Ghana (part 1)

Before I tell you all the awe-inspiring, memory-making, jealousy-inducing aspects of the trip, I’m going to share the not-so-swell experiences. These would be the fear-actualizing, money-draining, sleep-depriving, patience-testing, frustration-escalating, migraine-inducing aspects. So as not to deprive you here’s the blow-by-blow

The plan:

Take a 12-hr coach bus down to Lagos. Coach bus or maybe taxi across to Benin. Stay a day and night in Cotonou, Benin. Take Coach bus to Ghana. Then spend 5-6 days along the coast at a couple inexpensive places. Finally, we’d fly back from Accra to Abuja and have a friend drive us back to Jos the following day. Pretty seemless plans, right?

WRONG!!

Pre-Departure

*When trying to book our flights, we discovered Nigeria’s infamy for online fraud...the websites wouldn’t accept our credit cards.

*A week before we were supposed to leave, our return flight was unexpectedly and inexplicably cancelled. Other flights from Accra to Abuja were nearly double the price so we thought we’d come back by land to Lagos, then take the direct flight from there to Jos.

*After receiving back our passports with the Ghana visas on Christmas Eve (less than 2 days before departure date), we discovered that Corinne’s was not in the mix. Thankfully, it had just been left in the copier machine at our friend’s work so he made an early morning delivery the next day. Merry Christmas!

The Journey

*ETD was 7am on Dec. 26^th. Giddy with anticipation, all 8 of us get dropped off at the bus station @ 6:45...where we’d spend the next 4 hours WAITING for our bus to show up. They kept saying over the loud speaker, “Thank you for your patience thus far. The bus is coming...”

*Due to our late departure, our safe day-bus turned into a night bus aka the biggest thou shalt not in African travel, (soon followed by “thou shalt not take pictures at border crossings”). Combined with the next complication, this meant we didn’t get into Lagos till 7am the next morning. (that’d be a 20 hour bus ride)

* Some bad dudes saw all us white folks getting back onto the bus at one of the stops and thought it’d be a lucrative venture to follow our bus (with ill intentions). Though we were all oblivious at the time, the driver was aware of these armed robbers, made a couple strategic moves (prolonging the trip), and kept us all safe.
Once arriving in Lagos, I sought about securing transportation for the rest of the trip to Ghana (couldn’t be done in Jos). Found out that the Ghana borders would be closed for the next 2 days. Consequently, no buses were leaving till then and those were already full.
Arranged for taxis to take us across the border to Cotonou at the price tag of a HUGE chunk of the cash we had on hand.
* One taxi breaks down 500 meters from the Benin border
* Nigerian “immigration officers” harassed us every 10 meters for the last mile before the border. We got all kinds of threats and attempts to intimidate us but I knew at the end of the day that THEY couldn’t keep us from leaving the country. Basically, they were just looking for a little “happy Christmas” (= a few bucks). Seemed that anyone in possession of a large stick or board with nails on it were part of the border patrol and entitled to a dash. I’m considering using this tactic next time I need to raise funds.

* At the Benin-Nigeria border we needed to get transit (48 hr) visas, which according to all the research I did, shouldn’t be a big deal and would only cost us 10,000 CFA/person (~$18). WRONG! After 3 hours of “tipping” every person at the table, walking across the street 5 times, and essentially selling the shirts off our backs and our first-born children, we made it out of there with a severely depleted pocketbook.
Benin (and Togo) are French-speaking countries...and about 1.5 people in our group spoke fluent French.

* Didn’t have a street address for the SIM guesthouse we were scheduled to stay at and our taxi drivers were clueless about Cotonou.

* Arrived in Cotonou Saturday afternoon, meaning all the banks and bureau de change’s were closed (until Monday) and the little bit of cash we had was in Naira or USD. Not to worry, we made a connection with someone at church who had a connection on the black market, naturally :)

* Needed to find the bus company to get tickets, departure time, etc. I spent 2.5 hours cruising the streets of Cotonou on a motorbike nearly in vain, until we came upon this obscure sign with ABC Transport in 10pt font.
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* The morning we were supposed to leave Benin, Marc and Lisa spent 2 hours in a desperate attempt to find a bank, bureau de change or ANYBODY who would cash traveler’s checks. Note: traveler’s checks are WORTHLESS in Africa. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had no clue where they were since they had just gone to the bank next door.

* At the Togo border, we got charged an extra 5,000 CFA for not speaking French.
140 km from Accra, Ghana, in a little village called Dabala, our reliable van makes some horrifying, wrenching, clutch-breaking noise, and then proceeds to leak coolant as we roll back. When our driver lifts the seat to look at the engine (it’s one of those Toyota vans with an engine under the front seat), he pops the radiator cap and causes Old Faithful to spew all over the front of the van. By some miracle, we’re able to get the van started again, and crawl all the way to Accra in 3^rd gear, at a rate of 60kmph.

Against all, and I do mean, ALL odds, we made it Accra, Ghana. From there, things started to improve, but then again, how could they not?!? Here’s a sample of verses we quoted to each other throughout this leg of the trip:

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” –Rom. 5:3-5

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted,but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”—2 Cor. 4:8

“Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” –James 1:2-4