Day two

12/28/10
Day two (Limbe to Nkikoh)
Our day started bright and early at 8:30. It doesn't seem that early but with all of the traveling it felt it. At 9:30 we were meant to go to breakfast, but seeing as we are on Cameroon time, it was a little after 10:00. We drove from the hotel to another house in Limbe. This time it was Daniel and Irene. Daniel is Patience's cousin. They have a beautiful baby, Daniela and they with their other family served us an amazing brunch. After eating I realized I ate the salad which was a no-no on the travel clinics list. Oh well, I'm not too worried. We stayed with them for a little while...visiting, playing with Daniela, listening to music, and hanging out with our beloved Precious. We left their house and hit the road to the village that Joseph grew up in. Along the way we passed some crazy things. The wild animals along the road were cool (hogs, cows, horses, chickens, goats). The ride took around five hours. Every time we stopped people swarmed the car trying to sell us things. At one point Joseph did buy some sort of bread. I'm not really sure what it is, it's square and clearly a very important thing. There are amazing fruit trees everywhere. Pineapple, palm, rubber, plantain, coconuts, papayas and banana trees are all over.

The roads were crazy. There are many dirt roads that arent taken care of. When driving you aim for the smaller ditches. Cars have to decide who gets to go first when two cars are headed in opposite directions. I was expecting bad roads but this was a bit extreme. We were told that the roads used to be taken care of, but that was with the last president. The government is now so corrupt that the money for caring for the roads is hidden elsewhere.

When we got to Nkikoh, we were greeted by a swarm of people. It was so amazing...they were applauding as we pulled up. There were so many hugs. Cameroon and America do not share the same personal space no-contact rules which I love! I don't think I've ever been hugged this much in my life! We had dinner: some fufu, spinach, fish, rice, chicken, the usual and Shelbs and I tried a soda they called pomplomoose. It was citrusy and yummy. There was a group of girls that danced for us and sang a song to "uncle Joe and his guests". It was great. The toilet situation is a bit confusing. The pipes stopped working so we have to pour water into the tank to flush. Showering tomorrow should be fun.

I tried palm wine tonight. It's an interesting taste. Apparently the Cameroonian version is not as intense as the kind in Sierra Leone (which Eric has talked about). Joseph isn't letting Shelby or I drink which is interesting. We are offered it by other people but he offers soda. We were sort of expecting beer and wine so it's a different change.

A lot of people don't understand this trip. We aren't building houses or something intense like that so they don't really get it. It's hard to explain it to people though. I really needed this time away from the drama of life and it's giving me a chance to figure out my own life on top of everything else.