It's 1 in the morning and time is not on my side as far as finishing homework goes, but in honor of Rachel's imminent departure to Ghana, here're a few picures of my short 3 weeks there over Christmas 2003:

Nicole and I sitting next to a cannon on the outer wall of Elmina Castle in Cape Coast, with nothing but the Atlantic Ocean between us and Antarctica. After a good swim, that is.

Duane (right) is from Tennessee, and happens to be a mad morter mixin' machine. Local pronounciation would have me say "mohtah", and not morter as previously assumed - v. sorry about that.

Bobby (S. Carolina) and Stacy (Illinois?) are two of the best brick-laden-cart pullers I've ever met. I decided this after many, many time trials. Also, those landcrete blocks are deceptively innocent-looking. Do not be fooled. Not only do they each weigh approximately one standard ton, they also toy with your emotions as you realize that yet another potential piece of a house has just up and crumbled in your hands. Damn bricks.

Did I mention that Bobby's also handy with a trowel? No? Well, check out the delightfully smooth mohtah in that utility block. See what I mean?

Michael is the one sitting on the front of the cart, after somehow convincing the other guy to push him. He's my favorite person from our village, and the one I miss the most.

Ha! I'm not done yet... This is just a cool portrait of a family in the village with Nicole. Having their pictures taken was one of the major pastimes of the people we met in Habitat village.

This photo gets to come in because this is a wedding party! No, really! The shortest man in the suit and tie just got married to the woman on the left. We didn't get to see their wedding (though we saw another), but we definitely heard them when they got back to the village. On a side note, if the groom were to remove his shirt and tie, you all would be picking up your jaws after seeing how ripped that guy is. He may be small, but he's mighty. The guy to his right, in the stylish morning garb du jour is Joseph, our main contact in the village. Second from the right, with the attitude oozing out his pores, is Ousu. He's a wee bit of a player, one could say...but he sings really well.

Alright, last call. This is a lovely sunrise over our village, Habitat, right outside of Konongo, Ghana. This was one of our last days in the village before we drove on to Cape Coast and then to Accra to fly to London and home. The canopy in the distance is part of the jungle that spreads out for a ways in our part of the country. We didn't go in there because there are snakes thereabouts. We didn't want to die.