After returning from mt. cameroon, I had some time to rest before my friend Ben, another pcv came to visit. We just hung out in mamfe, and one night we went to a born-house with Felicia. Here, instead of having a baby shower, they have a big party about a month after the baby is born. There is traditional singing and dancing, and they spread baby powder on everyone to wish them fertility. Then of course, there is always a big meal. Felicia’s sister had a baby so I was invited. We sat for a while until dinner, and just as we were about to eat, the power went out. I’m always surprised when the light goes out, and you would think by now I would be used to it. The only other big activity was that I took Ben to see our german bridge. it’s the only thing in the tour guides about mamfe, so I always take people to see it. The next day, we left for Bamenda. We went to visit a couple volunteers there. There are a ton of pcvs in the area. Also, I had one friend from the north that was traveling down, so I wanted to catch up with her. They have done a lot of work on the mamfe-bamenda road, so the journey wasn’t too bad. When we arrived we dropped our stuff at the transit house, and a group of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. The next day, we went to doug’s house. He lives in this fancy compound in a village outside bamenda. We went into town to see the market, and had a nice salad lunch. Salad!! Made with lettuce!!! I havent seen lettuce in months. Probably almost a year. It was delicious. There is a health food store that prepares it. It was delicious. Then, we made cheeseburgers and fries for dinner. That was a good meal too.
The next day we went back to town to go shopping. I wanted to buy fabric to make some clothes. I have been saving money just for this purpose. I have also heard the fabric market in bamenda is great. We stopped for lunch first and had salad again, then went to buy things. Every store I went in, people were rude to me. They were unwilling to bargain, and it was not fun for me. Markets here are filled with negotiation. You can negotiate for anything. It becomes a game with the vendor. People in bamenda were unwilling to play the game, so I gave up and didn’t buy anything. It was very disappointing. In the evening, we all played cards and had a blast. I don’t know the last time I laughed that hard. It made up for my crappy shopping experience. In the morning, we went back to the transit house to meet my friend from the north, kate. We decided to cook French toast for everyone. I think we have been in cameroon too long, bc all of the women went straight to the kitchen, and then men to the parlor. Then, as food was finished we sent it out for them to eat. Once they were finished, the women ate. How funny. Anyway, from there, ben and I headed to his village, bangang. We pretty much hung out for the next few days. We went to the market each day, baked brownies twice, I checked email, and read books. One day we went to bafoussam . I tried shopping for fabric there, and it went much better than in bamenda. I bought a ton of stuff, and ben bought a pair of stereo speakers for his house. We went back and connected them, and had a dance party. Sounds silly, but it was so much fun to listen to 80s music and dance around.
After hanging out for a while in bangang, I wanted to head back to mamfe for easter. I took a bike (motorcycle) to dschang, then a car to fontem. On the way to fontem I had a woman with a rooster in her lap on one side, and a man with a small bird chirping in his hand on the other side. Neither of them wanted to let go of their birds. From fontem, took another bike to bachuo, then yet another bike to mamfe. I don’t mind taking a bike at all. Its usually comfortable and I feel safe wearing my helmet. Its usually a lot quicker too. The only time it was not comfortable or faster was from fontem to bachuo. There was supposed to be a car going, but the driver had an emergency and couldn’t go. All of the people going to mamfe were stranded, with their only choices to take a bike, or stay in fontem. One young guy decided to start trekking. I arranged my bike, and a few min after we left, we saw the man trekking. My driver wanted to help him, so offered him a space on my bike. He accepted, so we had the driver, then me, then the man, then my things tied to the back. The mans bag was in front of the driver. We were fully loaded up, and it was not safe and not comfortable. Luckily, it was less than 30 minutes like that. When I arrived home, I had a nice surprise. My neighbor cleaned my whole house, did my laundry, and made dinner for me. What a good girl.
On easter Sunday, I decided not to go to church. I thought about it for a long time, but it’s the day that they do all of the baptisms, communions, confirmations, and weddings. Mass is over 6 hours long. Instead, I rested in the morning, then went to a thanksgiving party. One of my neighbors was in a car accident a few months ago, and she was very lucky. She thought easter would be a good day to give thanks for her good fortune. That event was nice. There were a lot of teachers there from school, so I visited with them. From there, i headed down the street to another neighbor that got married the night before. I was only there for a short time before I came back home. I also talked to my mother. Holidays here are so depressing for me. I never appreciated it before, but I miss seeing my family at the holidays. I miss our usual traditions. Here, holidays aren’t as special to me as they are in the US. the next day lauren came over, and she brought my mail. That was a nice surprise! Thank you to everyone that sends me letters and packages. I have been eating american food almost every day now. I did stop eating for a while though - last week I was diagnosed with a case of bacterial dysentery. Its not fun, but im feeling much better now.
The only other exciting news, is that I went to a wedding. I have a friend that works in the market. She has been married to her husband for many years, but they never had their church wedding. I just went to that. I went to the church service first. As the bride walked down the aisle, her bridesmaids sprayed silly string and threw confetti. I havent seen silly string since the early 90s. After the typical church service (the only difference being that they say ‘I am’ and ‘I will’ instead of ‘I do’), I came home for a short rest, then went to the reception. They had a grand tiered cake, and the bride and groom fed each other. It was just like being at an american wedding. Then, there was the presentation of the gifts, where all of the gifts were given to the bride and groom. Then we had cake (before the dinner), then we ate. When everyone was finished eating, there was dancing, but I left before dancing began. It was a nice wedding though. Now, I just have a couple more weeks for school before I go on holiday.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Mount Cameroon
Just after the other volunteers visited, I headed to buea to climb mt. cameroon with a couple other volunteers. I was thinking that the mt climb wasn’t so bad, bc everyone climbs it, but just to be on the safe side, I wanted to climb with people that were at my level. Mt. Cameroon is actually an active volcano that last erupted in 2000, and before that 1999. It is the second largest mountain in Africa, behind mt Kilimanjaro. We were doing a 3 day trek up to the summit and over the other side of the mountain. I went with lauren and 2 volunteers from the NW province. We started our trek early in the morning, and the first few hours are through the jungle. It was hot and humid, so we took breaks every so often to drink water. We had a guide with us, and porters, so we didn’t have to worry about carrying our packs. We had to carry enough food and water for the next 3 days, so the bags were pretty heavy. We made it to Hut 1 before the rain hit. We hung out for a bit and finally the rain stopped so we could continue. After that point, things started to get a bit rockier. We left the jungle and started to climb up a rocky incline. As we continued there were more and more loose rocks that would shift as you stepped on them. By the time we reached Hut 1b, my hips were starting to hurt from the funny way we had to climb. Lauren was also struggling - she hurt her knee and wasn’t sure if she could continue. She decided to turn back before she got more hurt, so then we were down to 3. We continued climbing (slowly) and finally arrived at Hut 2 where we planned to stay the night. We paid our guide to cook for us, and right after a dinner of spaghetti, we went to bed. It was about 7:30 pm.
The next morning we got up at about 5 to start our climb to the summit. Since we were so slow, our guide didn’t think we could make it on the 3 day hike. He wanted us to go back the way we came. We really wanted to do the 3 days, ,and told the guide that we would push ourselves. His only condition was that we leave before sunrise the next day. So, we had a very early morning, and started our climb with flashlights. The night before, the cold wind came into the hut, and I woke with a cold. That made it even more difficult for me to climb. We watched the sunrise (kind of). We couldn’t see much because at this point we were above the clouds, but we just kept climbing. We each had a mantra that we were saying in our heads to keep going.. Mine was “just keep swimming”, just like dory in finding nemo. As we climbed, the weather got colder and colder. After a while, there were no rocks, and instead volcanic ash. It was just like climbing in sand. After that, there were more rocks up to the summit. I was cold, and the wind was practically blowing me over, but I finally made it to the summit at 4095m (13,000 feet). We snapped a quick photo, and headed back down the other side of the mountain. We were so happy to have our guide, as he gave us water as we were coming down the other side. Because of the dry season, the spring at hut 1 and 2 had been dried up, and we were running short of water. The way down was so much easier for me. One of the girls was really tough on the way up, but struggled on the way down. That made me feel a little better, since I struggled on the way up. As we passed through the ash again, it was fun. You could slide down it, just like on a sand dune. We then crossed grassy plains and then volcanic rocks. The rocks were hard on the feet. I heard it is the hardest rock in the world. The weather gradually warmed up and we took off layers. We stopped to see the craters from the 1999 eruption. They are still smoking, 10 years later. From there we continued to mann spring, our resting point for the night. We stayed in these grass hut kind of buldings, with no doors. I didn’t like the place, because there were bees everywhere. They would land on me and crawl all over. It was awful. Luckily though, there was water, so we could refill our supply. There was a spring, with not so clean water. Good thing pc provides me with aquatabs to clean water. Just before we went to bed all of the guides and porters danced. It was the initiation for the new porters. It was pretty entertaining.
On our last day, we started about 7am. We walked across the plains for a short time, until we entered the jungle again. It was warm, but it must have rained at some point, bc it was all mud. We were slipping and sliding. By now, our legs had turned to jello, so it was hard to climb anyway. My guide gave me a walking stick which helped. Around 11am we made it to town and completed our trek. I was so relieved to be finished. It was kind of fun, but I probably will not ever climb it again. I was happy though, that I could conquer the mountain. I definitely underestimated the mountain, but it was worth going. Every February, there is the mt cameroon race. People run up the mountain and back down. They do in 4 hours what I did in 3 days. Now that I know what they go through, I think their prizes should be larger. Anyway, as soon as we made it to town, I headed back to mamfe. Of course, when I arrived, light had just come and there was no running water. Figures.
The next morning we got up at about 5 to start our climb to the summit. Since we were so slow, our guide didn’t think we could make it on the 3 day hike. He wanted us to go back the way we came. We really wanted to do the 3 days, ,and told the guide that we would push ourselves. His only condition was that we leave before sunrise the next day. So, we had a very early morning, and started our climb with flashlights. The night before, the cold wind came into the hut, and I woke with a cold. That made it even more difficult for me to climb. We watched the sunrise (kind of). We couldn’t see much because at this point we were above the clouds, but we just kept climbing. We each had a mantra that we were saying in our heads to keep going.. Mine was “just keep swimming”, just like dory in finding nemo. As we climbed, the weather got colder and colder. After a while, there were no rocks, and instead volcanic ash. It was just like climbing in sand. After that, there were more rocks up to the summit. I was cold, and the wind was practically blowing me over, but I finally made it to the summit at 4095m (13,000 feet). We snapped a quick photo, and headed back down the other side of the mountain. We were so happy to have our guide, as he gave us water as we were coming down the other side. Because of the dry season, the spring at hut 1 and 2 had been dried up, and we were running short of water. The way down was so much easier for me. One of the girls was really tough on the way up, but struggled on the way down. That made me feel a little better, since I struggled on the way up. As we passed through the ash again, it was fun. You could slide down it, just like on a sand dune. We then crossed grassy plains and then volcanic rocks. The rocks were hard on the feet. I heard it is the hardest rock in the world. The weather gradually warmed up and we took off layers. We stopped to see the craters from the 1999 eruption. They are still smoking, 10 years later. From there we continued to mann spring, our resting point for the night. We stayed in these grass hut kind of buldings, with no doors. I didn’t like the place, because there were bees everywhere. They would land on me and crawl all over. It was awful. Luckily though, there was water, so we could refill our supply. There was a spring, with not so clean water. Good thing pc provides me with aquatabs to clean water. Just before we went to bed all of the guides and porters danced. It was the initiation for the new porters. It was pretty entertaining.
On our last day, we started about 7am. We walked across the plains for a short time, until we entered the jungle again. It was warm, but it must have rained at some point, bc it was all mud. We were slipping and sliding. By now, our legs had turned to jello, so it was hard to climb anyway. My guide gave me a walking stick which helped. Around 11am we made it to town and completed our trek. I was so relieved to be finished. It was kind of fun, but I probably will not ever climb it again. I was happy though, that I could conquer the mountain. I definitely underestimated the mountain, but it was worth going. Every February, there is the mt cameroon race. People run up the mountain and back down. They do in 4 hours what I did in 3 days. Now that I know what they go through, I think their prizes should be larger. Anyway, as soon as we made it to town, I headed back to mamfe. Of course, when I arrived, light had just come and there was no running water. Figures.
Feb 2009 part 2
I keep saying I’ll update soon, but so many things happen to delay me. We just had a few weeks without light or water, so there is also no internet. I’ll start with the end of February.
After the Mt. Cameroon race, I returned to mamfe. I had school during the week, and each day was pretty busy, going out for lunch or meeting friends or other teachers in town. The first weekend I returned, I went to visit will in okoyong. His school (a private catholic all-girls school) is made up of 4 houses, just like Hogwarts. Once per year, each house has a feast, so I was invited to the Lourdes house feast. Each teacher received a drink and snack, and the students made announcements and had a fashion show. Each house chooses students that they think represent their house, and when called they show off their fancy outfits. The other students bring them flowers and spray perfume on them. It was very strange. After that, the girls from that house sang songs. Some of them were religious, but the younger girls sang ‘DO RE MI’ and ‘goodbye farewell’ from the sound of music. It was really cute. After that, all of the students came out in the center of the hall to dance to popular music. All of the teachers are invited out to dance for the first song, including me. Luckily, by the time I made it to the dance floor the song was ending. Soon after, Will and I left, but the event was relatively entertaining.
The next weekend was pretty exciting. Women’s Day was celebrated on march 8, so there were activities all weekend. First was a concert. There is a man called Awilo that sings controversial anti-government music here. He’s pretty popular, and his songs are interesting. They argue against corruption and power in government, and he sings in English, pidgin, French, and his dialect. I have a cd that you can all listen to when I get home. Anyway, I took my neighbor to go to the concert with me. We met Will and our friend George, and we were on the guest list, so we didn’t have to pay, and we got to skip the line. The concert was more like a talent show, with many different acts before awilo came on stage. There were comedians, dancers, and singers, and when awilo came on, he was pretty good. He played quite a few songs, and when he finished we all went home. It was a fun Saturday night though. I did not expect to see a concert while in cameroon. The next day was womens day, so in the morning I went to the grandstand. I wore my women’s day outfit (the fabric says womens day on it) and watched all of the women march past. My womens group did not register to march, so we didn’t, but it was still fun to watch. I’ve never seen so many women in one place. After the marchpast Will, Felicia and I went to Edwards house. I acted in a film back in December, and my film was released. The director was in town, so we watched my film debut. The film is called ‘Clash of Inheritance’, and its actually pretty good, all about tribalism. All of the movies here try to teach a lesson, so this one was anti-tribalism. I was horrible though. I should NOT quit my day job. My part was only about 2 min long though, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Incidentally, the posters just came out, and I am on it for my tiny little part. I am huge and look very silly. I was told that I am on there for marketing, since i am the only white person in the film. I’ll be sure to bring home a copy of the dvd.
I had been feeling kind of run-down for a while, and that Thursday I went to my womens group, Hilltop Ladies. The whole meeting I felt really sick and thought I might pass out. I went to the hospital the next day, and found that I had malaria and strep throat. They loaded me up with medicine and then I rested for a couple days. I had so many visitors coming to the house that I couldn’t rest, so I went to visit lauren in kembong. The phone network was out, so I didn’t realize that I couldn’t receive calls. I found out later that my mom and Kevin called me many many many times freaking out about my malaria. I know that it is a serious thing, but its so common here that I wasn’t that worried. (it’ll never happen again mom). While I was visiting lauren, she took me to villages so I could see what she does for work. Basically she works for an NGO that donates farm supplies, cassava grinders, palm oil presses, and school books and uniforms. We traveled to 3 different villages for the ceremonies: okoroba to give school building materials, mbakang to donate farm tools, and kembong to give a cassava grinder. At each place there was singing and dancing. It was nice but exhausting. Later that night, one of the neighbors showed me a turtle that they found in the bush, then a bush baby. The bush baby was really cute. I feel so bad for animals here. Kids are really rough on animals. They dropped the turtle on the ground, breaking off a part of the shell. I’ve never seen a turtle bleed from the shell before. Then they were poking the bush baby and it bit one, so they threw it across the room. it’s the same with dogs and cats though. There is no respect for animals here.
The weekend after that, Brad and Kat came to visit. They trekked here from Fontem. It was nice to have my first visitors here. Basically, we just hung out and relaxed. They had trouble getting used to the heat here, and there was no light, so we couldn’t even turn on the fan. I showed them the town though, and our famous hanging bridge. I tried to show off mamfe a bit. It has a bad rap, since all of the roads to get here are terrible. I love it here though.
After the Mt. Cameroon race, I returned to mamfe. I had school during the week, and each day was pretty busy, going out for lunch or meeting friends or other teachers in town. The first weekend I returned, I went to visit will in okoyong. His school (a private catholic all-girls school) is made up of 4 houses, just like Hogwarts. Once per year, each house has a feast, so I was invited to the Lourdes house feast. Each teacher received a drink and snack, and the students made announcements and had a fashion show. Each house chooses students that they think represent their house, and when called they show off their fancy outfits. The other students bring them flowers and spray perfume on them. It was very strange. After that, the girls from that house sang songs. Some of them were religious, but the younger girls sang ‘DO RE MI’ and ‘goodbye farewell’ from the sound of music. It was really cute. After that, all of the students came out in the center of the hall to dance to popular music. All of the teachers are invited out to dance for the first song, including me. Luckily, by the time I made it to the dance floor the song was ending. Soon after, Will and I left, but the event was relatively entertaining.
The next weekend was pretty exciting. Women’s Day was celebrated on march 8, so there were activities all weekend. First was a concert. There is a man called Awilo that sings controversial anti-government music here. He’s pretty popular, and his songs are interesting. They argue against corruption and power in government, and he sings in English, pidgin, French, and his dialect. I have a cd that you can all listen to when I get home. Anyway, I took my neighbor to go to the concert with me. We met Will and our friend George, and we were on the guest list, so we didn’t have to pay, and we got to skip the line. The concert was more like a talent show, with many different acts before awilo came on stage. There were comedians, dancers, and singers, and when awilo came on, he was pretty good. He played quite a few songs, and when he finished we all went home. It was a fun Saturday night though. I did not expect to see a concert while in cameroon. The next day was womens day, so in the morning I went to the grandstand. I wore my women’s day outfit (the fabric says womens day on it) and watched all of the women march past. My womens group did not register to march, so we didn’t, but it was still fun to watch. I’ve never seen so many women in one place. After the marchpast Will, Felicia and I went to Edwards house. I acted in a film back in December, and my film was released. The director was in town, so we watched my film debut. The film is called ‘Clash of Inheritance’, and its actually pretty good, all about tribalism. All of the movies here try to teach a lesson, so this one was anti-tribalism. I was horrible though. I should NOT quit my day job. My part was only about 2 min long though, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Incidentally, the posters just came out, and I am on it for my tiny little part. I am huge and look very silly. I was told that I am on there for marketing, since i am the only white person in the film. I’ll be sure to bring home a copy of the dvd.
I had been feeling kind of run-down for a while, and that Thursday I went to my womens group, Hilltop Ladies. The whole meeting I felt really sick and thought I might pass out. I went to the hospital the next day, and found that I had malaria and strep throat. They loaded me up with medicine and then I rested for a couple days. I had so many visitors coming to the house that I couldn’t rest, so I went to visit lauren in kembong. The phone network was out, so I didn’t realize that I couldn’t receive calls. I found out later that my mom and Kevin called me many many many times freaking out about my malaria. I know that it is a serious thing, but its so common here that I wasn’t that worried. (it’ll never happen again mom). While I was visiting lauren, she took me to villages so I could see what she does for work. Basically she works for an NGO that donates farm supplies, cassava grinders, palm oil presses, and school books and uniforms. We traveled to 3 different villages for the ceremonies: okoroba to give school building materials, mbakang to donate farm tools, and kembong to give a cassava grinder. At each place there was singing and dancing. It was nice but exhausting. Later that night, one of the neighbors showed me a turtle that they found in the bush, then a bush baby. The bush baby was really cute. I feel so bad for animals here. Kids are really rough on animals. They dropped the turtle on the ground, breaking off a part of the shell. I’ve never seen a turtle bleed from the shell before. Then they were poking the bush baby and it bit one, so they threw it across the room. it’s the same with dogs and cats though. There is no respect for animals here.
The weekend after that, Brad and Kat came to visit. They trekked here from Fontem. It was nice to have my first visitors here. Basically, we just hung out and relaxed. They had trouble getting used to the heat here, and there was no light, so we couldn’t even turn on the fan. I showed them the town though, and our famous hanging bridge. I tried to show off mamfe a bit. It has a bad rap, since all of the roads to get here are terrible. I love it here though.
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