I made it and lived to post a blog about it

Trevor and I just arrived in Yaounde from the East today, hopefully Nik is on his way too. We were out there for a week and had a really great time. So I guess I'll start from the begining, this might be a long post... be prepared. Thankfully it won't be as long as it took us to travel out there.

Day 1. Left Bagangte in the West Province in a packed peace corps bus with our counterparts and took a quick 3.5 hour drive to Yaounde where we stayed the night. The next day, early, we headed to the bus station in a taxi that no one could see out of the windshield because it had spiderwebbed cracked over the entire thing. Probably not a good sign. The bus station was chaotic. People talking in your face in french, grabbing your bags to get on their bus and not the competitors, amoungst alot of people and animals waiting to board the bus. We end up going with a VIP bus, that doesn't pack as many people in, and is smaller and overall nicer. Excellent choice. Except our driver seems intent on getting to Bertoua in good time regardless of the unpaved, potholes or I call them mineholes, in the really muddy roads. I'd like to tell you how fast we were going, but spedometers, gas tank indicators and the like, don't typically work in vehicles. We fished tailed alot due to the mario kart style of driving, literally the back of the bus slid from one side of the road to the other side, several times. Then one time, the bus spun around and crashed into an embankment. No one was hurt, and the bus was still fine to drive, faster than before actually. When the Cameroonians start saying "slower!!!" then you know you're going fast. We passed another bus off the road, and continued to go faster. Luckily we arrived, stayed with Ried, a volunteer in the East and didn't go anywhere for the rest of the day except to get a much needed beer.

Trevor and I left for his city, which is about 55 miles east of mine. In another bus, but this time it wasn't so comfortable. We managed to get the worst seats in this prison type looking vehicle. There's not a lot of move around room either in these things, you know when you're riding in a car, and you turn a sharp corner so that you end up being skwooshed to the person next to you? That's what it's like all the time. If it's made to sit 20 there will be 30 people in there, etc. The road to his city is a bit worse so we had to go slow. 55 miles... it took 4 hours. Which is about average. In the rainy season it can take up to 6 hours. In a private 4 wheel drive vehicle less than 10 years old, it takes a little over an hour. So all you badasses with landrovers and hummers should get out of suburbia and go where you can actually use your vehicle.

Again, we were really happy to arrive there. We hung out with Matt who is a health volunteer there and Tiffany who is a week away from finishing her 2 years. We had a great time, the town is awesome, great street meat or soya it's called here, and amazing grilled fish. Matt and Tiffany also made us faux fetticine alfredo and cookies which was amazing. We hung out with Ben, who was a volunteer and now lives in country managing a company. He's hooked up with internet, has a pool, company cars, and apparently can cook really well. I've got a feeling I'm going to be spending some time there.

After 2 days there we traveled back to my city, this time with better seats on the bus and with an ipod which was a lifesaver. After singing outloud, people probably thought we were too crazy to try steal the ipod from us. Hoped they liked ashley simpson. We stayed with Anne Marie, who is my compound neighbor. The other compound neighbor is a cameroonian family, and there is also a pig farm in the back of the compound as well. We also have a night guard that watches the door with a bow and arrow. The city is big, but I really like it. I also think Anne Marie and I won't have any problems being neighbors. Did I mention she owns every season of sex and the city?

I also had my fair share of moto rides, motorcycles basically. That you pay 25 cents for them to take you across town. At first I was pretty nervous about these things, they also pack 3 people, plus babies/animals/luggage. I got used to them though, got the way to get on and off when wearing a skirt, and no longer feel like I'm going to fall off it.

After over 30 hours in traveling, not including the 10 hours we probably spent waiting, we're staying at the Case, in the Peace Corps compound in Yaounde. Its similar to a frat house with volunteers coming and going, lots of dvds to watch, a big kitchen, books to borrow, and most importantly there is a washer and a dryer! I also took a HOT SHOWER. I was so excited I almost burned myself. Anyway, if you're still reading, thanks for listening, promise it won't be this long next time. I'll post some more stuff about my city and the east province in general sometime later. Until then, hope everyone is enjoying summer, who knows maybe even a vacation like my past trip