Buzzing

What an eventful weekend. I'm still on a buzz :) On arrival in Accra on Saturday, we had organized to meet with James from Raincoat Roofing Systems, who had helped me to get Suzi through customs. I can not say how thankful I am for this. It saved me a lot of hassle and money as I would have had to stay in Accra for at least a week or more to get this sorted. No bad surprises with the custom fees either. It was around the mark I had roughly estimated *sigh* 
   James told us how people kept asking him what was in the box. With that in mind you can imagine the curiosity and excitement around the place when finally someone came to open it. People were so eager to help. Hands everywhere and eventually my tools where all over the place too. Had to make sure nothing got lost. I loved it though. Don't think it would have been an easy task had I been on my own. Putting the bike back together however was a task I wanted to do myself as much as possible for that sense of achievement. I would only ask for help to raise Suzi so that I could fit the front wheel. It wasn't easy to make that clear to all my little helpers. I wasn't allowed to pour petrol into the tank for example. Clearly a man's task ;-)

   Although there wasn't really a reason why she wouldn't, I was delighted when she started at first attempt. Happy days! After a short moment of doubt whether I should really ride on a bike I had just put together myself we were ready to leave Raincoat Roofings and head to our accommodation - a 40 minute journey across the city. Driving over here seems so messy and not to follow any rules. Traffic in Accra is especially brutal. Forget about everything you've learned at driving school. Also, whoever told me football is number one in Ghana stands corrected. Overtaking is the bigger national sport closely followed by frequently using the horn for no apparent reason. Naturally I was a bit nervous about entering the madness but to my surprise all nervousness left me once we were on the road. Instead I got such a kick out of it, I couldn't get rid of that big smile in my face for the remainder of the day. Driving my bike in Africa - a dream come true. 

  Rory and I made the most of our time in the capital. We went for some lovely meals. I've had the best steak ever (!) at Rhapsody's at the shopping mall and tasty Sushi at Monsoon in Osu. We also managed to buy some essentials at the mall such as WD-40. Awesomeness! There is a couple of Tortoise living on the grounds of the Lycopodium guesthouse. They are enormous! Rory fed one of them Pringles which he clearly liked. He kept going for more. His mouth was covered with crumbs, so funny. Good times! 

   Then, there was still the dreaded task of registering both Rory's and my bike at the DVLA on Monday. I spent a full day in the blistering sun experiencing an abnormal level of bureaucracy (even for a German) and sadly also greediness. Nobody will just do their job. Dashing (as bribing is called over here) is common and expected. In fact dashing is so much part of the culture that it would probably be acceptable if people had a dash price list openly displayed at their desks. Being an Obruni in the middle of it all didn't help matters. The sharks could smell money which I wasn't willing to give. I'm repulsed by this mentality to be honest. It was a great insight into why there are so many problems in this country. Ghana being one of the most developed and better off African countries, lets me only imagine how bad it must be in other countries on the continent. I left the DVLA sunburned and a small bit disheartened. At least my mission was accomplished. 

   One thing went really wrong though. The Irish crew had made a mistake with the export documents resulting in Suzi now being registered in Lycopodiums name instead of mine. Managed to organize the paperwork and forms that are required to get this changed. Hopefully it will get sorted without problems. 

   We had an early start on Tuesday morning, leaving Accra on our bikes at 5 am. It took us about an hour to get out of the city. By the time we hit the open road we were greeted by an amazing sunrise (see picture). It was a very enjoyable ride for the both of us up until Nkawkaw. Rory started having trouble with the clutch and gears on his KTM. The clutch was leaking and he couldn't change gears properly. Another hour to go but we managed to get home ok. Rory mightn't be able to ride the KTM until we get a replacement seal. Let's see.

   We're off to Accra again this Friday and then flying out to Morocco on Monday for a 2 week break. This is the first time neither one of us has made any concrete plans as to where to go and stay. No accommodation booked, only a rough idea of the route we would like to take. This could be the perfect recipe for a disaster or a brilliant holiday. Stay tuned :)