July 17, 2009

When I first arrived in Africa some volunteers were talking about blogs and some interesting names they had seen. The one that stuck with me was, “thoughts from under the mosquito net” and as I sit here in my comfy bed in Bali it fits perfectly. I arrived in Bali on Sunday, July 12 and have been staying here the whole week. There is much to tell but after looking back over my previous blogs I realized that they have been sorely lacking a few significant things. Two of those are descriptions on travel and the environment in Cameroon.
I must begin with travel because it is the most amusing and I want to keep you interested so that you keep reading! Kristin and I left B-town at 9 a.m. Sunday morning after waiting an hour for the bus/van to fill up. When I say fill up, I don’t mean to the comfortable 16 passenger standards we are used to. At one point on the second leg of the trip Stanson counted 22 people, luckily we were jammed in the back and no one could climb in with us. After picking up the second bus in Bafoussam we seemed to be moving along pretty well considering the roads and it being the rainy season. After a quick stop for gas, where I managed to talk the attendant into handing me a cold diet coke through the window, we were off. A few minutes later we began to experience van trouble. Every few feet the vehicle would shutter and then cut off. Out would go the driver to mess with the gas tank and on most occasions the engine. So now our trip that was supposed to take 3 hours ended up taking more like 6. At one point Kristin, Stanson and I were taking bets on how many feet we would gain; the best was when we actually lost feet (we were on a hill).
I just want to state that this travel experience is the norm for Cameroon. Every taxi, bush taxi, bus, and moto that you see will try to fit as many people as possible and with those people go items such as large bags of vegetables, live stock (such as chickens or goats) and luggage. Children are also not counted so they have to sit on their mother’s lap. It is common for a mother to hand off a child to the person next to her, even if she doesn’t know them. Thank the Lord that this hasn’t happened to me yet!
Today I ran into Bamenda to check some emails and visit a market mama that promised to sell me some pop (a.k.a. bouille – which is like cream of wheat). On the way home I was jammed in a compact car (a corolla to be exact) with 6 Cameroonians. The best part was that all of these tiny little spiders were crawling all over me. I couldn’t figure out where the hell they were coming from… it was absolutely ridiculous. Just so you understand this is not the most packed car I have been in. Earlier in the week there were actually 8 people in the car (four in the front and four in the back). I’m not even sure how the guy was able to drive the car! Oh, I almost forgot the best part! As the driver was trying to fill up the taxi (because I refused to pay 1000 CFA for a solo ride) he ran into a woman. The hit was not hard but it definitely could not have felt good! She immediately started yelling at him through my window. All I could do was sit there with my mouth agape! Amazing!
The volunteer that showed me around Bamenda said that he had been hit by a moto and the story seems completely viable. It is almost as if they aim for you, even when the whole road is clear. It is really frustrating and my blood pressure level goes up every time I have to walk somewhere, even in B-town but the larger cities tend to be worse.
My house in Bali is nice. I have two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and living room. It is fully furnished but in need of major cleaning. I spent almost two hours today working on the shower and it is still not finished but I feel a lot better about it. Spider webs are everywhere and I think they will be impossible to fight but I am going to try. I need to put up new mosquito nets over the beds and air out the linens but nothing really major. I am happy that I will be able to use my settling in money for CAMTEL (internet) and a refrigerator!
Having the house ready to go was extremely helpful for site visit. Not only was I able to stay there and get a good idea of what to expect for the next two years but I was able to host Stanson when he couldn’t get out of Bemenda early enough. Then Kristin stayed for a couple of nights when the volunteer that she was staying with got malaria and typhoid (she had just returned from visiting Limbe). One night Kristin and I got to experience our first bit of Cameroonian night life. Eric, who is the caretaker for the house and property that I will be living in, invited Kristin and I to a club in Bali Town.
We decided to check it out and at around 9 p.m. a friend of Eric’s came to pick us up. We went to a club/bar where we drank “fresh” Castel (a Cameroonian beer) and even danced a little. I need to explain what “fresh” is. Cameroonians as a rule don’t generally refrigerate their beer but they will insist that it is fresh and doesn’t need to be cold. I have a very difficult time with this because I love a freezing cold beer. Eric helped me find a place that when I return she will keep a few beers cold just for me! Yea! The club scene was interesting but we didn’t stay too long because there was a private party. Eric and his friend kept insisting that Sunday nights were the best and that is when the most people where out. I promised to go back after August.