Sunday, April 14, 2013

'On a Freaking Tro Tro', beach dogs, another power outage!


Oh, how I will miss these dogs.  The little one sat right under my feet for a tummy rub while I had my coffee this morning.  In the end I paid 312 Cedi for five nights, all dinners, several breakfasts and beers ($150 US).  I can handle that.  I think I may come back for the last few days in Ghana. 

Sunday is a great day and terrible day to travel.  There is very little traffic but there are also very few buses running. The only options in little, out of the way places like this is to pay quite a lot more to taxi out.  I knew this when I decided to stay an extra night so no big deal at all.

Got a taxi right from the Hideout all the way to Takaradi (45 Cedi) then jumped on a Tro Tro back to Cape Coast.  I thought I would wait a very long time for the Tro Tro to fill.  As I got in there were only four people and they all shrugged their shoulders like ‘yep, we are here for a while’.  Just as I sat down a family straight out of church and dressed in their Sunday Best filled the remaining seats and off we went.

Tro Tro:  Old, broken down mini vans that hold 14 people and depending on the driver can be a lot like riding Space Mountain at Disneyland.  They don’t leave until they are full.  The benefit to a Tro Tro over a bus is that they are always going so you don’t have to wait for a specific bus time to leave.  The guidebook says not to take them between towns but I keep finding myself bumping down the roads of Ghana of my beloved Tro Tros.  Actually I quite enjoy a good Tro Tro ride.

In a freaking' Tro Tro
Text from Obehi the day he left Hideout Lodge:  “On a Tro Tro, a Freaking Tro Tro!!”

Tro Tro dropped me right in middle of market close to the hotel.  The market is amazing and pumping on Sundays to be sure. 

Another blackout upon my arrival lasting until 11pm.  Room 115 was taken so had to move in next door to 116 and it sucks.  Shower doesn’t work, toilet doesn’t work, fan doesn’t work and I got bit to shit by bed bugs.  Ended up wearing long sleeve shirt and pants to bed to avoid bits. 

Obehi and I watch South Park on his computer until the power on it ran out as the rooms were wicked hot with not fans or ac due to the power outage.  If you walk the streets late night here you see many people sleeping on the street even if they have somewhere indoors to rest, as it is so much cooler.

Note on power outages:  I came to find out that at the end of the Month (April) the power in Ghana, Togo, and Benin should be better as the Nigerian government has slowed the oil coming here over the past year or so and that is about to change.  I have learned that whatever happens in Nigeria has a HUGE impact on these countries.  (Posting this on the last days of April and power has been steady for two days now…. the Nigerian pipeline is flowing again I guess).

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