Our Tro-tro

There are these "23 passenger" vans in Ghana called tro-tros.  We fit 13 of us into this van with a little bit of room to spare but still wonder how 23 people can fit into this vehicle.  We have a tro-tro for our group to drive us around.  It is a nice yellow(school bus) colour on the outside with a  green horizontal stripe down the side.  There is a lot we could say about this "reliable" piece of machinery that has become our "bus", but we do not want to frighten you.  

Here are some of the basics of our wonderful tro-tro:

•   Seatbelts... oh seatbelts... I don't think it has any, but who needs them? 
• Our "guide" tells the driver where to go and sits beside the "sliding door".  The reason for the quotations on "sliding door" is because it slides to let us in and out, but may not fit the definition of a door.  The door on our tro-tro does not close sometimes/ most of the time, but when it does there is definitely applause for the great accomplishment, which usually takes about 4-5 minutes of continuous slamming/ sliding.  Unless we are driving on the highways, our guide usually just holds it closed with his arm on the handle outside.  It is nice sitting beside him or behind him because you can get a view of the road and sky as you are driving...what a cultural experience. 
• Another great thing about our tro-tro is when it is out of fuel. We had to fill it up the other day, and the ignition was running the entire time.  This was a little disturbing because of all the warnings in Canada about turning off your ignition as you're filling it up, but here it's an anything goes thing...as long as it goes when you are done.  We also learned that our little tro-tro would not have been able to go after we filled it up if the engine had been stopped. 
• Another thing we learned about our tro-tro on July 4 is that it will always be parked at the top of a hill, with rocks or bricks blocking the wheels to keep it at the top of the hill.  Safety First, because you don't want it going down the hill with no one in it (We believe they use emergency brakes on cars in Canada for situations like that... we don't know about the situation with the emergency brake, but sometimes ignorance is bliss). 
• Our tro-tro takes a little time to get started, so as we are in it and it is rolling down the hill the driver tries a couple of times to get it started and it usually starts.  We have not hit anyone yet while starting the vehicle, but it was a close call with the curb marking the end of the parking lot the other day, but it finally started so our driver had control of the vehicle again. 
• Sometimes our tro-tro is like a Canadian in this weather and gets overheated, so a little pit stop on the side of the road is taken and some water is poured under the hood and then we are good to drive again.

 So that is the adventure of our mode of transportation as a group for the next few weeks!  This may seem a bit scary, we still love it.  We later discovered that our tro-tro is made by Mercedes Benz, definitely a reliable brand!