A Sunday Drive

Living in Accra is somewhat like living in Quebec in winter: you need to get out of the comfort of your house and embrace the ridiculousness around you.

Normally full of cars moving slowly and honking at each other.

And so it was that we found ourselves borrowing a friend's giant SUV on a Sunday morning.

For a bustling city choked with traffic, Accra on a Sunday morning is completely dead, as everyone is at church or nursing a hangover. This makes it the perfect time to get to know the streets. Being in a massive Toyota helps too.

Adenta: Ga for 'Just Park Wherever'

This was Mr. O's first time driving in Ghana. Previously, he took cabs, tro-tros and hitched on his friends' scooters ("motos"), but never dared drive himself. So this was a big step.

The family got in and first started heading North to his old stomping grounds of East Legon and the University of Ghana. It was completely unrecognizable. The two-lane "Old Road" to Adenta has been turned into six lanes to service the growing traffic. The University too has exploded with development. But Mr. O couldn't even find the entrance, such was the level of change.

Independence Arch - very French

After some further confusion and a u-turn in a crowded intersection, they went through East Legon to find still standing the place where they would rent private rooms to watch pirated Hollywood films. (Note: sources have alleged that this place was actually a brothel. Which explains why we always seemed to be the only ones there.)

Independence Square. (not a McDonald's)

The family drove back into the city towards the old expat neighbourhood of Osu. Oxford Street used to be obruni central - it was where restaurants and boutiques glittered next to open sewers, hawkers and beggars. These are all still there, but it definitely feels scrubbier next to the glittering towers of Airport Residential. We stopped in at the Koala Mart, once the go-to place for western goods and a cup of real coffee overlooking the town. The place looks tired and the café was done away with, perhaps to fill more goods. We picked up some essentials and continued our sojourn.

Makola Market (closed, thankfully)

We followed the main street down to the end, which led into the older Osu/Cantonments neighbourhood, far removed from the expats and their offices. We slowly snaked our way West along the High Street that hugs the coast (don't be fooled: the waterfront was never developed). We passed the Independence Arch, the golden arch of Independence Square, the Supreme Court and stickhandled our way through the dormant Makola Market (which is barely navigable any other day).

This has what condo developers call 'long-term potential'.

We eventually found ourselves on the West end of Accra's Ring Road. From the comfort of our locked air-conditioned fortress, we drove past shantytowns, smouldering garbage heaps, grazing farm animals (all in the same spot, mind you) and finally hit traffic as we approached the vendor-filled Kwame Nkrumah Circle (just "Circle" for the tro-tros). We also pissed off a car full of angry local men with an ill-advised lane change. The trick was simply to stare straight ahead, ignore them, and remember that your tank of a vehicle could clear any curb in case of emergency.

After negotiating the massive traffic circle (again, by sheer size), we progressed back into town and ended up back home safe and sound. It was hard to imagine that Mr. O used to find his way through all of these places by public transportation and foot on any given day. Just another reminder of how much he has changed over the years.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Operation Accra Revisited was a success. We celebrated with an obligatory FanIce from a street vendor (ice cream, at least in the technical sense), which Little Miss enjoyed immensely. This is life in Accra and the family is slowly embracing it.