MY TRAVEL STORIES!!!!!!!!!

My travel stories!
The month of November was chock full of traveling…looking back at my calendar I realized I slept in my own bed about 4 times. It was nice though to get out of here for a bit, and I had a lot of good…and as always…interesting experiences.

NORTH
In the beginning of the month I took a trip up to the northern regions of Cameroon. To get up there it's a bit different than the travel I'm used to…we took a train, which left ON TIME (unheard of). It was great because the trip ranges from 12-15 hours (exceptions for breakdowns/derailment which aren't all that uncommon) and it takes place at night, so doesn't take up any daytime hours. We didn't want to splurge the extra 20 dollars for the sleeper cars so we ended up in first class…which compared to the buses and cars we're used to was extremely comfortable: own seat, cushy seat, bathroom, etc, and also avoids sharing your seat with a goat or chicken or unknown baby as occurs in 2nd and 3rd class. Thing is, I always underestimate Cameroonians. A big group of gendarmes (police) were sitting in the back of our car and felt it their right to scream about dowries and women's role in a marriage until 1 am while the rest of the car was trying to sleep. And when I say "scream" I'm hardly exaggerating. The train took us up to Ngaoundere, which is in the Adamoua Province. From there we immediately got on one of the more familiar modes of transport and made our way up to Lake Lagdo in the North Province. We stayed at this AMAZING hotel…I think by American people standards it would even be considered amazing. Beautiful lake and scenery with a room overlooking it all, great flowers and little huts all over the property…if that's any kind of explanation. I started it here and then continued the rest of the trip asking everyone for a "Peace Corps Discount"…and ended up getting some pretty fantastic prices! Sadly, swimming here was out of the question since the lake is reputed to have given 3 volunteers Shistosomiasis, and about a mile down shore we noticed a giant garbage dump situated ½ into the lake along with 2 enormous dead and bloated pigs floating around. It was one of those times where the difference between the haves and the have-nots was glaringly clear. When we awoke in the morning you could hear baboons snarling (like dogs) on the hillside right beside the hotel. I "scanned the area" (thanks Dad) and located the baboons on a rock relatively close by…pretty cool.

After Lake Lagdo we continued up north, passing thru the North Province and it's capital city Garoua…really hot and pretty dingy. We stayed long enough there to drink these amazing fruit smoothies at a restaurant next to the bus depot. I'm not sure why the South has yet to discover smoothies…there are fruit trees everywhere…the North really has this down. Made my life. We ended up in Maroua, which is the capital of the Extreme North Province. Maroua was beautiful! Of all the cities in Cameroon it is a definite that Maroua is the most clean, most beautified, and also the people were relatively chill. For our first day in Maroua we hired a Land Rover and a driver to take us to Lake Magga, which is a lake forming part of the border between Cameroon and Chad. We were traveling in style, each in our own seat in this comfy vehicle…and the reactions of people in the villages we passed were apposite: several kids running after the car and asking us for money and school supplies. It's obvious the impact that "whites" have had in this area versus down by me as far as the increased frequency of "aid" or handouts and how people up there have learned to expect it. Aside from that people were also much more welcoming and not as into the derogatory remarks. Also…who knows the cause and effect of all of this…I appreciated the differences in culture up there for the time being, but (how sad is this) I have adapted so well to the culture in the South I started to miss being able to yell at people, tell it like it is, and insult them to get my point across. I got myself into a fair share of awkward situations up in the North when I would start screaming to make my argument. No wonder they call us in the South "savages"! :>) Anyway…Lake Magga…we hired a pirogue (like a wooden canoe) to take us out on the lake in search of Hippos. We spent about 2 hours out motoring around in the extremely hot Sahelian sun before being told by our guide that we could "enter into the reeds on foot with water up to our chests to find the hippos but it was almost sure that we would get seriously hurt or bitten" and subsequently deciding maybe it wasn't worth it. Now, I never understand the international waters stuff…where one country ends, where another starts, but whatever I'm saying I was in Chad! On the way back we stopped at Pousse, also on the border, and visited the market there, trying out lots of different new foods along the way. The return trip was not so luxurious as the trip out. The rear tire decided to start falling off. I don't know much about cars, but the nuts and bolts holding the tire on were stripped or something of the like and every 10 minutes or so the tire would start making a horrible noise and we'd have to stop and retighten everything. At one point our guide decided to change the tire completely, and we decided to not stick around for the rest of it. After 5 hours to cover about the distance we'd done in 30 minutes we decided to find alternative transport. No customer service with these "tour companies" and guides. The guide stayed with the car. Danny and I got a ride in a Sonel (power company) truck hauling a million light posts on the roof, with 8 people in the pickup truck cab and me sitting next to a really creepy man that strongly resembled those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Jessica and Rachel got a ride in the back of a truck bed. Becca got a ride on a motto… We all made it home MUCH later than anticipated. And then of course ended up paying full price for the "tour" in addition to the other 3 girls having to pay the truck and motto that picked them up. The next day we spent in Maroua visiting the art market there and buying lots of leather goods and some silver, 2 of the crafts the area is known for. It happened to be the day after US Election Day, and I cannot even express how excited everyone was about Mr. Obama's win. The ENTIRE day and pretty much the whole rest of the week people put aside all exclamations such as "WHITE!" and instead would just yell "BARAK OBAMA" after us down the street. Big improvement in my opinion :>) The following day we headed out to Rhumsiki, which is reputed to be one of the more touristy places in Cameroon…we did see a fair share of white skin. >From Maroua one takes a car to Mokolo, a small town en route to Rhumsiki. The cars to Mokolo weren't of the highest quality, but clearly since we were having luck this trip; we got a car with some sort of overheating problem. At one point we stopped and had no clue what was going on (people never really inform you, like "sorry folks, we are having some technical difficulties" is something I have never heard in this country full of "technical difficulties" :>) ) until the driver lifted up the front seat to access the engine, poured a bunch of water on it, and thus created a scalding hot water geyser that sprayed a bunch of the passengers. He never even said "sorry"…jerk! From Mokolo we debated with a big pack of motto drivers about prices (this was really frustrating in the North too…they KNOW whites have money and REALLY try to rip you off) to get to Rhumsiki, and finally took off on a long motto ride out to this village that borders with Nigeria. Rhumsiki ended up being fantastic. We stayed at another really nice hotel, WITH A POOL!, and an incredible view and a hot shower, and all these amazing things. Rhumsiki also boasts a restaurant called the "Vegetarian Carnivore" which features nothing less than vegetarian food. I could not believe this. We ate there both days we were in town. 5 courses: fresh bread with corn/rice/wheat flour and dipping sauce, salad, squash soup, vegetable pizza, fries, and fruit…all homemade of course, and so far from everything! It was great. For our full day in Rhumsiki we hired a guide to take us on a hiking trip. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into! Started early and hiked around and down into the valley, the area is very hilly with lots of rocky outcrops, extremely picturesque. At the bottom of the valley we visited several homes of villagers who did some small crafts and bought souvenirs. After that point we climbed back up a pretty steep ridge, in the heat of midday…fatiguing! Then we decided we wanted to continue to cross the border of Nigeria, which our guide told us would take roundtrip about 7 km. This was a lie…several hours later, after crossing into Nigeria and walking through a whole bunch of random villages and farm fields, we had covered 33 km (!!!) and finally made it back to the road leading us back to Rhumsiki. The blisters lasted for about a month after. (That is NOT a lie!) Holy cow…thank god for the pool. Following this the guide came back to the hotel to find us and drag us out to watch the sunset from a ridge up the road…this man had ridiculous energy! We returned the next day to Maroua and spent one final day walking the tree lined shady streets, and visiting the art market. We even ended up at a restaurant that boasted hamburgers like McDonalds. Oh…globalization…

From Maroua we returned to Ngaoundere, passing through a "national park" and seeing several baboons right next to the car along the road. We spent 2 nights in Ngaoundere, visiting a few volunteers from our training group who are working up there, before continuing back to Yaoundé…and then home. Overall I really enjoyed my trip, even if purely for the fact it was nice to stick out like a sore thumb a little less and be able to do things like swim in a pool and buy things without worrying about everyone in town knowing about it! I told my neighbors I was going up there to "work". I'm such a liar.

Cultural Festival
A few days after returning from the North I left to take part in the Moghamo/American Cultural Festival, which was a result of the hard work of my friend Seth, a volunteer in the Northwest Province. Seth had been working on planning and organizing this event for several months and we all expected it to be pretty cool, but it was incredible! By the end of the day there must have been over 1000 participants! It took place at a soccer field around which they built booths for Cameroonian and American (us Peace Corpsies) to present pretty much anything we wanted. Most of the volunteers had booths related to their area of expertise; Kim and I did a soy booth. The Cameroonians also had similar informational booths, as well as booths displaying art, music, culture, and selling food. In the middle of the field there were performances most of the day consisting of things either culture deemed important to present. Mainly: dancing. It seemed like every single person was in traditional dress and or came out to dance in a variety of different traditional dance groups. My eyes started to blur by hour number 3 of traditional dance presentations, but then again, the Cameroonians weren't all that impressed either by our renditions of a Michael Jackson performance, a Peace Corps rap, or the American football demonstration. What they did like however was the hip-hop dance that I and 7 other volunteers performed…oh what an interesting experience that was. Having learned the dance about 2 hours before, I could never imagine myself going up in front of several hundred people to awkwardly dance in America…maybe this country has really done great things for my confidence…or given me the inability to realize when I'm making a huge fool of myself! We were to go on "stage" to start our dance after one of the many traditional dances. It was later in the afternoon when things started to get a little crazy (example: some guy with a torch was dancing and went nuts running around trying to light another guy on fire…), so when they told us to just hold off a second because they were about to sacrifice a goat as part of the dance, we thought nothing of it. Suddenly one of us realized what this "sacrifice" really entailed, and THANKFULLY I looked away in time to miss if. The large dancing group had split into 2, one group grabbed the goat's legs, the other grabbed the rope that was tied around its neck, and then began a rather gruesome game of tug-and-war. Due to the fact I missed the actual tearing off of the head, and only saw the man running at me with the bleeding headless body, I can talk about the incident without gagging! As soon as the goat was cleared we were given the go ahead, and making our way with difficulty to an area free of freshly spilled blood, Ludacris started singing, and we started dancing…Just another day in Cameroon. Other fascinating tidbits we taught Cameroonians were the Macarena and how to do the wave around the stadium…clearly the only important aspects of our culture :>) The night prior to the festival we had the chance to perform in our band for Seth's village. We charged 200 cfa (40 cents) admission and donated our 20 dollar earnings to a local farmer's group. The performance was pretty hilarious. We ended up screaming to be heard and then just playing the same songs over and over (same as they do with their radios) as everyone got crazy and danced and danced. I relinquished my plastic tambourines to pickup dancing for a backup dancer who couldn't make it. It was a lot of fun and exhausting! We were also given the opportunity to meet Seth's fon (pronounced faune), who is like the chief of his village. He hosted a big dinner for all the band members and we got to see his collection of leopard skins and take pictures with him (without touching him…even if you shake his hand it's considered VERY disrespectful) …exciting eh?

Journee de Soja
Following the cultural event I traveled back down South, and then even deeper south, to the town of Mvangan, where 2 volunteers are located. I visited last year, way back during training, when I came to Ebolowa on site visit. This was the place I'd gone that has up to this most recent visit remained one of my most dreaded car rides, and thus I hadn't been back since. This time around I couldn't even remember what I'd been complaining about…granted they had redone the roads (filled in the washout areas to the best of their ability) and I got a ride there and back with the doctor of Mvangan, and then the police officer, in their nice comfy cars…and it only took 2 hours! Compared with the 6 or 7 last time, it was fantastic. This is the post of the other agroforestry volunteer in the South, and she planned a "Soy Day" event that I attended. The event itself got pretty frustrating for her…a lot of promises that weren't fulfilled and people that didn't show…it was interesting to make the comparison between how 2 events (the Cultural Festival and Soy Day) take place due to the 2 very difference cultures they take place in. Oh South Province… She ended up putting up some posters and giving a bit of information out while selling some soy recipe books. The coolest part was the food tables she'd set up. Originally 10 women had agreed to come bring in their soy foods, but we ended up with 2 (which we were thankful for)…and everyone bought and sampled a variety of foods the women had made to include soy. Aside from the Soy Day event, I spent time with her and her dog (Kenya, who came from my neighbor Billy a year ago). Relaxing in a small town environment like that was really nice for a change and I'm going to go back very soon!

Kribi
Lastly, finally, and briefly…I got to travel to Kribi, the beach town in the South, for the In-Service training of the business and education volunteers who arrived this past summer. I got my travel, food, room at one of the nicest hotels there…all paid for so that I could come give a half hour presentation about the Environmental Education Committee. I swam, ate a lot, sat out by a bonfire…relaxed for 2 days…very nice! My presentation went really well; due to my current guardianship of Kim's computer I even made a PowerPoint! Technology, I tell ya. I am surprisingly more at ease talking in front of groups of people after having to do it in French all the time…and the business program director even complimented it! Very proud of myself… :>)
SO…those are my travels!!! Now you see why I separated this into a different blog post! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...while most of you are suffering in the cold I'm sweating myself to death sitting in my house...we need to find a common ground!!!