Catch Up Time

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We're back home now and I never had another chance to make it to a cyber cafe so I'll do a couple of entries to cover the rest of the trip...

When I left off, we were just leaving Limbe to go to the beach resort of Kribi. The roads were fine and we stopped often to purchase coconuts on the way. George insists they taste best eaten with bread but I liked them just as they were. We also picked up a couple of pineapples to eat once there.

At intervals along the way, various food items are for sale and if you slow, "sales people" both young and old, hurry to the car window and attempt to sell you their food wares. We were reluctant to buy many of the items as we didn't know if they'd been cleaned properly but, besides the above items, we bought many bananas, ground nuts (i.e., peanuts), and sugared peanuts. We didn't buy soya (grilled meat on a stick) because we didn't know what kind of meat it was. Afterall, we saw meat alongside the road for sale: beef, goat, giant rat, and monkey...

We were surprised when we arrived at Kribi as we saw few tourists at all. The "big" resort town had maybe a dozen hotels, reputed to be quite expensive. We finally found a winner. I think it was $10 per room per night, right on the beach. We spent two days immersed in the warm and salty ocean, jumping or riding in on the waves. (Note: Neither George or Patricia had ever swum. Ruth convinced Patricia to come in, held her hands, and in short order she was actually swimming and laughing like I've never heard her laugh. ) Very relaxing. It was hard to move on.

By the way, we never did see the pgymies! Would have had to take a dugout canoe up the river several hours and decided to pass on it. I, for one, was just as happy to skip as it seemed a bit dehumanizing. We did see Lobe Falls though.

Our next stop was at Yaounde, the nation's capitol. There we saw a mix of buildings -- including a HILTON hotel and many other modern looking structures. In the midst of the city, people farmed any small piece of land near their buildings. Mom and Dad spent part of the time doing a GSM Counselor Training which seemed well received. We stayed at the Catholic Mission. The mission was adequate, a bit musty or mousey, but the church was absolutely beautiful. Built under the last Bishop, it had huge Biblical murals and all the characters were black. We were fortunate to be there as the youth group practiced for a Christmas program and saw choreography, dance, and drama as well as the traditional music using xylophones and drums.

We also met some of Joe's relatives there. I'll stop here and add a few pictures.

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Photos

Coconuts
Lots of coconuts were sold in piles by the side of the road. Did you know that coconuts come in different varieties and have different colored husks?

Dugout Canoes
This was taken by Lobe Falls...

The View From Our Rooms
Our little bungalows were right on the beach and this is what we saw when we looked out.

The Hilton
No explanation needed except that our budget did not extend to staying in such a hotel. Ours were very basic. A bed. A bathroom with a shower.