We are back in Tamale. Our flight was an hour or so late leaving Accra. We had hired a taxi to take us to the airport so as soon as we got off the plane Steve went outside to get a taxi while I waited on the luggage to be off loaded.
Speaking of taxis; we hired the worst taxi that we have ever ridden in yesterday in Accra. When we are in Accra without our own vehicle we hire a taxi by the hour and use him like we would a private car. The taxi driver will take us where we need to go and then wait for us to finish whatever we need to do and then take us to our next stop and finally back to the hotel. Yesterday afternoon we needed a taxi to take us to the gold smith to get my earring repaired. It is hard to tell what a taxi looks like when you flag him down. Well this guy would not tell us how much he was going to charge. He said we should rather tell him how much we wanted to pay. We agreed on a price before we really looked at the taxi but a bargain is a bargain. The vehicle was all beat up; it had been in several accidents, the fender was just sort of hanging there, the fabric on the seats were worn completely, the springs in the seat were gone, it had no shocks, the passenger door on the driver’s side would not open and the window on the other passenger door would not roll down. Needless to say there was no air conditioning but amazingly enough it had a current “road worthy sticker”! When we got safely back to the hotel we paid the driver and gave him a tip because the traffic was bad and the trip took longer than we expected. The man was tickled to death and so grateful with the bonus. He was so excited he got some extra money. He told us that if we ever needed another taxi ride to be sure and call him. He insisted on giving us his cell phone number. We never could figure out what his name was. Well, this morning we needed a taxi again and naturally I wanted to call him. He was more than a little pleased when he heard my voice on the phone. He said he would come right over. He had to wait for us for about an hour. When we came back we noticed that he had put a stone under the back tire to keep the car from rolling out into the street, obviously the parking brakes didn’t work. We also noticed that he had the front of the car jacked up. The front tire had a leak and he did not want it to go flat while he was waiting on us or we would have been stranded. On the way back to the hotel we had to stop so he could get air put in the tire. I wanted to hire the guy again to take us to the airport but Steve said enough is enough. He did not want to be stranded with a flat tire on the way to the airport. I will keep his number; we might use him next time we are in Accra.
Divine called us first thing this morning; he was on his way from Yendi to Tamale. He said that as they passed through one of the villages they saw a bus and lots of police. When they stopped to ask what was going on they were told that at about 3:00 this morning armed robbers had stopped the bus and taken everything the people owned.
Take care and thanks for everything.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
