Africa Part 2

It's me, Brody again-- So I have a ton of pictures and WAY too many stories so I figured I'd just do a photo post with some captions and light commentary.  If you want more details you can always hit me up.  Enjoy.  They are a little out of order due to laziness.  (Also, some are a little nauseating, so just be aware).

This guy was in our hotel room, he was big and pretty fast, though I was faster.

Public urinal/toilet.  This was a common site when out and about and nature would call.  Yes that is feces all over the walls and urine all over the floor.  Explosive diarrhea is very common here.  You NEVER put toilet paper (newspaper or magazine paper) in the toilet itself, including pit latrines, thus the pile of used paper on the right.  Try to imagine the smell...trust me, you cant.

Obama is a God in Ghana, they love him and America for voting for him.  His face in on everything.  These cookies were terrible.

Driving through the bush during our 8 hour trek to a city called Donkorkrom.

School kids playing soccer in Donkorkrom.

We stayed across the street from the above school.  At first the kids were very wary of the strange Obrunis (White dudes) as they dont see them very often, if ever.  These four were the brave ones who decided to see what we were up to.  As soon as I pulled out my camera the entire school came running.  Notice the kids in the background coming our way.

Before long we met everyone.

Our office in Donkorkrom.  Ras Benji is on the left.  We went to that city specifically to meet/talk with him.  Turns out he's one of the most awesome guys I've ever met.

Standard child carry method.  Kids Stay on their moms' backs all day long.  While they shop, while they work in the fields, for everything.  They are very patient.  Ghanaian kids are extremely well behaved and polite.  I literally heard kids crying 2 or 3 times at most, no joke.

Me and the local legend, Ras B.

Church was awesome.  This is Peter, member of one year and all around stud.

Ghanaians always wanted to take pictures with the white boys and would come up to you all the time and ask for pictures, your phone numbers, emails, everything.

Back in Accra at the HUGE downtown Makola street market that goes on every saturday.  This is a local shoe vendor. 

Even in Africa I look homeless.  Everyone in this picture is dressed nicer than me.

Market--  as you can see, a lot of women still carry stuff on their head.

Market

Al's remote control Emporium.  Come on down for all your remote control needs!  

The ferry we had to take to get to Donkorkrom.

We shared our Donkorkrom office with some locals.

The crew in Donkorkrom

We met Ras B's Aunt and visited her house where he stays.

Our digs in Donkorkrom.  We stayed in the "luxury" room for $12 USD a night.  The cheap rooms were $2 USD a night.

Me and 'Los (Carlos) in downtown Accra.

Crazy clown at the beach.  I have video footage of this guy that will blow your mind.

Labadi Beach, Accra.

Back to the Makola Market

Slums on the Coast.  The building on the left is an old slave trading fort built by the dutch.

On our way back from Donkorkrom, we stopped to, you know.  Ras Benji walked about 10 feet into the grass and proceeded to have the most loud and intense explosive diarrhea i've ever heard.  He wasn't trying to hide his anguish at all and was very vocal the entire time.

The kids loved posing for the camera.

waterway, otherwise known as open sewage as there was more feces in that water then water itself.

Standard street food.  Grilled Tilapia forced into a circle shape.  Not bad, but not real good either.

Another shot of the coast slum.

We got invited to a Rastafarian festival.  Crazy, crazy night.

No explanation needed.

Artwork hanging on the wall of one of our hotel lobbies.  Classy.

Lots of people will poop into black plastic bags and just leave them on the streets where they get ran over by cars and whatnot.  Can you blame them when the bathrooms look like the above picture?

Soccer game downtown.

Local tribal Elders

Waiting for the ferry on our way back to Accra.  It was 3 hours late.  Pretty standard for Africa.

The man.

Just some kids totally jamming to some street music.  Ghanaians cant help but dance if there is music playing, all ages included.

These were the last pictures I took before leaving Accra.

Yes, the kid on the right is wearing a deflated dodgeball as a hat.

 For those of you that aren't aware.  On our way back from Accra we didnt have what most would call a smooth journey.  Three hours into our flight from Accra to JFK, one of the passengers went into diabetic shock forcing an emergency landing in Dakar, Senegal.  Dakar is the westernmost city in Africa.  Upon arriving, one of the planes tires blew out because of a very rough landing.  There were no spare tires in the area so we were forced to stay in Senegal for 25 hours while waiting for another tire to be flown in from Paris.  We did have a good time and saw a lot of the city.  Turns out Senegal is pretty freaking cool and I was actually really stoked that I got to see it.  The following pictures are from Dakar, Senegal.

The local beach which was way cleaner than any beach we saw in Ghana.

We took this wooden boat out to an island off the coast.  It was totally leaking water (you could literally see water gushing in through several holes) so there was a guy whose job it was to constantly dump water out with a big bucket.

On the Island, they make art out of trash.

View from the Island to the mainland, yeah, its really not that far.

Pretty cool section of the island with these benches that overlook the ocean above really big cliffs.

Shinu (the only female in the group) thought this scene warranted a photo shoot.  We indulged her.

This one was not staged.  I literally sat there watching the waves hit the rocks below for like 45 minutes.  It was weirdly hypnotic and calming.

This guy was there to see us off on our way back to the mainland.  Last photo taken in Africa.

I had a great time in Africa and definitely hope to go back one day, with Kylee of course.

{Posts about our new home in Fort Collins on the next page}