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Published: March 14th 2007
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Tongolo area
Tongolo is a spot in Etoudi(Yaounde) were most of the transportation agencies that connect Yaounde and Bafoussam are located. march 14th
I am leaving for Ongola (joke) today. Ongola is the former name of the city of Yaounde, the actual capital of Cameroon. It is a very admisnistrative town. the trip from Bafoussam to there fetches between 3 and a half to 4 hours by bus over a relatively good road of 287 kms (I calculated that distance). Yaounde is in the center of the country heading the ''province du centre" (Centre province), which is a landlocked province within the country.
The Bus arrived at destination (Tongolo - Etoudi) at around 1pm. Yaounde is a hot place with much humidity in the air. A taxi was stopped to cover the remaining distance to home (I have family in Yaounde also). The rest of the afternoon and evening was allocated to a deep rest.
march 15th
I left this morning to the center at avenue kennedy. I wandered around a lot revisiting the place. It had not change much, crowded as ever. And the formerly familiar landmarks haven't budged neither. The overly crowded area in front of the Yaounde cathedral and the nearby surroundings is well known for the pickpockets that hang around there, melted away with
Essos area
essos area near the omnisport stadium. the crowd. You should always be particularly careful when mingling with the thick mob at those points. I refrained from taking pictures of this part. I strolled round the whole area up to "marche central", "yaounde central hall" and "elig-sono carrefour". I got back in the evening exhausted from trek.
march 17th
It rained yesterday and some paths are muddy. Today again, I will go out on my own. I plan to reach Bonamoussadi (the Yaounde I university students area) where I might meet old acquaintances. But I have arranged to meet Jd (Jean de Dieu), a good old friend at 9am there.
11h00am
The taxi dropped me at "Cite U" (entry gate to the University students' residential area). Initially planned for 9am, I had phoned to have the meeting rescheduled to 11h00am because of the delayed breakfast. It is so difficult to quit home in the morning... Time is elastic in africa.
I met him and was also delighted to revisit the much familar streets of "CRADAT" area and Bonamoussadi. One noticeable change is that of the lift up of some streets that got tarred in Bonamoussadi making the place more viable. I wandered in
Ahmadou Ahijo omnisport stadium
This stadium in the heart of Yaounde was built in 1972. It is were the indomitables lions (Cameroon national soccer team) usually receive their opponents for international friendlies. the whole place up to Obili chapelle (the place where I used to worship) where I had a temporary stop. The church had had a lift up and it is very presentable now. Activities within the parish seem to be as vivid as ever. despite it being a saturday morning (it is around 11h40am), the whole church is filled by several groups (of casually dressed people): rehearsing on the main stage(choirboys), youth listening to catechism on the sides and other groups scattered on the benches around etc. I took a deep rest on a remote spot, seated and listening to the religious silence (It is a very pleasant feeling, I assure you).
I pursued my walk taking the right direction at "carrefour Obili"(Obili roundabout) towards Melen. I gathered from a local shopkeeper that the (tarred) roads got refurbished some 2 years ago, he however complained that since then there have been numerous accidents on that new road portion.
around 4pm
I took a taxi in front of "lycee leclerc" to get back. I have walked enough for today, am tired and feel hungry, so let us go home... On my ride the taxi happened to pass
Training Spot in front of Ahmadou Ahijo stadium
Ahmadou Ahijo is the name of the first ever president of Cameroon after independence (1960-1982). by the notorious "Immeuble de la mort", so let's take a picture to show you.
late evening
Came back hoping to share some quality time with Dave. The guy is asleep, so I stuck myself in front of the TV to watch video clips. In Yaounde now, you can watch 3 TV channels free of charge : Crtv (State TV), Canal 2 and Stv (both commercial channels).
Nikez, a friend of sandrine (my younger sister) is coming over this evening to visit me. Meantime, Dave had woken up, so we all shared some time chatting. Woups! lights went off. in Yaounde power cuts often happen unexpectedly. You better always have a candle or a lamp handy, just in case... But no problemo, down here everybody is used to it. Things just happened as if we had automatically switched to a new system: the good old infallible light of a candle's fire. Those power cuts usually affect a larger portion of the urban population except some restricted sensitive areas or upscale neighborhoods.
march 18th
I reluctantly had to wake up this morning and I guess Dave also. But I will be leaving the town once again
Mother and baby
Rosy (my elder sister) and Dave (my nephew). He is very "genki" (energetic) for Bafoussam. The stay in Yaounde was very pleasant. But it is time to move...
Let's meet in Bafoussam...
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