Off Again

This year’s plan is to spend 2months in Sri Lanka. The airplane tickets have been purchased and the visas obtained. Departure is a week from next Tuesday but the forecast is for snow and our first stop is Boston. Must keep our fingers crossed.

Something about the Plans of Mice and Men

There is a last minute delay (I hope) in our plans. Our doctor said that Joy should not fly out until her lungs were cleared up. What started about 2 weeks ago as a vicious little cold that she caught from me has migrated to her lungs and, as an asthmatic, Joy has difficulty with these. So on to steroids and hope that we can re-schedule. 

Planning the next trip

The next trip herself has planned is a visit to Italy and a few other spots in Europe. After last year's episode with a parasite when she returned from Africa, she is hesitant to go to anywhere too exciting so Europe it is. We fly into Rome and home from Paris and have two months in between. Plans are to spend a lot of the time relaxing in Southern Italy and then go North as the weather warms. Maybe I can pick up some Italian along the way.

The Flight

I thought that I would add a few comments about our journey to Accra. We flew in two legs, each about 6 hours long. Halifax to Heathrow was with Air Canada on the 767 and we sneaked out before a snow event. Our bags were checked through to Accra and we had a 4 hour layover in Heathrow. Enough time to find our way through the maze of terminals to change from 2 to 3.
The flight from Heathrow to Accra, across the Sahara, was with British Airways. The smooth flight was in a Boeing 747 and was my first in that plane. Remembering being shown through the trainer for this type back in the mid-sixties, I had to ask the crew how old this one was. Being assured that it was only 25 years old, I got on.
For some reason BA charges you to preselected seats and this is my only complaint. I broke down and paid the extra because I couldn't abide not sitting with Joy to hold my hand. If you Google BA, you will see that there are many complaints about this practice, and you would think that the airline would increase prices a little and allow for free seat selection?

Getting Used to Internet

My apologies for not blogging since we landed on Thursday. Found out that only one of us could be on without re-booting. UnFortunately Joy has used up all the good information, so this will be a short entry. She is so much better with imagination and words than I.
First, although it was a possible side trip, we will not be going to Burkino Faso, if anyone was worried.
Ghana's number one tourist attraction has to be the people. They must be the friendliest in the world. If I wanted more tourism here I would just advertise a broad Ghanaian smile. Joy has told everyone about our first few days here and being invited to join a large group for beer at a wake in Jamestown, the old part of Accra. Daniel was apparently a good man and I hope that he knows that two strangers enjoyed a wonderful time at his wake. There was another going on yesterday just up the street, but we weren't invited to that one. Daniel died at 57 and the woman up the street was only 53. No wonder that the casket shop (open air)I passed while Joy was painting yesterday, was so certain that I would be interested in their product. I politely declined, citing transportation costs.
Today we go to meet some representatives of the Mmofri (sp) Foundation to see if Joy can do some type of project with them. At this point, we hope to find our way to Ada Foah at the mouth of the Volta River tomorrow.

New Trip

On Tuesday, January 12, we are off again. This time we leave Halifax for Heathrow and then onward to Accra in Ghana. Wish us well.

A Day with Joy, Trains

March 24, 2014:

Yesterday was our last with a driver as we had to catch a train for Mumbai at 5:45pm. Joy (the artist is always right) decided we should go to a craft village a short way out of Udaipur. Unfortunately it wasn't open for an hour or so, so she decided we would just drive until we found a village. It wasn't long before we were walking the streets/lanes of a village called Badi, where few tourists go. She eventually sits down to sketch and I leave her to walk around and talk to people. I always come back just to make that things are ok and it is easy to find her, as these pictures show.

Find a crowd and there's Joy!

She is very popular with the kids and does many sketches of them, giving them to them after.

But she is popular with all ages as this man's happy smile at a photo of him, shows!

We are on the train as I write this and I have discovered something new about Indian train travel. This trip was organized for us by a tour place in Delhi (never again) and it is 1st class, but not air conditioned. The lack of AC doesn't bother us that much as we are getting used to 30+ temperatures. But we were assigned a compartment designed for four people and there was no one assigned the other two seats.

We settled in with our many bags, but left the door open to see what was going on across the hall. Shortly,  a young guy came in and put down the upper bunk ( I had just put it up) and followed by his woman an a baby settled in. Soon another young guy joined him on the upper bunk and they talked loudly together. Then another man, who had a physical disability also joined us, so that we had 6 people and a baby in a compartment for 4. Also none of these had paid for first class, some claiming to be staff. The conductor came and checked my passport to ensure that I was in the right place, but the other four were ignored. Fortunately, they all left at fairly early stops and the door has been locked ever since. It appears that anyone can get on the train and grab a seat in first class without paying, or without paying the normal people?

Jim