Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Ghana Trip, Day 9

Saturday morning we “slept in” until 8 in the morning. Pablo and I had mate' (Argentine tea) and did some reading while Jen, Ronai and Ellie went to a Cocoa farm. The rest was nice, and my feet really appreciated the break from all the hiking in sandals.

We did, however, head back to the Aburi wood district to pick up our pieces. Since not all of us would fit in a single cab, Aaron and Leah hopped into the first cab, leaving Pablo, Rachel and I to grab the next one. When the river stopped, however, he already had a man and a woman in the back, leaving only two “open” seats. Pablo took the front seat, and Rachel and I tried to figure out how to take up one seat in the back. Finally, we settled on sitting her tiny backside on my knees.










So, there you go. If only you’d come to Africa, maybe you, too could have had the notorious Rachel Coleman in your lap. : )

We arrived in Aburi and I went to pick up the pieces I’d ordered. First, I picked up the Man-Angel, or “mangel” as he has come to be known.































Here’s the artist who made the angel for me (with Ronai and a piece he made for her):










Then, I went to see A-, the young wood carver from Rachel’s trip 4 years ago. Here he is in 2008:












He’s taken this photo:









and created this:










He was even willing to let another silly signing lady take is photo:










Then, I went to go get my Nativity. I’d been collecting wooden Nativity pieces for years, and two years ago they were all broken in a “my-four-year-old-was-helping” type accident. So, I’ve been Nativity-less for about a year now. I wanted something big and less breakable, and so we asked for a plaque to be crated, that we could hang on a wall, out of her reach.

I was very specific about the piece, wanting not only Mary, Jospeh, Jesus, and an Angel, but also a shepherd, the wisemen, a donkey, a sheep and a camel. We got this piece, that measures about 24 inches long by 12 inches tall:











Beautiful, isn't it?






















I’m just in love. Look at all that detail!

We walked back to the taxi stand, took a cab back to the hotel, and then had a relaxed a peaceful time reading, napping and preparing for Sunday. A day off was nice, as we’d been ON 8 hours a day, at least, for the past week.

A quiet dinner, followed by rum&cokes for a few of us, and we were down for the evening.

2 comments:

  1. Do I want to know what this means? "Pablo and I had mate and did some reading" I keep hoping it's a typo. Or were you trying to answer Belinda's question???

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  2. Mate (with an accent over the e) is that drink ya'll didn't like. It's tea, woman. Sheesh.

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