Since our workshop wasn’t until tomorrow morning in Krobo we decided last night that we wouldn’t have travel until later on in the afternoon. After talking it over this morning we thought it would be a better idea to leave earlier that way we could spend a bit of time in Accra and go shopping at the Global Mamas store. So after packing and making egg salad sandwiches we headed down to Cape Coast around 9am. Traveling in Ghana is quite difficult, the closest you get to lagitamate station is a name you can’t pronounce where a group of tro tro’s parked too close together in the middle of a market. Thankfully everyone is really helpful and willing to show you which tro you should get into.
Our first stop was in Cape Coast were we went to Bacano we walked to where we thought was the station to get a fast car. Apparently it was just a taxi station; some of the men laughed at us but one took us down the street in the same direction we had come from to the correct station. Here we found the fast cars which are the same size as a tro tro just a bit newer with air conditioning. They call them fast cars because they start at one station, wait to fill all the way up, then head to one final destination. Tro tro’s will make stops along the way and pick up and drop off people here and there. It doesn’t sound like it would but the constant pulling over almost doubles the traveling time.
We found our fast car and sat at the back waiting patiently to fill up. Some of us have waited hours on end waiting for one to fill but we thankfully didn’t have to wait too long. Before we left I had asked one of the women working in a shop where I could go use the wash room, her response in a louder than necessary voice was “ Are you going to shit or are you going to urinate”. It was really funny at the time, this tiny little lady just casually asking such a question.
We finally began our journey; the ride to Accra was pleasant good scenery, new book, the company and the air conditioning which at one point got too fierce and I had to put a sweater on. The time flew by and got off at our stop called Circle Station. We had only been given directions from Elmina to Krobo and at this point we had to figure out our own way to get to Osu which is the part of Accra where the Global Mama’s store is located. Thankfully most of everyone are really friendly and we were able to ask people on the street what the best way to get there was and how much we should pay. The Accra traffic is terrible but we finally found a taxi and managed to make it to Osu.
After doing a bit of shopping we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and lunch tomorrow afternoon. From there we headed to Melting Moments, a restaurant one of the volunteers in the office had suggested. When we arrived I realized I had been there before and it was the first place I had gone to with Katie C and Carla when we arrived in Ghana. The three of us split a mozzarella avocado and mushroom pizza and cider. We had to wait extra long for them to make it but it was well worth the wait.
When we were finished we asked for the best way to get back on track with our travel plans and our waiter was happy to help us. After hailing a taxi to a nearby station we walked around till we found the tro tro we needed to be in. This market was exceptionally busy and we were bombarded by vendors more than usual. When we were standing outside the tro paying the driver I had my legs petted by some strange Ghanaian man. It was strange and I couldn’t figure out if it was the skin color he was fascinated by or how much hair was covering them (which I might add is quite allot since I haven’t shaved them since before I left… do the math!). Thankfully we were one of the last ones on the tro and it left almost immediately.
That tro ride went by fast also and in no time we were getting out in Pnug and trying to hail another tro to Odemase, our final destination. Once again everyone was very helpful and pointed in the right direction of where we needed to be. Once we arrived at our stop we got out and had no idea where to go, we asked around and no one seemed to have ever heard of Global Mama’s. After three tries one woman said oh yes and pointed behind herself. Sure enough it was right there in plain sight. Unfortunately we were at the Global Mama’s office which was closed and we needed to be at the volunteer house. With no idea where that was we turned on the phone and called Rebecca who was in charge of the Krobo volunteers. She told us where to go and said she would meet us when we got dropped off. So once again we found someone who was more than willing to show us where to get another tro and asked him how much we should pay. We finally found a ride, too bad we didn’t know earlier because we were traveling back down the road we had come from. At last our travels were over, we met Rebecca and three other volunteers and headed to their house.
After chit chatting with everyone, Nick Katie and I took a walk down the street to the local bar for some Stars before bed time. None of the volunteers joined us, which wasn’t too unfortunate since their sadder then our business lot back in Cape Coast; I didn’t think that could be possible.
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