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!
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| Mom was impressed by the many-spoked rotaries. This picture has 100000x less traffic than usual, as it was taken on Sunday morning. |
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| 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 carNovember 3-5 – Hike Mount CameroonNovember 5-7 – Limbe BeachNovember 8 – Bus ride from Limbe to Yaounde, then to Akono (Mike’s favorite day)November 9-13 – Akono, Mfida, Olama, Mbalmayo, Nyong RiverNovember 14-15 – Yaounde adventures!November 15 – Mom and Mike leave Cameroon
Next time on Maria goes to Africa: Our hike up Mount Cameroon!
