January 12, 2007
I thought I'd post a few more pictures from their trip. For some reason they're really small...I don't know why (and am too lazy to it figure out). The first picture is Harry with a Fon...this one has 50+ wives and over 150 children. It was not my favorite place, in fact it was very upsetting. But, that's for another email.
We were all very glad to get to Ndu where we had dinner with some of my friends, who had a roaring fire going, and we all wore sweatshirts. It was a drastic change from the horrendous humidity and heat in Douala.
Lindsey and me at the Hilton happy hour on Mom and Harry's last night in Cameroon...2 for 1 drinks at a very nice hotel (they even had ice cubes, blended and real mixed drinks...amazing).
At "down beach" in Limbe the small fishing boats (like this one) go out numerous times a day. They bring in fresh fish all day long which you can eat right on the beach while watching the sun set. It's not too shabby...
Ah, beautiful Yaounde. This is the view from the Hilton bar.
My friend Emmanuella and me at dinner in Bamenda one night. It was kind of nice having mom there with her camera ready at all times. Even when she videoed out the window of crowded streets and random villages.
Here are some parts from our Christmas letter. I thought I could write a whole blog about it until I realized that the Christmas letter covered most of the good stuff so...here it is. It was great to have people visit so that they could actually 'see' life here...it is very hard to explain how things are. Nobody will ever understand how much dust there really is in Ndu unless they see it for themselves, the transport is unfathomable, the begging, selling, markets, food, frustrations, difficulties, wonderful people...everything is so hard to explain so I'm so glad someone got to see it, even if it was just for 20 days.
Happy Happy*
It’d be difficult and, no doubt, fairly boring to recall all the events from Betsy and Harry’s holiday trip to Cameroon so we discussed some highlights to share. Unfortunately none of our day-to-day activities are very exciting—Betsy is still teaching, nannying and loving Steamboat (I think she said, “I live in paradise” at least 48 times on this trip!). Harry is in his third year at UCCS, continues to plan his inevitable world travel and study business. Ally is in Cameroon dead set on reaching a record solitaire score and read 100 novels in a year, she tries to do Peace Corps work now and then. Jake is now chasing tennis balls in doggy heaven. We miss him everyday.
Their trip began eventful enough—the blizzard of ’06. It hit the day before their scheduled departure and everyone in the US (well the world really, due to things like the internet and CNN International) knows that DIA was shut down, stranding thousands and ruining Christmases. Thankfully our two weary travelers made their way to Vail. Betsy danced around in her Santa hat trying to convince the already overwhelmed Delta/Air France employee to give them the last two seats in coach. Harry lay comatose on the floor due to massive amounts of sinus medication. They arrived in Douala 20 hours later, exhausted, almost delirious and missing 2 bags.
Over the 20 days we successfully played 30 (this is a total guess but probably not far off) games of gin rummy—Ally has won once.
The French parts of Cameroon (i.e., a majority of it) were, what’s the word? Interesting? Translation was frustrating and tiring but Ally only started making things up on the last day. Harry bargained and learned a good 10 useful phrases. Betsy did her best too only really messing up once, saying, “bon noir” (“good black”) instead of “bon nuit” (“good night”) to our waiter.
After watching an irritating music video of Gwen Stefani’s version of the yodeling marionette song from The Sound of Music, it was hummed and sung quietly for a week. After Betsy began singing “climb every mountain” while we hiked (our overheated van leaving us to trek up a steep hill followed by swarms of begging African children) we decided that The Sound of Music was sort of a theme for the trip. Really it applies very little—no singing groups of German siblings, no Nazis (at least that we’re aware of), and no towering, snowy Alps. In fact, northern Cameroon looks a lot like Eastern Utah, not Austria. Either way, it was good for a few laughs.
When you hear the term “private car” most think of a nice car—leather seats, perhaps, and seat belts, for sure. In Cameroon, that means very little. During our trip we rode in a van with 16 others, a compact car with 5 others and, on one occasion, all the cargo strapped to the top began to shift and two of our bags actually took flight off the top. We rode the night train, big buses, many smaller cars and zipped around Maroua (in the Extreme North) on the back of motorcycles. We all cherish pavement, seat cushions and emissions testing a lot more than ever!
A last high light was our “safari” in Waza National Park. At one point the three of us sat, perched atop our red van as it bounced through the savannah next to animals. We saw many kinds of antelopes, tons of birds, warthogs, monkeys, giraffes, and spent an hour on a wild goose chase (or should I say ‘wild elephant chase’) for, well…elephants. We saw elephant poop, elephant tracks and even a place where the elephants had romped around in the mud that morning. But, alas, no elephants. It only sparked our interest in future safaris. We’re thinking Kenya 2010. Interested?
There are many more stories and at least 3 memory cards full of pictures, which any of us will gladly share, but for now, we’ll leave it here. Betsy’s off washing one of her three shirts in the sink (the 4th bag is still “missing”) and Harry is planning his future luxury hotel complex—complete with huts. So, I sit here, thankful for so much and wishing you all an exciting, eye opening, and enjoyable 2007—like our 20 days together in Cameroon.
* “Happy Happy” is an appropriate response in Anglophone Cameroon to someone wishing you a ‘Happy Christmas,’ ‘Happy New Year,’ or really a happy anything. So, Happy Happy!!
Rebecca and I were the cheer team. We did, however, lack significant enthusiasm, but posed numerous time to make it look like we were trying.
