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Friday. In the morning our party splits up as Diane and Carol head to the Technical Institute and Jamey, John, Trish and I go to the Bead Workshop. See Bead Workshop, Day Two. We meet for lunch and then head to Lake Botomswi for a boat ride. The lake is not too far outside of town. The air is extremely hazy from pollen and from sand from the Sahara, Trish tells us. This picture shows Jamey and Carol walking toward the boat. Some negotiations with locals were necessary! An older gentelman tells the fellows that he is the local chief and no one can go on the lake without his permission. So he receives a bribe/gift.

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Trish and John enjoying the breeze and boat ride. I love all of Trish's clothes and she has graciously agreed to take me to her batik seller in Accra when we return.

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The cotton-silk trees are blooming and the light-weight silky down from the seed pods is everywhere in the air and on the lake. The trees are taller than anything else, 100 feet high or more. They are beautiful, and will forever remain a symbol in my mind of this trip.

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You should click on the picture above to see what I'm talking about. Apparently the shrine responsible for the lake has decreed that the only boats that may be used to catch fish on this lake are to be paddled by hand. The "boats" are basically a large log. How the tourist boats got around this decree isn't explained. In this picture you can see several fisherman. They leave traps in the water, and then go out and check them. We saw boys quite young to quite elderly looking men fishing. There are 24 villages around the lake, but it looks pretty uninhabited mostly.

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This picture shows all the flotsam on the lake. The locals are extremely clever in reusing stuff that floats to tie their traps/nets to. And some of the flotsam is down from the Kapok trees. I saw bits of wood, bits of old styrofoam, bottles, plastic jugs, and other odd bits being used for floats. Again I am impressed by the reuse of materials.

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Trish at the cafe at the Lake. I so love the colors here. The symbol is the very common, Nyame or "Except God". We really enjoyed sitting at the cafe and having cold drinks. There was a big funeral in town, so there was music and dancing. We should have joined. And we did dance a bit in the streets as we left. You can't help yourself really, the drum beat is so contagious.

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From the left, Jamey, Diane, and Carol. I remember saying when I took this picture that we all looked so hot, but we would enjoy remembering the moment. And so I hope that everyone does remember this moment fondly. We were all so tired and hot and happy. The cold drinks were so cold, and the music so enticing.

I was so tired (pleasantly!)that night. All I remember is that we had dinner at an Indian place, and that the food was milder than the African food we had been having. Irony!