Trip to Accra

So this past Friday I ventured down to Accra for some business. It was an interesting trip. Here's how it went:

0600 Friday morning
I received a call from the States checking on how I was doing. A fellow teacher stopped by to see if I could help him install a CD drive. A senior high school student stopped by to chat about school and three junior high school students came to sweep my courtyard.

I walked for 30 minutes to a larger town so I could board a taxi to the nearest city so I could board a car to Accra. The taxi was just leaving the station when I got there, so I ended up waiting for the next one. I bought my breakfast as I waited - a light porridge called "cocoa".

I arrived in the city and discovered that the car to Accra was nearly full. I bought my ticket and hopped on board. Many of the cars have sound systems that emphasize the role of the subwoofer. The experience that screams "Ghana" to me, is cruising down the road in the close quarters of a tro, swerving all over the road to avoid the potholes, and listening to happy Ghanaian songs with pounding bass. None of the passengers seem to mind the music though, so we just bounce along our merry way.

We arrived in Accra 2.5 hours later. I "alighted" from the tro, and boarded another tro to another station in Accra called Circle. The traffic was heavy, and I was starting to get concerned about time. After I arrived at the next station, I inquired around to find a taxi to my destination. A tro would have been cheaper, but also slower. After being directed to a "taxi station", I saw a number of taxis that were filling with people. I needed an empty "drop taxi" though, not one of these cheaper "line taxis" so I looked around until I found an empty one. I awoke the the sleeping driver, and indicated that I was interested in getting on board. I asked him how much it would cost to get there. He said it would be GHc3.00 - about $3. Considering my lack of time, this sounded reasonable, but I countered with GHc2.5. He paused for a moment, then motioned me into the car. On our way, we passed the new $50 million presidential residence that had just opened. By the time I finally reached my destination in Accra, I had been in Accra traffic for 1.5 hours.

I took care of my business at the PC Office and headed off to another part of Accra. I was told that it would only be a short walk, but it ended up taking about 30 minutes to get there. The sun was bearing down quite heavily, and I was starting to get pretty hot by the time I reached the place. After taking care of business, I asked how to get back to the Circle Station. I was told by a security guard that a taxi would be my best choice. He told me it would cost about GHc3-4. He waved down a taxi for me, and asked for the price to Circle. The driver wanted GHc9. He later came down to GHc7, but this was still too much. Two female security guards came over, and agreed that the driver was charging too much. They suggested that I join them to take a tro to the Circle Station. I followed them down a trail to the main road where we walked for a minute or so. One of the women recognized a driver in a passing car, and waved him down. We all climbed in and started driving. The driver was a graduate of the University of Ghana - Legon, which is one of the best universities here. He dropped me off at a mini-station where I boarded another tro headed toward Circle.

Another white person boarded this car. Because a lot of the white people I have encountered here don't seem interested in talking to other white people, I approached him cautiously with a Twi greeting. (Possible explanation: They don't want other whites tainting their epic adventure in the the "African Heartland"?) If someone understands a little Twi, they usually aren't only here for tourism. He responded in Twi. It turned out he was a British journalist, and would be here for several months. We chatted for a while until we reached our stop. I alighted from the car at Circle, and headed out to find another car to my final station - Kaneshie Station. I boarded a car heading to Kaneshie Station and got there 20 minutes later.

When I got to Kaneshie Station, I made a beeline for the car heading to my city. I went to the "ticket office tent" and asked to buy a ticket. It turned out that this time the tickets were being sold on board the car. I joined the "queue", but noticed that it appeared as though there were more people in the queue than would fit into the car. Once the doors of the car opened, people started shoving and pushing there way into the car. I tried to maintain my position in the line without having to resort to overtly physical means, but a few people pushed their way in front of me. One man climbed into the back of the car through a window, partially dislodging a fender in the process. As I waited to board the car, it became increasingly apparent that I wouldn't be able to fit. Just as I had predicted, the car filled, and I wasn't on it.

I headed back to the tent to find another car heading to my city. I found that another car close by was heading out up there, so I boarded quickly. I didn't have any lunch, so I started buying lunch from the many sellers that were surrounding the filling car with their goods. As cars fill, more and more sellers will surround it, trying to sell their wares until the entire car is surrounded by a moving convenience store. I bought something resembling a cupcake, a bag of chilled kenkey (a local food), a bag of fried plantain chips, and a bag of sliced local fruit. The car didn't take long to fill and we soon headed out.

As we neared our city, the car started stopping frequently and dropping off passengers. There are no aisles in the car, so if a person in the back of the car needs to get off, a line of passengers ahead of that person will need to fold up their seats, get off the car, let the person off, and then get back on the car.

The station had closed when I arrived, so I looked around for a taxi heading to my village. After asking around, I found a waiting line taxi. I chatted with the others waiting with taxi for a while in Twi. When enough people had arrived, we headed out. The taxi was the size of a small car, simliar to a Honda Civic or Chevy Cavalier. People really pile into these cars. I was sitting with another guy in the right front seat, and five more people were sitting in the back - some on each others laps. It was similar to the games of "how many people can we fit in the car", but we weren't playing around - we were all paying customers trying to get somewhere.

I finally arrived at the friendly confines of my home, and took a much needed bucket bath to freshen up. Traveling in the tight quarters of tros and taxis makes me feel rather sticky after a while. After traveling, I really do enjoy having a familiar place to relax in. Essentially everything I need is here, so I can just sit back and relax.

And there you have it - a trip to Accra.