So here's the ACTUAL JOURNEY home to Abomosu
Package in hand (finally!) we were able to try and find us a bus or TroTro (pronounced ChoCho) to hopefully get us home.
There was a bus station not far from the post office and theoretically it should have only taken 10 or 15 minutes to get there – but does anything actually happen as it should “in theory”? NOT HERE! The traffic was HORRIFIC! I honestly have never been in traffic that bad in my life. There were cars bumper to bumper everywhere we went and it seriously took us well over 20 minutes to go a block. At this point, Mark asks us if we would be willing to walk a little ways. Wondering how far a “little ways” really was we hesitantly said yes knowing that it would definitely take less time. The only problem was that Mark had to park the car before we could walk anywhere. So another 20 or 30 minutes later we were finally on the pavement, bags in hand (including all the groceries we had bought on Monday), ready to fight the crowds of pedestrians.
This picture gives you only a slight idea of how crowded the streets were. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve been on such a crowded street in my life. The shops on the side were all completely packed full of people, the streets were completely packed full of cars and everyone had somewhere to be. Every inch of the street that wasn’t being used by a car was being used by a pedestrian or bike. It was nuts!
Doing everything in our power not to lose Mark on the roads, it took us about 10 minutes to walk (the equivalent in the car would have only taken us a few feet) to the bus station. And by some crazy miracle the very first bus we see and ask about said they were going right through Abomosu! In fact, there were a few other people on the bus already heading to the same place. Only one problem… there were 4 of us and only 3 seats left on the bus. HM… Someone’s gonna have to STAND THE WHOLE WAY HOME! Not gonna lie, I sure didn’t want to be that person. But of course, Joey was quick to volunteer himself and we agreed that we could switch places if he were to get too sick of it.
Here’s our situation on the bus
Emily and Spencer were randomly seated in a middle seat between two other people somewhere in the middle of the bus. Can you see the two white heads poking out?
Joey got to stand right at the front of the bus, on the steps where the door opens with the conductor and another man who only ended up going a few miles before getting dropped off.
I somehow lucked out with the conductor’s seat right at the very front (of which I don’t have a picture, but wish I did). With the exception of our groceries, our bags were all with us. If they weren’t on top of our laps we were able to dish them off into the aisle (for Joey and I we got to put our stuff in between the driver and the door.
Luckily for Joey, just 10 or 20 minutes into the ride someone came up with a barrel of oil that he was able to sit on in the aisle, and Spencer traded him spots after a while.
It really was quite the adventure though. It was so fun for me to be right at the front of the bus. I was able to watch everything that was going on in each and every village we passed. What was really fun was to see the workings of the Ghanaian “drive-thru” as we’ve come to call it.
If someone is selling something they set up shop on the side of the road, and instead of you having to come to them like our fast food drive-thrus in the US, they all come right up to you. All you have to do is stop at a stop light or get caught in a little bit of traffic and everything you need or could possibly want is right outside your window.
It was especially fun to see the workings of it in the bus. The bus driver doesn’t stop for anyone or really anything (except the occasional potty break), so getting things from the people on the sides of the streets is a little risky. But everyone still did it! The people selling their items would run alongside the bus as they handed each customer their goods and waited for their money. Sometimes the bus would start moving again, and the person would just have to drop their money onto the road and hope the right vendor would pick it up. Also, if people dropped their money, but other people still wanted something, the vendor would just leave the money in the road until further notice and run after the bus to keep getting their business. I quite enjoyed it!
This picture is not my favorite picture of the roadside markets, but it’s the only one I’ve got. Maybe next time I’ll be able to get a better one.
The item bought the most was definitely bread. We all thought it was a little weird that practically everyone in the bus was trying to reach out the windows for some bread, but when we got home we were told that it is a custom to bring bread home when you’ve gone away. I thought that was really interesting, and then it made a whole lot more sense.
Anyway, after about 4 hours of bus-riding we finally made it home to Abomosu!!! WE LOVE ABOMOSU!!! Honestly, it’s completely official in our books that we do not love the city. There are too many people, too many cars and not enough clean air to go around. But here in Abomosu we love the people and they all love us, you rarely see a car off the main road and what’s even better, the air is beautifully clean and amazing! (as long as someone’s not burning their garbage and plastic within a hundred yards of you) I think we’ll be happy if we don’t have to ever go back to Accra. We’ll just stay here in Abomosu FOREVER!!!
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