FIRST LEG OF MY JOURNEY- OR TEACHING TOURISM TO THE LOCALS

Our first trip through Yaounde was exciting.  I was finally going to meet Andrew's adopted family, Estella, John and their children.  Although they live in Wum, Estella’s husband John owns a printing/copy shop in Yaounde and travels home when he can, so they keep a small apartment there. 

{Pictures of Nixon, Nixon and the chimp, the baby gorilla and the one of the baby chimps on the blanket are taken from this website, http://kayeincameroon.blogspot.com/2011/12/mefou-primate-reserve.html   The rest of the pictures are mine. The huge tree we are standing in front of is at least 1000 years old! Nixon told us that they have been recording as living as long as 2000 years!  The monkeys and The Spot Nosed, Red capped (most aggressive), Mustached Monkey, Bearded Monkey (the one with the baby) and of course the ever brilliant chimpanzee!}

Yaounde is  the main headquarters for the Peace Corps in Cameroon.  They have a brand new office right in the center of all the other government buildings.  For awhile after the office moved the area was plagued by thieves, who were happy to find a new group of “non-Africans to prey on. I was a bit nervous to head there, but evidently the area was cleared out and Andrew and I experienced none of this.

Dumping the duffel, my traveling Albatross, was our main priority!   I had dragged it overseas as my second suitcase, filled with 47 some pounds of books.  This was my final contribution of books UID families donated to the Literacy program Andrew  began through R.E.A.C.H, the non-profit he works with in Wum.   So many times I wanted to just leave it somewhere, anywhere! but I just couldn’t do it. These children were anxiously waiting for these books  and unfortunately weren't heading to Wum until the tail end of my trip. Luckily for us  we were able to store it in the Yaounde office and later on in the Bamenda Regional office, while we traveled.  Given the transportation situation it would have been next to impossible to get around.  After we unloaded the duffel, we got a hotel room and left our larger hiking packs there as we headed out for our day trips.

Andrew arranged for a “small car” (taxi) for all of us the next morning.  Estella and children were meeting us at a taxi stop.  I Love Estella, but as with all of Cameroon, meeting times are not something strictly adhered to, so we began the day a bit frustrated at her tardiness.  It was also looking seriously like rain and according to Andrew, “In Cameroon..Nothing, I  mean NOTHING happens when it rains.”  I doubted the seriousness of this until experience taught me otherwise.  The other Cameroonian trait is that dressing “to the nines” is always in order.  Estella and her family (Beckline, Brandon, Prosper and Bertilla) were no exception.  They arrived in full regalia,  Sunday dress and heels for Estella, suits for the boys…you get the idea. 

It began to rain pretty hard soon after we piled into the car, 4 in the backseat with baby Bertilla and 3 in the front (a normal taxi ride). 

As we entered the road to the Mefou Reserve the rain was coming down in torrents and the road was taking on the thick red, silken,  sheen of all Cameroon roads in the  rainy season.  It takes very little to turn the roads into the Red Sea, but sadly there is no “parting”, only plowing through. The road was thankfully short, but Andrew and I did vote the access road into Mefou as THE worst road of any we took during my three weeks there! When we got out, the driver made it clear that staying too long was not an option, at least if we wanted to get out of there any time that day. 

Andrew was seriously worried that the rain would ruin everything and was looking pretty glum about it all.  We met our guide Richard Nixon (yes, named because he was born on the day Nixon was inaugurated as president).  Our first stop was the chimp cage, and of course they were doing the usual antics of chimps.  It was all over from that point on.  Estalla and the children were hooked.  This was their first ever tourist experience and first time ever seeing the wild animals indigenous to their own country!  Their excitement was over flowing, they were running and laughing, pointing and asking dozens of questions.  What a site to see.  It was everything Andrew hoped it would be for them.  Nixon even tried to cut the tour short at one point because of the rain and they would have none of it.

We had an absolutely wonderful time. 

Now Estella, wanting (as always) to repay kindness with kindness, invited us back to their apartment.  This is a two bedroom apartment with a small runway kitchen which consists of a two burner camp stove and a sink with running cold water.  A refrigerator is in the living room /kids bedroom.  There is a double bed size bunk bed where the four or five children sleep, a couple of chairs and a small TV.  In a small second room is where Mom and Dad sleep.  That’s it!  Estella fixed us a fine lunch of Pepe soup (chicken broth with a small amount of meat, and a few vegetables, including hot peppers if you want. There was also a huge platter of fried plantains because I told her I liked them!  The plates were put on the floor, and Andrew and I served ourselves and then balanced the plates on our laps.  Everyone else waited until they were sure we had all we wanted. 

When you are on the receiving end of this level of hospitality, it is very humbling. They have so little, yet share anything they have.  We had hoped to reconnect with at Estella and a few of the children in Wum but it didn’t happen.  Sadly it was the first, and probably the last time I’ll see her.  She is an amazingly resilient, intelligent, hard working woman, fiercely protective of her children and driven by the knowledge that education is the only way her children will be successful.  She and her husband John sacrifice everything so they have only the best level of education available to them..  We take so much for granted.