The Ghanaian Zipper is Broken!

 When driving in the US there is a common practice known as "the zipper".  That is when several cars all trying to enter the same lane take turns!  First the left, then the right, then the left, etc.  Here in Ghana, the zipper is broken.  As pictured below, everyone tries to get into the same lane at the same time.  If you glance at the other driver, you are lost...that gives him permission to go ahead of you.  Here, you simply stick the nose of your car forward until all other cars let you go rather than see their car get a new scratch or scrape.  Combine that with the motorcycles zipping through the middle and the hawkers walking between cars to sell things and you have the perfect storm.

Trucks carrying large loads also make driving tricky as you cannot see around them and they often lose part of the load on the road.Then, of course you have the cars and tro tros that have broken down sitting in the middle of the road right where they have quit.  No AAA, no tow trucks.  You fix them right where they stop.  Here's one fellow underneath his van trying to figure out what is wrong!  A "gas buddy" will do you no good here in Ghana to try to figure out where is the cheapest gas.  The gas prices are fixed by the government and every station is the same.  That is quite handy for the consumer.  However, the powers that be just raised the price to 2.068 cidis, which equates to about $4/gallon for gas...no exceptions.

The roads in the city are pretty good, but occasionally you are dealt a surprise.  John saw this at the last minute at a stoplight.  It's about 6 feet deep and 3 feet wide and SHOULD have a grate on top.  This shot is out my window.  We would have lost our whole tire in that one!

This is our little vehicle.  We drive it mainly on weekends since we have a van and driver during the week back and forth from the hospital.  It is a diesel and so far works quite well.  Except for the time when the alarm would not shut off and we had to drive to the temple pressing the button every 3 sec.!!

We have to be careful driving because the Ghanaian police set up random checkpoints everywhere.  You never turn right on a red light.  You never stick your nose in the intersection on a yellow, you must have the proper reflectors and paperwork and stickers on your car at all times!  Oh...did I mention that those rules are only for the abrunis?  Those with white skin.  The others pretty much do as they please.  Never fear...a substantial bribe will get you out of any situation.  Oh, and stop signs are merely a suggestion.

The above sign is in front of the Justice building which is pretty funny since it is the police who are the worst as far as demanding bribes to get you out of trouble!

This is our School of Allied Sciences van and our faithful sidekick driver, Sam, who has saved our lives already more times than we can count!

The yellow van at the right is called a tro two.  They are old vans that should have been in the junkyard years ago.  They fit in seats for 20-25 people and run particular routes in the city very inexpensively.  They often have stuff piled on the roof and the doors tied shut in the back to hold the peoples bags inside.  They have a driver and an assistant who hangs out the window and signals to people waiting for rides to let folks know where the van is going.  They are the craziest of drivers, except for the taxis.  They remind us of the jeepneys in the Philippines, boys.

Oh, tro tro, we're not in Kansas anymore!!