Sitting in a tro....waiting to go to Ho

I'm starting todays post as I am stuck at a trotro station in Accra trying to get a ride to Krobo. This moment could also be referred to as a hellish nightmare. It will be a miracle if I get to the right destination by the end of the day.

My morning started when Hillary and I left the house at 5:30 and walked through the dark to catch a taxi. Note to self, taxis are scarce at that hour of the morning, so we stood for a good 10 minutes waiting for one to come. We took the taxi to Cape Coast and waited for a fast car to fill up. Fast cars run from Cape Coast to Accra without stopping. It took about two hours this way, and the air conditioning was blasting and the gospel music was jamming! It was quite the ride.

At one point the car stopped in Accra and I thought it was time to get out...but it was not. Luckily we asked the driver. Finally we were at the last stop, and we had to catch another taxi to a different station, so of course we were swarmed by drivers wanting to give us a ride. We got in and country music with extra bass was blasting in our ears. He turned around with the window crank in his hand and asked if I would like to get some air. The traffic in Accra is chaos, so it was stop and go all the way to the station. The best part was every time we had to stop, the driver would completely turn off the car.

By the time we made it to the station, Hillary and I had to pee we were forced to pay .20 to use a stall that smelled like a barn. Bathrooms like this are the reason I wear dresses....easy bathroom access. We had to sit and wait until the trotro filled up.....so we sat for a long time. While we were sitting we were swarmed by vendors selling everything under the sun. Including a traveling salesman who was selling a product called wormzap. Ew. I think we had a shopoholic in the tro with us, because she was buying things left and right....literally.

Ok, so now it is hours later and I did make it to my desired location! When we left the Accra station Hillary and I said to each other DON'T FALL ASLEEP! We had no idea where we were going, and we were not positive that our driver knew either. So what happened about 20 minutes into the ride? We both passed out. I woke up as we hit a pothole and my face smacked against the window. The ride pretty much went downhill from there. The woman on the end had her legs spread so far apart that Hillary and I were literally in fetal position smashed against the window. Can you say personal space??? Just as I thought my tail bone was about to rip through my skin we made it. I noticed a sign that said Kpong, so I told the driver to let us out.

We pulled over and the car was instantly swarmed by vendors. We had no clue where we were going, so we asked for directions and eventually found our way to the Global Mamas office. Rebecca was frantically working on organizing beads, so we tried to help, but really we just looked at all the pretty beads.

We left the office early and went to dinner. It was only 3:00 but it felt like 7:00. We took a tro to a hotel that we actually considered staying at. It was pouring rain when we got there and continued to rain harder and harder. It was soooooo loud on the tin roof. A man at the table next to us kept coming over to talk, and wanted to introduce us to the head of police....awkward.

When we were finished with dinner it was still raining so we tried to call a taxi to pick us up, but when that didn't work out we just started walking in the rain. Eventually a taxi picked us up and we made it back to the volunteer house. This house is so nice and so cute! Its just a little ranch style house tucked away in some trees.

It is still raining and thundering now so I am really excited to go to sleep!

Peace. Love. TroTros.