Ann's Visit to Ghana: Accra

I flew into Accra from Sacramento on March 24. Dorothy checked into our room at the Afia Beach Hotel early and rode with the hotel's driver to the airport to meet me. The hotel was modestly priced, quite comfortable, and within easy walking distance of the National Cultural Center (a huge craft market). I was overwhelmed with the heat and humidity so was quite pleased that we could return to an air conditioned room after changing money and getting lost in the craft market.

Osa, Dorothy's Peace Corps counterpart from Adjeikrom (Odd-jay-chrome) came to Accra on my third morning there to help us get all of our luggage (and us) back to Adjeikrom.

Osa went with us to find  a coffin-carver studio that Dorothy had read about and the Artists' Alliance Gallery on Labadi Road. We went to the gallery first and it was quite good with a beautiful, large collection of art and crafts, including some beautiful examples of the exotic coffins. Unfortunately, the gallery does not permit photographs. But, these coffins are amazing. They come in a variety of forms: a large red fish, an airplane, a small lion, etc. I was able to take a couple of pictures of coffins that were on the second floor of the carvers' studio.

One of the featured artists at the gallery is Ablade Glover. Here is a link to a site that shows some of his work: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/images/760x570/glover_red_market2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2009glo/index.shtml&h=507&w=760&sz=285&tbnid=RX7PxwiAeGH7WM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dablade%2Bglover&usg=__UFSPwE0wrRUMtKm0NQ5HDrvN9yA=&ei=kUnQS8F9h5yyA43ayK4P&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=9&ct=image&ved=0CBwQ9QEwCA

After checking out of the hotel, we took a cab through the streets of Accra to the station where we would catch a Tro that would take us to Adjeikrom.  

As Dorothy described in an earlier posting, Tros are vans that provide transportation throughout Ghana. They are typically packed with passengers and the back door must be tied shut to hold all of the luggage and products being transported. The station was wild: lots of people carrying a huge variety of wares on their heads. Everything from pure water in small plastic satchets, to food, to sandals, to toothpaste. It was total chaos.

If you are interested, I have posted a video of Accra at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frcOsR9_yrs

At the end of the trip, we returned to Accra for my departure back to the US. This time we stayed at Beachcomber Guesthouse in Nungua. This was less expensive than the Afia and quite nice.

I would recommend both of these hotels. However, the Afia had the distinct advantage of having cold white wine available at the bar!

Ann Campbell