These are some fisherman we saw on the Volta River in the early morning going out to set their nets, probably a father and son.

We couldn't resist the beautiful orange blossoms on this tree. All along the road we saw these beautiful tall stately trees just coming into bud. They were quite a site. 

As we were driving along we spotted a couple of children pumping water at a local village bore hole. We stopped to get a picture and by the time we got out of the car with the camera we had started to draw a crowd. This bore hole is like the ones the Church is building all over Africa to insure pure drinking water. We didn't know if this was one the Church had built but we couldn't resist the photo op. Apparently the kids couldn't either. 

The children came out of nowhere in a matter of seconds and we had a crowd posing 

In just a few minutes we had a crowd and they all wanted to see themselves on the digital camera. This will be the most exciting thing to happen on their daily trip to the bore hole 

Oops this one is out of order. Elder Hales is negotiating price with one of the drum makers 

The makers of the drums are plying their craft. It appears that drums come in all sizes. 

On our drive we passed by this little shop and just had to stop. Actually there were a number of drum maker stands on this road because of the availability of wood from huge trees.  

One of our drum makers gives us an impromptu drum recital. He was good! You'll notice the two bicycles in the background. They belonged to 2 guys who were pedaling along the road and stopped to see what a van of white people were doing in the middle of nowhere. We tend to cause a commotion wherever we go.

For those of you old enough to remember Jimmy Durante, "Good Night, Mrs. Calabash", this is a calabash tree. Those large green balls that look like hanging watermelons are actually the calabash gourds. They don't eat these, but clean them out and dry them and use them for all kinds of bowls and containers. Some of them can have very curious shapes and they decorate them and sell them as art pieces. We had no idea when we saw this tree what it even was. Without Mike our guide we would have thought the Africans had learned how to get watermelons to grow on trees. We thought calabash grew on the ground like squash gourds. In Africa everything is different. 

Our guide points up to this hill and tells us it is the tallest "mountain" in Ghana and we set off to the far side where the water fall is located. The beginning of our jungle trek 

Here we are on our jungle trek. You can see the sweat on my shirt. Hey after all, this is Africa! 

You notice our eyes are all on the ground after Mike told us about the snakes. He did spot a small yellow mamba. Thank goodness I didn't see it before it slithered away otherwise I might not have been able to proceed. 

This is Mike our guide showing us some of the coffee beans growing in this area. Although most of what we walked through looked like jungle it was actually a farmer's area of coffee beans, cocoa bean trees, and yams. 

These are some of the beautiful trees that fill this area. It is a hardwood tree call Odum and is what many of the Ghanaians carvers use in their wood carvings. We have a nativity made from this wood. It is about the height of a 4 story building. 

Rusty with Mike our guide, taking an opportunity for a sit-down break while looking at the waterfall 

The top of the water fall which is flowing from a river in Togo 

We have seen prettier water falls in our life, but none of them was quite the same adventure to reach it.  

Here we are at the Liati Woti Falls. It feels so good that we don't want to leave. It looks inviting to just jump in, but the guidebooks recommend you don't unless you want to get sick. We're just thankful for the cooler air 

Welcome to Christmas - West African style. We don't have many Christmas decorations but we thought we would share with you the ones we do have. This is a real Ghanian carved wooden nativity made from odum wood. It was carved by Wisdom Anani who is a great wood carver and a member of the Church. The tree made from grasses is a replica of the African bao-bao tree and is considered by the West Africans as the "tree of life" since the people use all parts of it. The tree also has special medicinal powers and is used for healing. We thought it appropriate to add this tree of life to our special nativity. Remember you can double click on any of these pictures to see them in a larger size. Mery Christmas from our house to yours!

This is a close up of our favorite nativity. The wise men each are wearing hats from a different tribe in Ghana. 

This is a Nigerian nativity set made out of wood and only about 3-5 inches high. 

This is our African doll nativity. The 3 wise men actually look more like 3 wise women. If I can find more of these, you'll probably each get one next year. 

This is a soapstone nativity made in Ghana. We thought the animals added a decidedly African flavor. 

This is our funny little Ghanian Christmas tree. You can see some of the ornaments that I can get. It didn't photograph very well. The baskets are actually sitting on little pads that are supposed to hold candles, but those will have to wait until next Christmas. We love our tree!