-The infamous tro tros of Ghana -This weekend we wanted just a short trip to get out of ISH, so we decided to go to Elmina and Cape Coast. Not too far away. A few things to do. We'll be back in time for classes on Monday.
Well, anytime you think something is going to be simple in Ghana, think again. Haha.
On Saturday three friends and I head to the tro tro station in Accra. Let me preface this by saying that tro tro stations are always crowded and hectic. The drivers and mates are yelling out where they are going. There are people everywhere. When there are four white kids walking through the crowd it catches peoples attention immediately.
"Obruni, Where are you going?" Is the phrase we heard over and over again. And when I say this, I mean they ask in an abrupt sort of way. Not in a "I really want to help you" sort of way. They just want to know if they can get you on their tro tro instead of someone elses... We know where we are going, so we head straight there.
While we are heading to the tro tro we are walking in a line behind each other and I am in the back of the line. There is this guy asking where we are going and then all of a sudden I feel his hand touching my leg... more specifically my front pants pocket... I look down and he is feeling my pocket to see if there is anything in it that he can pickpocket. This is the sort of thing they warn us about! Where there is a hectic situation and you are thinking about something else...
This really makes me mad! I turn around and glare and him and just yell "STOP!" At the time that's the only thing I could think of! After the fact, I thought of a whole lot of things I could have said. LOL. Next time I will be ready! I just kept turing around and staring at him, after he stopped following me, as in "I know what you were trying to do" sort of look.
So we get to the tro tro heading towards Cape Coast and get on. While we get on, there are several people who get off. I don't think anything of it. My head is still reeling from the pickpocket and I just assume they changed their mind. We wait about a half hour for the tro tro to fill up and the driver starts the engine. We should be off any minute. Then it seems... the driver has a change of heart.
He comes to the back of the tro tro where the four obrunis are sitting and lets up know that this tro tro is no longer going to Cape Coast. Instead, it is going to Kumasi... He literally told us he was being "nice" so he was telling us now!
Nice?! LOL! Isn't that his job? Was he just going to let us get half way to Kumasi until we realized that we weren't going in the right direction? He knew where we were going the entire time but just let us sit there. Ah! Apparently that's why people got out when we were first getting on. This little stunt just added to the frustrations of the morning. By this time I was ready just to head back to campus.
We ask for our money back but he tells us just to go with this other guy and he will take us to a tro tro going to Cape Coast. He asks for our ticket back and we hand it over.
The next tro tro is completely empty! It could take a couple hours until it fills up and we didn't just want to sit there. We look at our guidebook and see that a bus is leaving in 20 minutes from a station down the road so we ask for our money back and another struggle pursues. LOL. Oh this day!
The guy tells us to get back on the tro tro. We tell him we have decided to take a bus and that we want our money back. He asks for our ticket, but we already gave it back to the first guy. As far as we know the guy with our money is on a tro tro to Kumasi... The guy finally gives in and says he will give us 12 cedi back because this new tro tro costs 3 cedi per person. The only problem... we each paid 4.50 on the first tro tro! So not only did the first tro tro decide to change directions and keep our money, he also decided he would go ahead and just make a little extra profit while he was at it.
Finally, the guy that we're yelling at... yes we're yelling at this point, haha gives us our money back and we are on our way to the bus station. In the end we arrive in Cape Coast and have a nice weekend.
Just to add to my good experience with public transportation this weekend we get another bout on the way home.
Monday we wake up early and head to the bus station to get a bus. I have a 5:30 class I need to get to, so it's important we get on one of the first buses. We arrive at 9:30 and are told that the next bus will be leaving at 10:30. Not bad. Wait an hour and we'll be on our way. We ask the lady if we should buy our tickets now, from her, or wait until the bus gets here, as it has been done both ways in the past. She tells us just to wait. So we do. Patiently.
At a little past 11 the bus comes. People start forming a line. With a ticket in their hand. We go to the guy working the line so we can buy our ticket, and he just looks at us and asks, "You don't have one?" Oh man. Of course we don't have one! We're suppose to get it from you!... But come to find out... we were suppose to buy it from the lady we asked... We waited in line to see if there were any empty seats. Go figure, there weren't. The next bus wouldn't be coming for another two hours. We really didn't have this much time to waste. So again, four frustrated obrunis.
We head back into town and go to a different bus station. Thankfully this bus is heading to Accra. It doesn't take long to fill up and we are headed home!
I was considering taking a break from traveling this weekend because I have traveled every week/weekend since I've been here. In hind sight, this would have been a great weekend to forgo! Haha.
It's ok though. I'll just know what to expect when we head north next weekend!
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