Little mini-taxis are everywhere and account for 80% of all the vehicles on the road. They are just plain buggy, and honking the horn and using all kinds of hand gestures out the window, are the rule. Everyone uses them as there are very few private vehicles such as ours, and they are as economical as they are numerous. One way trips across town (if on the main road) cost 50 pesewas (about 35 cents). Many of these taxis have been converted to propane as gasoline (called petrol) is so expensive. About once a month the propane supplies run out and hundreds of the taxis just park all around the station and up and down the street and simply wait (hang out--sometimes for days) for the supply tanker of propane to come in.
"Tro-tro" is a catch-all term for all kinds of over-crowded mini-buses or vans. With densely packed seating, a pervasive aura of sweat, and an incredible amount of luggage, farm produce and even cows, pigs, and goats are shoved in the back or strapped to the top. They pack people in the tro-tros much like the days of seeing how many could squeeze into a phone booth. Sometimes up to 30-35 people in a 12 passenger van. It's amazing how they can cram people, luggage, whatever into a vehicle. Road accidents occur with alarming frequency in Ghana, partially due to the horrific driving habits of the operators and partially due to the terrible state almost all of the vehicles on the road are in (no tail lights or break lights, doors tied on with ropes or string, broken windows, etc.). When a vehicle breaks down, which is often, they simply leave it where it stands, in the middle of the road or wherever, and then they fix it when they get enough money or time.
Our mission is going to be split on July 1, 2012. We will stay in Sunyani and be part of the new Ghana Kumasi Mission. President Shulz, who will stay as president of the Cape Coast Mission, invited all of the senior missionaries serving now, to a couple's retreat for a get-to-gether for one last time. We were to meet in Accra for a 2-4 day event.
We first travelled to Kumasi (2 hours away) to meet the Zolls. Since we were still not too familiar with Kumasi, Elder Zoll said to meet him at the roundabout at Sofaline--a section of the city that's on the same road we drive in on, but has been under construction forever.
The best way to describe the roundabout at Sofaline is to compare it to when you are at the lake, on the pier, and throw bread crumbs into the water and watch the large carp go crazy, churning the water and going every which way. That's what the traffic's like. When we drove up, we could see someone in a white shirt standing in the middle of all the chaos. It was Zoll, trying to get our attention in all that mess. As soon as we reached into the intersection, he skittered between the vehicles and ran to his car and we followed him out of the area to their apartment, where we parked our car, and then began the long drive to Acca together. The Zolls are great fun and we were excited to spend some time with them and not having to concentrate on every word just to understand what's being said.
The trip was progressing nicely and we talked and laughed until we came upon a tro-tro that had been in an accident and was pulled off to the side of the road. Traffic was slowed to a snail's pace. As we approached the wreck, we noticed the front windshield was shattered. Then I looked to the side of the road, right next to our truck, and saw the dead body of a pretty young woman, her head smashed in and eyes staring straight up. People were paying no attention and they hadn't even bothered to close her eyes or cover her body. She was just laid out on the pavement. It so unnerved me I couldn't really get over it for quite a while. Life and death are such a regular occurance here, that it is regarded as just an every day, natural event. We finally got through the traffic pile-up and proceeded to Accra without any further trauma.
Gary and Bud Zoll dropped us with the other senior missionaries who had come in the other way from Cape Coast, and then they left to go check us in at the apartment we would be staying in on the temple grounds. They were forever returning and had been stopped for supposedly running a red light by the police. The bailout started at 1,000 cedis because they were obrunis and obrunis are supposed to have lots of money. They talked and pleaded and said they were just poor missionaries, and got off paying 50 cedis.
Such are the traffic woes in Ghana!
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