There are two bus organizations which offer long distance rides, like Accra-Tamale (estimated duration: 12h). Technically it's possible to do the trip by Trotro but they are way slower and stop in every small town to drop/take people. I also would have to find new Trotros from time to time since they don't go so far, usually just from one big city to the next. So no Trotro for me.
I couldn't take the recommended bus organization STC, they were booked out until Saturday and I definitely have had enough of Accra! I checked the organization VIP and they said they would set off in 3 hours but still have tickets. I took the ticket and took immediately a Uber to Ajit, packed my things and went to the police. I still had to file a report to get the money from the insurance for the stolen smartphone. Then I raced back to the bus stop. I was 2 minutes before the deadline there. Turns out I had to wait an hour anyway and there was no reason to rush 🙄
Anyway, the bus was REALLY comfortable. The most comfortable bus I ever sat in. Huge seats, very soft and I could lean far back. Also had much space but I heard not all bus of the organization are like that.
On the road I saw people working on roofs, again high safety standards.
(Sorry for the blurry pic, we were kinda fast.)
The ride actually took 13 hours, we set off around 4pm (16:00) and arrived around 5am (05:00). I told my CS host Shiraz that he should just call me when he wakes up and played with the devil sticks on the bus station for quite some time.
I wanted to go to the toilet there since the bus had none. At first I was supposed to pay 0.5ghc (6ghc=1€). When I asked for paper, he told me that costs 1ghc and gave me like 5 sheets of paper. I asked for more and he said a roll costs 5ghc. I hassled with him, telling him a roll costs 1,50 on the streets and that he is basically robbing a poor traveler who just needs to do some business but to no avail. I took the roll and went to the toilet - but there was no seat, just the blank ceramic. I hung up my backpack so I could grab it and be over the toilet without touching it.. but I just could not do it. After a minute of trying I gave up, returned the roll and got my 5ghc back..
Shiraz and I went by motorbike and picked up traditional breakfast. Porridge, also called koko in the local tongue. It is made out of Millet and Water.
In both of these huge casks is the koko. It is very fluid and filled in plastic bags. We also got Massa, that is made out of the same base material but they add plantains (also called cooking banana) and fry this.
On the right: The mass. The woman forms balls and throws them into the frying bowl. For each ball she needs less then 2 seconds. With the left hand she gets them out of the bowl and puts them in the aluminum filter. Once the oil is off, the balls go into the plastic container and are sold by a very young girl, probably her (grand?) daughter.So much about the food, this is how we ate it.You drink it out of cups. The Massa is eaten together with it, pretty straightforward. In the left corner you see a bag where the koko is.The blue light is not part of the food 🤣 Shiraz has just a really stylish living room!The toilet is currently out of order tho and I have to walk to some shared toilets. When I saw they lack toilet paper and use old, written sheets of paper I decided I still didn't have to go.I did not eat anything except two sausages on some bus stop and was happy to go to some restaurant with Shiraz. We ate jollow (fried rice with chili and vegetables) with guinea fowl. The rice was good as it usually is but the fowl was soooooo delicious. I totally loved it.This is what's left from the fowl when I remembered to take a picture.And this is the jollof that usually goes together with some chili tomato sauce you see on top (yeeees I'm really used to eat spicy by now 🤣)And this is some hilarious sign I saw. Some really gansta-coolish guys wear the paints somewhere between the anus and the knees so this sign makes sense.Later we picked up Magalie, big thanks here to you for giving me your second phone! Even tho it's slow, it really helped me in need 👍 Big thanks to you! There are people who go with 3 people on a motorcycle, sometimes also 3+ one child or one driver + 4 children (2 in front, 2 behind). We decided that 3 people is too unsafe for us and told Magalie to take a yellow-yellow. A yellow-yellow is a tricicle which is supposed to take 3 guests but that is as relative as everything else here. Anyway, the driver had no idea where to go and Shiraz told him to just follow us on the motorcycle. You probably imagine traffic where everyone is in one lane and it's easy to follow. Remember that I'm in Africa. Traffic is batshit crazy here. We lost the yellow-yellow multiple times because we were too fast and it needed to drop some passengers and take in others. It felt a bit like these chases in the movie "fast and furious" just that this was more "slow and where the f*** ist Magalie". This is Shiraz and me on our chase. I will later provide a video of the traffic here. Later is once I got decent WiFi. Magalie is really uncomplicated, she arrived and was ready to go after her 9h bus trip. She wanted to have some trousers tailored and left alone with Shiraz. The tailor took all the measurements he needs to take and they returned after just 15 minutes.We then went together to the center, all in a yellow-yellow to go to the barber Shiraz recommended. I don't doubt that the barber cuts really good the hairstyle that is usually cut here but it has been really obvious that he cuts a white dude the hair for the time. Hair here just is not straight. Everyone has curly hair. You know the way hairstylists in Europe use a comb, take the hair between two fingers and cut it? He tried but just could not do it. It took him more or less over an hour and usually he is done within 10 minutes. The room got crowded because many people were already waiting and he was the only one that was working. He was insecure and worked on my right side 4 times the time then on my left side, used every tool he had and in the end I felt sorry for him. Here are some pictures of the outcome. It's not 100% symmetrical but I'm happy. It's also a bit shorter then expected but time will take care of that.Magalie took a picture of me sitting there tho. I sometimes just closed my eyes to relax and to give the barber a feeling of me beeing safe, hoping he isn't so insecure then.After the longest stay at a barber of my life we went to the art center where locals sell their goods, it's basically an African market. It was already dark (after 19:00) so only 3 stores in this huge place had opened.But they have had cool stuff!With these backpacks small kids would rock in primary school 👍Many pantings in different styles. I actually considered to buy a some trousers because I really liked them. But to hassle the dude down a bit, I told him that the locals in Accra sell it for half the price, asked him if he made me tomorrow a better price and left.Now I'm sitting with Shiraz and Magalie on some rooftop bar, getting bitten by thousands of mosquitoes and writing this blog entry. Here is the view:And the other sideMag and Shiraz are playing the African version of a game called "Mensch ärger dich nicht" in German. Yes this is on the smartphone.That's it so far, tomorrow we will go to see some crocodiles and a funky village. Not sure if I'm going to have WiFi to upload pictures.Unrelated fun fact: Pupils here do not go to school when it rains. They don't like rain and just don't go out. If you are supposed to work at a certain time but it rains when u should be on your way, you just stay at home until the rain stops. People here really hate rain. Love n peaceLaurin
