The Road to Kumasi

We departed the VPWA office in Pokuase at 10:00 AM to begin the 150 mile journey to Kumasi, north of Accra. The plan was to do some sightseeing in the city, especially at the large market, before heading to the nearby Lake Bosumtwi for some relaxation on Saturday.

Since Jeremy and I didn’t have to work on Friday, we got on the road before some of the other volunteers who also planned to make the trip. The Internet told us that we could catch a tourist bus from Achimota, a neighborhood in Accra only a few tro-tro stops south of Pokuase, all the way to Kumasi. Unfortunately, just because a company keeps a schedule of buses on the Internet doesn’t mean they plan to abide by that schedule… So although we showed up exactly where we were supposed to show up, albeit by taxi instead of tro-tro, as we were running a bit late, there wasn’t a bus waiting to whisk us away to Kumasi.

They told us we had to go all the way into Accra to the VIP bus station if we wanted to catch a bus to Kumasi. We’d already driven about 20 minutes South of Pokuase in the opposite direction of Kumasi. The VIP Station was another 45 minutes South. And the taxi cab driver wanted to charge us 12 Cedis to take us there. We talked him down to 5 Cedis - although I still felt ripped off – and made it to a new bus stop and boarded a VIP Coach, where we would sit for the next six hours while traversing the 150 miles of SHIT for a ROAD between Accra and Kumasi. Yes, we drove one hour South to then go SIX hours North. And we only covered 150 miles, yes.

It hurts to even think about it, really. And it is difficult to be impressed with Ghana’s growing economy and “advanced” infrastructure when most of the road between Ghana’s two largest cities is only rock, mud, and grass. It should take two and a half hours to commute between these two towns, not six. One of our friends, who didn’t splurge for a 20 Cedi seat on a VIP bus and instead settled for a mode of transportation that most people in Ghana have no choice but to take, the tro-tro, literally had to get out and push the tro-tro through the mud at one point in his trip. On a highway! How absurd!

But we did make it to Kumasi. Finally. Just in time to hit up the extensive cocktail menu at Vic Baboo's for Happy Hour! After a drink or two, I definitely forgot all about the treacherous road and was focused on enjoying my last weekend in Africa!