Monday, November 24, 2014

Mom and Mike in Cameroon: An Introduction

Earlier this month I had the fantastic opportunity to show my mom and my brother Mike around Cameroon.  Considering half of my readers are either family or friends of my mother (um, what?  I mean, I have loads of friends.  I swear.), and we all know how my mom can get a wee bit….erm…. carried away while telling stories, I figured it’d be best if I tell my own account.

The trip took months of planning.  On their side, this involved loads of vaccinations, trips to the candy aisle, packing, unpacking, and packing again.  On my side, it was mostly day-dreaming, flipping through travel guides, and a few last-minute phone calls for hotel reservations.  They had bought their tickets long before I was evacuated from my post in the North, so I had been reworking our itinerary over and over again for several months.

Mom and Mike arrived late on Saturday, November 1st, and I had planned to take the Hilton shuttle to meet them at the airport.  I took advantage of the 2PM check-in, allowing myself several hours of relaxation in the hotel.  To you, the Hilton may seem like any other hotel; to a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, the Hilton is paradise.  (PCVs can often be found at the rooftop bar during happy hour, always amazed by the elevator and automatic hand dryers, and shamelessly guzzling down the free peanuts). I spent the first two hours sitting on the floor of my room (the bed almost seemed too comfortable and clean) while watching what seemed to be a Nigerian version of Deadliest Catch.  I didn’t even care that there was no hot water in the shower – I was in heaven (later I realized that I was turning the temperature thingy the wrong way.) Eventually I decided enough was enough – I needed to get myself into the jacuzzi.  And then the steam room.  And the sauna.  And the pool.

Oh wait, this is supposed to be about Mom and Mike.  Right...

Well, I had my fun relaxing and giving myself a little afternoon spa vacation, but eventually it was time for me to board the shuttle to go meet my family.  Much to my dismay, there was a miscommunication about the time the shuttle was supposed to leave.  I had missed it by four hours (albeit they were four very enjoyable bubbly hours).  After much discussion with the kind folks at the front desk, I convinced them to find me another driver to get me to the airport pronto, because  “THE ONLY PHRASE MY MOTHER KNOWS IN FRENCH IS ‘JE VOUDRAIS LE VIN ROUGE.’  SHE’LL NEVER FIND HER WAY OUT OF THE AIRPORT!”  (Yes, I sad it with all-caps attitude).

Not allowed to actually enter the airport, I stood outside waiting.  Bennetts always seem to be the last ones off the plane.  Nonetheless, eventually they walked out the airport doors looking relieved to see a familiar face in the crowd, and not just any face, but the b-e-a-utiful face of their long-lost yet favorite family member: moi.

We arrived back at the Hilton just before 10PM, and decided that we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t kick off our journey with a few margaritas!  (After which, my oh-so-classy mother spat off of every side of the hotel roof.  True story.  Mike and I were in no way involved.)

After a long, peaceful sleep, we were off to start our adventures!  The next day, we took the train to Douala, and then a car to Buea, where we would prepare for our three-day hike on Mount Cameroon!

Mom was impressed by the many-spoked rotaries.  This picture has 100000x less traffic than usual, as it was taken on Sunday morning.

A view from the Hilton.  In the background is Omnisport -- where we would see the Lions play soccer at the end of the trip. (Lions playing soccer? Whaaaaaaa?)
 More stories to come throughout the next few posts, but our itinerary was as follows:

November 1– Mom and Mike arrive in Cameroon.
November 2 – Travel to Douala by train, then Buea by car
November 3-5 – Hike Mount Cameroon
November 5-7 – Limbe Beach
November 8 – Bus ride from Limbe to Yaounde, then to Akono (Mike’s favorite day)
November 9-13 – Akono, Mfida, Olama, Mbalmayo, Nyong River
November 14-15 – Yaounde adventures!
November 15 – Mom and Mike leave Cameroon 

Next time on Maria goes to Africa:  Our hike up Mount Cameroon!