came to test Rod’s eyes.

……To be continued lateer….my internet tres sloooow