Weekend Excursion

This weekend, Amir and I went into Accra for a little fun outside of Apam. It was quite an interesting trip because we used the tro tro's to get to Accra and also get around once we arrived. Tro tro's are basically the Ghanaian equivalent of buses. They pick up at designated bus stops all around the country and follow certain routes and there is typically one guy hanging out the side of it calling out the name of the route. They are a very cheap mode of transportation as trips typically cost no more than 2 cedis, which is just about $1, although it usually costs just 50 pesewas, or 25 cents. 

Two tro tros on the road

We left on Saturday afternoon from Apam and got on a tro tro at Winneba Junction, approximately 15 minutes from Apam. From there, we rode to Kanishi and then took a final tro tro into Accra. After spending the whole afternoon traveling, we were very tired so we didn't really do anything until Sunday. Amir went to church and I met up with some Nigerian friends I've made who are studying in Ghana. We hung out and chatted in their dorm rooms and then late Sunday night went BOWLING! To be honest, I was really surprised when they suggested bowling because I guess I hadn't thought there would be a bowling alley here and in retrospect, I guess that was very ignorant on my part!

Bowling!

Monday we did some shopping and I picked up some souvenirs for my little brothers and some fabric for some outfits I'm planning on making before I leave. We went to the Woodin store in Osu for the fabric and the salespeople definitely made the shopping trip enjoyable! A friend from undergrad, Channel, who is in Ghana visiting family also linked up with me while we were in Osu and it was great seeing her again! Who would have thought that Ghana would be the place we'd run into each other??

Woodin Store in Osu, Accra; There's another one in the Accra Mall

Getting back to Apam proved to be even more of a challenge than we anticipated! We had stayed the night with a friend in Dansoma, essentially a suburb of Accra and headed back on Tuesday afternoon. We had to wait forever for a car and when we couldn't get one directly to Apam, we settled for one to Kasoa and once we arrived there, had to find another tro tro headed our direction! 

The ridiculously long line for a tro tro

Around 8:45, we finally managed to get a tro tro and were on our way. There was a man on the tro tro hawking some type of medication but he was speaking in Twi so we didn't understand what he was saying. I asked the man next to me and he said it was for clearing up head pains. The medication was a grey powder in a small bottle and they passed it around the tro tro for a "trial" test. Neither Amir or I took any, but some of the guys in front of us poured some onto their hands and then snorted it! Shortly thereafter, everyone that had snorted the medication started SNEEZING!!! It was a little unnerving yet funny at the same time. Amir and I met eyes and just burst out in laughter!! All I knew was there was no way I was snorting anything, much less without knowing what it was!!


Finally around 9:30, the tro tro got to the Apam Junction and we jumped out BUT we still weren't quite home yet. We had to then take a taxi from the junction into Apam, stopping along the way to let others out until it was jus the two of us left. So after departing Accra at around 5pm, we didn't get home until basically 10pm!!! I was exhausted and quite tired of traveling like a Ghanaian by the time we got home but it was a great extended weekend. The only bummer is that I've managed to pick up a summer cold so I've got a stuffy nose, sore throat, and slight cough but it could be worse! I'd rather have a cold than diarrhea!!!


~J