Traffic

 Anyone who travels can tell tales of the traffic in the places they are visiting. It is always interesting because it is different from our normal commutes. Travel in Ghana bears striking similarities and some stark differences to driving in the US. 

First, we drive on the right side of the road in Ghana, just like the US. There are Toyotas and Land Rovers, Nissans and Subarus. There are even some F-150s and GMC trucks. (I personally haven't seen a Chevy - and I'm sure some of our readers have something to say about that!) We see a lot of 3-wheeled moped carts, motorcycles, and bicycles. 

The roads are often divided by a single white line to mark the lanes. Sometimes it is dotted to indicate a passing zone, but really it is all a passing zone. Each lane can hold an average of 1 1/2 to 3 vehicles at a time. Traffic circles are highly prevalent, and it can feel like that scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation where Chevy Chase gets caught driving in the circle all day. However, unlike Clark Griswald, our drivers are fearless in their ability to weave a 15-passenger "bus" across the six lanes of traffic AND the nimble motorcycles who would win awards for confident driving, if such things were offered. 

In the cities, street vendors move among cars, balancing platters of roasted groundnuts (peanuts), baskets of fruits, well-balanced bowls of soaps and housewares, and boxes of smoked fish, pastries, and breads. For a few cedis, a driver can get a bottle of water or soda and a snack as they wait in traffic. We also see sellers of cloth, baby blankets, windshield wipers, and all other sorts of things. If you can carry it, they are selling it in the streets where traffic is heaviest. Somehow, the sales exchange doesn't slow the traffic. Slow traffic is a function of high volume. 

Out in the villages and rural areas, driving is more like a game of chicken played on a minefield. Be assured that nothing is exploding, but sometimes the road is broken up with holes that can easily snap an axle or chew up a wheel. Consequently, the drivers are on constant alert, problem-solving their way through the obstacle course with little regard to the "lane" well are using. 

On a good road, we can speed along at a dizzying clip, slowing for rumble strips as we move through small clusters of homes. Passing at a high speed is an art form not unlike driving the buggy-laden backroads of home. A quick toot on the horn, and we flow out and around the 3-wheeled moped carts and slower cars, trucks, and buses.  Or motorcycles hauling carpets and mats

Driving on a road pock-marked with potholes is a strategic exercise in logic and problem-solving. We often crawl through potholes as the driver picks the route least likely to harm the bus and disturb the passengers. It is nothing to weave from shoulder to shoulder of the road, with evidence of widening in areas where previous travelers have worn grooves to move around ponds formed by rainwater. This will look much different in the dry season, of course, but on this trip, we practice the rule of not driving through the muddy yellow-brown water because we can't see just how deep or where the rocks are in this impromptu pond. 

Further out in the bush, we may encounter large charcoal trucks and other supply trucks, hauling their products from the fields into the cities. They too have to pick their way through some craters, lumbering from side to side with their man-sized charcoal bags stacked in an upside-down triangle formation and a few Ghanaian boys or goats or both riding atop. It is truly high-stakes chicken when you see little hatchbacks (or the bus you are riding in) drive head-on toward the truck on the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes, and then cut back at just the right time.  Personally, I am happy in the back of the bus where I can avoid watching the scene unfold in the front window!

We pass schools of every shape, size, and sponsor. Three of every five are sponsored by churches, and the Ghana Education Ministry or private sponsors operate the remaining schools. In villages and populated areas, the streets are often lined with 10x10 foot shops. In rural villages, there are tables under bamboo and palm canopies selling produce from the local farms. Women often sit in groups working at food and clothing together: sometimes tending a fire, mashing cassava into fufu or preparing some other local dish.   There is a "town square" of sorts in these clusters of huts that is made up of benches of wood or sometimes stone, occasionally plastic chairs are gathered into a group where you can see men resting in the shade or talking with each other. Always, we receive a wave and a shout of Woezu! Woezu! Welcome!

Driving through the bush villages, the road can get rough due to the weather and the demands of traffic.  Main roads are macadam, but it breaks easily apart in the extremes of hot and rain, leading to deep holes in the road.  As we drive we encounter local hole fillers, people who work with their shovel to fill in the holes and make the road more passable.  Early in our journey, our clergy van driver would hold out a few cedis as thank you when we slowed down to move over these filled-in holes.  The other thing we may encounter are police checkpoints between villages.  I hesitate to report that we haven’t seen too many of these, expecting that, as odds would have it, we will be stopped tomorrow.  We are often waived through when our EP Church clergy van is identified.  Sometimes we are asked to show passports and explain where we are going.  We identify our EP Church host and indicate that we are their visitors, traveling at their invitation.  It is something most of us don’t encounter at home, and it is a reminder that we are traveling in a foreign country with foreign customs and expectations.

We've gathered a few of our favorite photos and video snippets from time spent in the van. Additional photos may be added in the comments as we see more interesting sights along the road!