Impressions get pushed out and replaced by new ones.

Some constants…travelling is the same…a grind..and of course we’ve done a lot though my distances haven’t been bad compared to others headed up to the Northern Region or the Upper East/Upper West which often require an overnight stop in Kumasi or Tamale. Weighed down by bits and pieces of luggage..both the too-much we brought plus the stuff we get ‘handed’ ..a mosquito net (clunk), a water filter and container (CLUNK), a medical kit in a nice little (oops, not so little) box ..and various handouts, manuals, etc..and the bad news is that we actually need most of them over the next two years and anyway, we can’t just dump them as they must be returned to PC at COS…used medical supplies anyone??
Tro riding is awful..the worst travelling experience of my life certainly ..oh yes, the trip from Tblisi to Yerivan in a similar vehicle was pretty rough but nothing like this!
To describe…when you have clapped out Ford Transit like vehicles driven by crazy guys over awful roads…like the stretch around Keta where the road has been washed away by the sea…packed beyond the gunnels …if they’re supposed to take up to 15 people, including the driver, they routinely hold 20+. We drive for hours on these trips, scrunched up with this damn laptop and these damn cameras, etc in a backback on my knees which are in any case up towards my chin because I’ve got either mine or someone else’s bag..or simply just stuff…on the floor in front of me!
Your muscles cramp and go to sleep, you bounce around and find yourself praying out loud that this misery will end soon or that mercifully the tro will drive off the road and you’ll be instantly killed! Then the journey ends and you’re tumbling out in some whacky Tro station (quaintly called Lorry Stations) where your arrival is greeted with a flock of vendors carrying things on their heads, scuttling and nodding towards you, but beaten to you by the unencumbered tro touts who demand to know where you’re going next and start pulling at you, your bags to get you to their tro! See, each tro has two guys, the driver and the tout/pusher/door-opener/last in the tro..and sometimes