Day 82

Monday – 12/26

Ah, the post-Christmas blues have begun. However, anticipation of the New Year is finally able to pervade our minds with thoughts of new resolutions and unaccomplished goals we hope to see ourselves reach this year. But, I digress.

After spending most of Christmas evening in a serious food coma, waking up late and in a half comatose state today seemed like the natural thing to do. Last night’s food and festivities were imprinted into my memory bank and the realization of how fortunate I was to spend Christmas with such a wonderful group of people brought a smile to my sleepy face. However, I do very much so miss my family and pets at home during these celebratory times. But how many people can say that they’ve spent a Christmas in Africa with their best friend, wear tank tops and shorts in late December, meet awesome people, and get a good tan? As I said earlier, I am fortunate to be able to do such a thing and I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Well, today Alyssa, Kim, and I planned our whole day to be spent in Limbe. Limbe is located on the west coast of Cameroon, just southwest of Buea (about a 45 min taxi drive). As we climbed into our first taxi, we picked up two other Cameroonians along the way. One girl, about the same age as us girls, squeezed with the three of us in the back of the taxi. She was a student who had just spent Christmas in Buea and was returning home to Limbe. I don’t quite remember her name, but she was very nice and she and Kim had a good time dancing to the tunes in the back seat. They were entertaining to watch and listen to. The other passenger, a man about in his 30’s (I’m not good at guessing ages), sat in front. He was very friendly and asked where each of us were from. Alyssa and I told him we were from America, specifically Washington State, while Kim told him that she was Germany. After a little bit of conversing, he looked curiously at me and asked if I was Asian. I told him that I was half Korean and half Ecuadorian and he seem surprised (they usually are). He then proceeded to tell me that he had spent some time visiting Korea and we were able to list food names that we really enjoyed. It was pleasant to meet someone who has been to my dad’s homeland and could relate to the culture. Anyway, after some time he arrived at his stop and we all said goodbye.

 

On our way to Limbe, we made another stop. This time a missionary couple hopped in and squeezed in the front seat. The husband was a native Cameroonian and his wife was born and raised in Italy. What an interesting match, but they were so cute! They were also friendly and we found out that they are Jehovah’s witnesses doing mission work out here.

The drive to Limbe was beautiful. The scenary is just amazing and the trees are so beautiful! There is one tree in particular that I remember each time I’ve been to Limbe that just stands out from the rest. It is isolated from other trees and looks like it has its own pedestal. It’s quite magnificent.

After we finally arrived in Limbe, Alyssa, Kim, and I said goodbye to the girl we met on the way there and waved a moto taxi in. We found a moto driver that could cram the three of us onto the back of his moto, thus having four people total riding a moto that should comfortably fit two people. We had the moto driver take us to the Wildlife Center. The moto ride there was so much fun! Kim sat on the back and I was right in front of her, holding on to her legs to make sure that she didn’t fall off the back. Driving and traffic here are crazy! Combine that with 4 people on a moto, that’s a recipe for an interesting ride, to say the least.

After reaching the Wildlife Center, we thanked our driver and thus proceeded to head to Arne’s café (the Wildlife Center eatery). I’ve heard very good reports about this restaurant from Alyssa and so I made sure to come hungry. We sat down and ordered our drinks. Alyssa and I ordered blended coffees mixed with a chocolate syrup and Kim ordered a fruit smoothie. Once we received the drinks, we were all very pleased with the signals our taste buds were transmitting to our brains. I’m sure my dopamine levels were abnormally high after that drink. We then made up our minds as to what we wanted to eat. Alyssa ordered a Mediterranean sandwich, and Kim and I ordered “Bunny Chow”. Bunny chow is essentially a sandwich made out of French bread, filled with avocados, cheese, tomatos, and lettuce. Once we received our meals, I chomoped down into my sandwich and after one bite, I knew that this lunch was going to be a great one! And it was. After chowing down on this delicious meal, we sat for a little bit to let our stomachs rest and digest. By this time, I was sure that I was heaven. Good thing we were coming back.

After our delicious meal, we found a moto driver to taxi us down to Down Beach. Once we were dropped off, we shopped at various vendors to see what deals we could get. The first vendor that we stopped at sold jewelry. Alyssa and I found these identical bracelet we thought were very cool. The vendor noted I was wearing a Cameroonian soccer Jersey (Alyssa bought it for me for Christmas, and it’s pretty legit, if I may say so myself). He asked if I liked it here in Cameroon and I said definitely. He seemed so proud of his country and that I was wearing a jersey that he gave me the bracelet for free! I decided that I would need to wear this jersey for the rest of my stay.

After shopping at more vendors, we didn’t really find anything else worth buying. We then headed to the market just up the hill. We walked all over and didn’t really find much. However, we did find a fabric shop where Kim and I ended up purchasing some fabric for later use. After wandering around some more we ended up catching a moto back to the Wildlife Center to enjoy some more ice cold drinks. Kim and I ordered a pineapple drink, which turned out to be not quite what we had hoped for, but we still drank it. Alyssa ordered another iced coffee. One would think she likes coffee or something! ;) After enjoying our drinks, we caught a moto back to where the taxis were. We found a taxi that would take us back and waited for a little bit for the taxi to fill up with more people.

I don’t remember much on the way home because I kept nodding off. Apparently, our taxi driver came quite close to an oncoming car (it may have been a truck) while passing the car in front of us. Anyway, I’m thankful we made it back safely.

Once we arrived at the compound, we found out that Mary and Tabby were learning how to make puff puffs from Elizabeth, a Cameroonian girl about the age of 16. Elizabeth is so sweet and I am privileged to have befriended her a couple days ago! I knew that this would be the last time I saw her (I leave Thursday) and so we exchanged emails and said our goodbyes when it was time for her to leave. It’s weird and sad to think that I will probably never see her again in my life. I can only imagine what Alyssa has to go through when she has to say goodbye to all of the awesome people she has met here when her time here is up.

For the rest of the evening, we just relaxed and Alyssa and I got to watch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, a weekly tradition we used to do last year when studying would get the best of us. After a dramatic episode, we decided to call it a night. I can’t wait to go to Limbe, again, on Wednesday and eat more Bunny Chow! I can only imagine how much bigger I would get if I were here for almost a whole year, the food here is quite amazing.

~ Lizzy