Well Friday night was what I like to call the “Never Ending Tro-tro ride”. I am thinking about turning in to a movie. I must start by telling everyone that I love riding on tro-tros and plan to keep riding tro-tro until I leave. They are a good deal and you meet great people. Now back to my saga.
Betsy and I started to walk out the door to the tro tro station (around 1:45) and her favorite basket salesman showed up. Once he left 10 minutes later we started walked to the station. Then I realize I forgot my cell phone, so I had to walk all the way back home then return to the tro-tro station (13 minutes later). Finally we get on the tro-tro to Konongo. Once we arrived in Konongo we walk around and finally find the Accra tro-tro, but it was full so then we get taken to a larger bus that isn’t full. We assumed we would need to what for it to fill up, but off we went. We got good amount of seats to pick from- how exciting. Within an hour and a half we have stopped enough times that we have filled up all 19 seats with passengers and the floor space with 5 bag loads of oranges. By this time I am still having a great ride until I notice that the pace we aren’t traveling isn’t that quick and I start this think this 5 hour trip to Accra will be much longer. The next thing I know I hear a strange pop that reminds me of when my tire had blow out- well that was what happened on the road to Accra at a beautiful space with green fields of corn. So we get out and I hit the bush for a rest stop and then back to water as the driver followed by 6 male passengers change the tire. We are back on the road about 15 minutes later. By now it is getting dark. We finally get to the pothole part of the trip. It was funny to watch the head to the passengers bob around like bobble heads and the driver on his cell phone. During this time is when Betsy and I decided that her chair had issues. She was sitting in from of me and every time we hit a pothole her seat would lean back a little more and some dust would fall out on my feet. I decided to hold the back of her chair up with my tired head. I also don’t eat a few hours before traveling so I am starving as the exit the potholes and enter a ….gas station! So we get in cue behind other tro-tros filled with customers. We get the gas and get back on the rode it is about 6 pm by now. The good thing is now we are in one town away from accra, but that doesn’t mean much because on the main road between Kumasi and Accra they are building a new road, but since it isn’t finished yet it is all dirt with many potholes. It also doesn’t matter what time you come or go it is always a busy road. So we spend about an hour or so on the dirt road and finally make it to the dropping point! This is a point out of Accra centre that I always get dropped, but Betsy told me she has gotten dropped further in, so I stay alone for the “better drop”. Our driver turns down a back, dirt road that I had yet to go down in Accra, but I knew about where we were. I assumed that is was another short cut- I love short cuts! Then I noticed tons of tro-tros parked in front of use and realize that we are at the huge Kumasi-Accra tro-tro station. This would be fine anytime, but at that moment it meant we had to walk through all of the many tro-tro to get to the taxis. Which we did, and it only took about 8 minutes. We find a taxi and tell him to drop us in Osu, a part of Accra, and he set a fair price. Then our taxi driver stops the cab and said, “Hold on, I just need to give this man something”. He was only out of the car for seconds, but I was laughing my bottom off because I felt like I would never get to my destination. But he did get me to my hotel safe and sound by 8:30pm. That was a long day.
And that wasn’t even the end of my day. I went out with my South African friend I meet in Accra weeks before. We went out for sushi at a place called Monsoons. It was so delicious. I had vegetable fashion sandwiches. They were like vegetable rolls only cut to look like sandwiches. Only down fall was that I had to wait over an hour for my food. I thought I might just die, but I didn’t. I got back to my hotel three hours later go into bed and crashed.
When I awoke at 6am, I can’t sleep in any more, I watched CNN for at least 2 hours and then got ready to hit Osu. I went to breakfast at Frankies. It is a really nice restaurant located at the hotel by the same name. I had baguette slices with jam, orange juice (that I think was really pineapple juice), and hash browns and ketchup. Yum. Then I started the most shopping I have done is over a year. I went to two fabric shops, bead street vendors, a bookstore, DVD street vendors, and Koala. Every time you read the word Koala I would like to hear a choir of angels singing, because to an American living in Ghana Koala (insert singing angels) is a home away from home. Koala is a two-story superstore with friendly employees at every corner. They have vegan Skittles, Soymilk, A1 sauce, paper napkins (rare in Ghana), cleaning supplies, and tons of household items.
After shopping the morning away I ran into Betsy in Osu and we had lunch at this great restaurant called Sunshine Salads. If you are vegetarian you should try this place on your trip, because it had so many vegetarian options and they weren’t all salads. I had a great veggie wrap and a vegetable samosa.
Two of Betsy’s new friends met up with us. Laura, an American that is from North Carolina, but went to school at Emory- crazy, and Christine, a Canadian that works doing marketing in Ghana now for a great shop called Global Mama’s. Both girls were so friendly. After lunch we walked to Global Mama’s.
Global Mama’s caused me to loose all my sense of saving money. It is a store with beads, clothing, potholders, bags, etc etc etc. Woman of Ghana makes all of the items in the store and it is a fair trade store. So I spent more money than I would have off the street, but I have more warm fuzzy feelings from shopping there. After spending at least an hour in the store I went back to my hotel to chill and watch more CNN. I love the news.
Later Saturday I met up with some friend to eat and ran in to two of my IFESH buddies. It was great to catch up and hear how their experiences are going. I am happy that everyone is settling into their new surrounds well.
Sunday- oh Sunday- it is one of those days that you think, “Am I on a TV show because this is too funny/sad that this is happening to me”. I woke up around 7am and watched some CNN. Got dressed and decided that I would pack up and just chill out at the hotel until the 9am then go catch the 9:30 STC bus. This plan seemed to work until I arrived to a very empty bus station because the next bus left at 12:30pm.
Since I had already checked out of the hotel I asked the taxi to take me to the Accra Mall. I have a love and hate relationship with the Accra Mall. I hate it because it is so overpriced and doesn’t help Ghana where it needs help, but I love being able to shop in a store that reminds me of home and many American things. I had planned not to come to the Accra Mall this weekend, but it was the only other place I knew would most likely be open on a Sunday. So the driver drives to a part of town that is not near the mall and I see a building with the word, “Mall” on it and I was like, “No, Accra Mall- Shoprite, Game…” I have no idea why he thought an Oburni would want to do to a clothed down Mall on the backstreets of Accra on a Sunday? Seriously- taxi drivers in Accra need to have classes with maps or just learn the big Oburni attractions- Koala, Accra Mall, Champs, and Ryan’s Pub. You have no clue how many times I have had to give directions to the BUS STATION(???) seriously.
Finally, my driver made it to the Accra Mall and I got out, after having to pay him more for getting lose- I fought him- don’t get me started. I didn’t know what shops would be open, since it was Sunday, but I had a good feeling that Busy Internet (my favorite internet place is Ghana) would be open. It wasn’t. So I brought my HUGE bag filled with stuff and dropped it off at the bag check outside of Shoprite. What is Shoprite you may ask? It is like Koala (remember those angels signing), but is a worst location, only one story, but way more food products. Here I browsed the frozen fake meat sections and bought veggie sticks and chicken nuggets. Then I found (drumroll please) VEGAN BUTTER!!! I was so excited that I almost lost it in the store. On the countless aisle I got Mexican seasoning, corn flour, can of chick peas, can of red beans, instant mashed potatoes, and tomato soup.
After shopping I returned to the bus station to wait. While I was waiting, Ma called. She told me she was in Accra too and wanted to see it I wanted a ride. I told her that I already bought a ticket. Then I called Betsy and told her Ma was in town- incase she was wanted to hitch a ride in her private car.
So, I couldn’t fine a cooler to buy so I just wrapped my frozen food in a few plastic bags and put it in between my clothes in a small bag I carried on the bus. Mine you, the bus left at 1pm instead of 12:30pm. Usually STC are very punctual. The driver was very nice and even told us that if we needed him to stop just to ask him. I felt great. The air conditioner was on. My big bag was under the bus, my bag of soymilk was at my feet, and my frozen foods and butter was up overhead.
When my stop in Konongo came I got my red book bag of soymilk and said goodbye to my friendly neighbor and got off to be my bag from under the boot. I found a taxi and realized as the STC left- I FORGOT MY BUTTER!!! I was heart broken. This is the second time I have bought frozen food from Accra and I haven’t gotten to eat it. I called the STC station in Kumasi and told them my situation. She was VERY helpful. She told me that she was find the bag when the bus arrived. Later when she found it I told her to eat the food because otherwise it would spoil. I don’t know if she did, but I hope she did.
I get to back to my house and no more than five minutes later Betsy arrive with Ma. They left hours after me, and arrived 5 minutes later. I moped about and then something amazing happened. The power went out. Why is that amazing? Even if I had gotten the food back to my place, it would have spoiled. So I am happy I “donated” in a sense.
I had a good time in Accra, but what a crazy weekend.
1 comment:
In Accra, Chritianborg Castle dates from the 17th century and was built by a Swedish company. It passed through Danish, Dutch and Portuguese hands.
Accra attractions
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