Skip to main content

The Amazing Race - revisited

The title of this blog post is double-edged. We have arrived home from our jaunt across 5 time zones and two seasons - from dry season heat of 90 degrees and sun, to Michigan cold of 15 degrees and snow. I will continue blogging about Africa for a while longer, as we just didn't have the technology to keep up my posting during our 7 week adventure.

So this post is about another Amazing Race - the television program. A few weeks before our departure the show paid a visit to Ghana, and its capital city of Accra. When the students found out we were going on a day trip to the city, they came up with a "must see" list, and the coffin maker topped that list.

In Ghana, coffin creation is an art. You can order a coffin to fit the personality of the deceased, including planning your own final event. There are not factories in Ghana to create fine art, so you are getting hand-crafted goods wherever you go; far cry from our U.S. assembly lines. Hand carved out of trees chosen just for that purpose, there is little waste and a great deal of creative license.
We set off to find "the" coffin maker, as visited on the Amazing Race, and found the shop on Beach Road in Teshie, between Tema and Accra. You have to look carefully, as shops are clustered on top of each other, and in front and back. But the students knew what they were looking for. Take a look!









Someone must have called ahead and known Daryl's preference:


And then there was my personal favorite - what do you think? Made to order?

Comments

S. Etole said…
These are really something ... I'd go with the camera!

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Week- being home and loving photography

Roamin Meets the GPS- Stories from the Road Lisa, my favorite Curious Girl , created a wonderful idea for a week of "happy" posts. Share those things which make you happy, bring joy to your life, and generally fill you with happy thoughts (I do love the movie Hook , with Robin Williams). We are just returned from our fabulous 23-day, 5600 mile, 10 state, 4 time-zone adventure, and I am filled with happy thoughts today. I am also aware of the piles of laundry, the dirty car, the grocery shopping, and the weary body. Those are not the things I'll share today! Today it's about the joy of road-tripping. The miracle that we live in such a country that everywhere you go you see something to celebrate. I love driving down the road and seeing something new, or different, or unexpected. We drove for a very long time across the upper mid-west, while following signs for "Wall Drugs." Apparently this is a historic stop, originally a place for those who crossed the coun...

Celebrating 100 Posts - A Challenge

Yes, we are closing in on our 100th post . Truly amazing. Thank you for reading and participating, helping keep the ideas, words and photos flowing. In honor of this momentous occasion, let's have a party. A party where "100" is featured. Do not become concerned if an idea doesn't pop into your head right away. You have one week to come up with something which includes 100 . Think party, celebration and fun. Think creatively. Think challenge. Photography is about expressing yourself, and challenging yourself. Here's a real stretcher! Celebrate with us by posting a photo (or series) which depicts the number 100 in some way. Let me know if you're going to participate and I'll create a way for everyone to link to each other's pages - chuckling, laughing, crying and surprising. You'll be amazed what you see when you start looking. Still at a loss? Here is a non-exhaustive look at the number 100: 100 years ago (something nostalgic- there's wigg...

Here We Go...

Meet our Roaming Gnome. He's busy looking at the map and helping us get ready to begin our adventure across the northern part of the United States. We leave Friday morning, and our house is a total disaster as we decide what we need to take and what we can leave behind. It's a camping journey - tent camping. We have not done this in ages and are a bit nervous about it. But we're prepared: tent, ground cover, sleeping bags, camp stove, cooking tools, food, clothing (well, after the laundry is finished), maps, books, notebooks, camera gear, bug spray, camera gear, sunscreen, camera gear - you get the picture:). This little gnome caught my fancy. I do believe you recognize him from some Travelocity commercials, though I haven't compared them side-by-side. He came with a passport, and a little history of garden gnomes and their journeys. It seemed so appropriate to have one, as a garden gnome begins in the country, in the garden, and then takes a journey away from that saf...