Fred noticed an area where the jungle was rather tame by comparison and had the driver pull over. Now, you would have thought with Fred’s experience in the jungle he would have warned me and had me wear a dress rather than slacks, but it was not the case. Rather self conscious and very embarrassed, I tromped out about 50 yards and did what I had to do.
I got back to the car as quickly as possible and we were off to visit the first of several villages. The younger children all ran to great the car and Fred was prepared with a bag full of hard candies. He tossed the candies out to the children as they ran along side the car, all laughing and having a great time.
I noticed an elderly man, dressed in robes sitting on a stool made of hand carved wood. There was a line of people waiting to talk with him. Fred explained he was the chief of the village and all disputes were settled by the chief. There were no fights, no heated arguments. Each situation was presented by both parties and after the chief pondered the incident, he made his decision and everyone went away without further comment.
The roads were rough and full of pot holes, but the driver managed to make the ride as smooth as possible. The beauty of the jungle was incredible. There were parrots of every color flying freely between the trees. The various leaves and trees had more variety of greens than I had ever seen and despite the constant cacophony, there was a sense of peacefulness I have rarely witnessed.
By the time we got back to the compound, we were privileged to witness a gorgeous orange and violet sunset setting over the rough and ancient city of Ghana.
