We all have thought from time to time “that will never happen to me.” I must say, that I thought the same thing after I heard countless stories from teachers on how they were stopped by the police. I thought I would skate through my two years and not have to deal with them. I know while I was in Mexico I heard so many bad stories about the police and their corruption, that I was totally terrified of them (although I personally never had any run in with a Mexican police officer).

Well of course it did happen to me. Last night, for the first time, the police stopped me. I was on the way back from the neighborhood espresso bar with two other new teachers (Amy and Izumi). There are no street lights on any roads and people drive around with their brights on, so it is extremely hard to see all of the people walking on the side of the road. But, it sure wasn’t hard seeing three uniformed police officers standing in the middle of road waving us to the side with their flashlights. Sometimes you can drive around the officers because they have no vehicles and they don’t have weapons. I heard from another teacher, that he tried doing that and he almost hit the guy. He still had to stop and the officer was totally angry. Sometimes swerving around them works. Well, it didn’t work last night. So, as I’m pulling over, I try to stay calm and not fee intimidated. I stop and they shine the flashlight into the car as they are using police terms in French. We all stare with a confused look on our face because we can’t make out anything they are saying. And once again, I use my favorite French saying, Je ne parle pas Francais (I don’t speak French). Well, the woman to the right of the car (two officers on my left side, one on the right) began to raise her voice. Maybe she thought that if she spoke louder in French we might understand. Or maybe raising one’s voice is a cultural difference that I am still trying to learn more about. Anyways, we finally make out the words turn on the light. So I flicked on the interior light. All three of us had to present identification, which consisted of our temporary resident card receipt. I can’t remember if I told you about getting this resident card. It was quite a shady experience. I mean how many immigration offices do you know are situated in a side street behind a gas station, and are unlabeled. We all decided this place must be a branch office of the main immigration office (probably located behind the beer factory).

Anyways, I also had to show my driver’s license (I do have a Cameroonian one) and the registration for the car. The officers then decided all of our paperwork was in order and they let us go with no fine. Some officers will make up fines. If you like, you can pay a small bribe. The thought crossed my mind. I thought it would make a good story for the blog, but decided against that! Sorry, maybe next time.

Remember I told you about the awesome rotisserie chicken. Well we decided to take out food experiences to the next level. Tonight we ate fish from a street vendor. There are many people cooking dishes on the sides of the roads. I can’t make out exactly everything, but the smells are wonderful. One of our fellow teachers took us to one of his favorite fish stands. I think I was more nervous about the fish than I was about the police officers. I wasn’t sure how my stomach would react. The woman pulls out three whole fresh fish from a bucket and cuts them in half. She then throws them on top of her small homemade grill. After the fish have cooked on the grill for twenty minutes she brings us our plates. She had prepared the fish with some seasoning and chopped onions. On the side we had manioc (I’m not sure exactly what this is, but it is in the starch category and has a chewy texture). I couldn’t deal with eating a fish with its head still attached, so I switched with someone for a tail. And let me tell you this, the meal was exceptionally delicious. We ate the fish with our fingers and washed our hands afterwards.

Oh by the way, the meal for five people cost 1700 CFA. That is around $3.50!!! I think that is the cheapest meal I have had here so far.

As I was eating this food, I thought about how I would describe it on the website. I realized that some things, no matter how I describe it will not be totally clear. Then I got mad at myself for not bringing my camera to take a picture. I will make a promise to myself to bring my camera with me at all times to take pictures. The fish was good and I will return to eat it again. When I do, I will have a picture for everyone to see. Take care of yourselves!! Talk with you later.

Well, I just finished my second day of teaching. I must say that Thursday and Friday at school went rather well. I had a total of seven students (out of twelve). These students are excellent! They are well behaved, love school, and even love to read! We had silent reading time and I was surprised to see all of the students reading quietly.

I feel like I am starting my first year of teaching all over again. This could relate to the fact that I am teaching a new grade level and I’m still trying to dig through the curriculum. However, the staff at the school is very helpful. I have found myself extremely busy preparing for my classes. My classroom looks better than it did when I first walked into it. Whenever I have it decorated to my liking, I will post pictures.

The best part about working in the school is the amount of responsibility the teachers possess. The director trusts that we will do our job and allows us to teach the students any way we can, provided that we cover the selected goals. Unlike in the states, there is not a group of people (who probably have never been in the classroom) telling us what we can and cannot do in our classroom. The director realizes that the teachers are in the classroom with the students, and it is the teachers that know their students the best.

I am currently taking malaria medication (doxycyline). This particular medication should be taken daily. This morning after taking the pill I threw up, which happens to be the second time I have thrown up this week. I hadn’t eaten this morning when I took the medication. My reaction is due to the lack of food in my stomach. However, the first time I threw up, on Tuesday, I had eaten breakfast. Currently, I am taking the malaria medication in the evening after dinner. This is working better for me. Many of the people I have talked to who live here have explained that taking this medication over a long period of time can be dangerous because it attacks the liver (like malaria). Actually, most of the teacher’s who teach here have stopped taking their malaria pills, but keep some handy just in case they get the symptoms of malaria.

Tonight we had a dinner at the house of the school board president. We have also had dinner at the director and secretary’s house. The meals they prepare are fantastic and their houses are gorgeous, with lovely decorations. They have usually hired someone to cook and serve the meals. Ever since we arrived in Cameroon two weeks ago, I have felt well taken care of. The president of the school board hosted this last dinner. There were also a few other board members present. They made a speech thanking all of the teachers for working so hard and doing great things with their children. It was very warming to know that the community backs the teachers.

On Saturday we went running with a group called the Hash House Harriers. I expected the group to consist mainly of Europeans and other foreigners. I was very surprised to find out that the group is mainly Cameroonian. They were such a welcoming group of people. We met up with them at the Hilton Hotel, which is at a central location in the city. We then drove to the destination of the run, a small rural area on the outskirts of Yaoundé. Apparently, they run different routes in different parts of the city every week. It was such an amazing run. The run took us to a village at the base of a mountain. We ran past small children playing with toys they had made out of plastic bottles. We ran through fields. We ran past families washing their clothes in the river. We ran through people’s backyards and over bridges. We ran up hills and shouted out songs and chants causing people to come out of their homes to see what the commotion was about. Whenever we fell behind, the ladies of the group would grab one of our hands to help us through the run. We even jumped over ditches and ran past chickens. It was definitely a great experience and quite a contrast to the area where we reside and especially a contrast to the homes we have visited for dinner. This was a more rural part of the city, with smaller housing and more dirt roads. After completing the run, we wound up at the same location we started the run. We formed a circle to stretch. At this point, the local people were curious as to what we were doing there so they gathered around us. After stretching the group took out some beers and began chugging them. They even initiated the new members by having us chug (soda of course). We then moved to the nearby bar and had a drink and chatted. They were such a fun group. We have decided to meet up with them again next Saturday. The group runs in different parts so I’m excited to see where we will run next week.

We went to play ultimate Frisbee today. On the way there we passed all of these officers standing on the sides of the road. At every intersection there was an officer wearing a blue uniform. I asked one of the teachers about this and he stated that they are preparing for the President to ride through the city and that at any point, when they get the signal, they would have to shut down the road. Luckily we made it to the school with no problem. However, we play ultimate out by the airport (exactly the area where the president would pass by). The officers had blocked the roads off causing us to take an alternate route. Even with taking this alternate route, we were unable to make it to our destination. So, we had to park a ways from the playing field. We finally made it to the field after walking up hill for a few minutes. About 45 minutes into our game of ultimate frisbee, we hear these sirens going off. And sure enough, we ran over to the fence to look down the hill and the President’s motorcade was passing by. His entourage was huge and consisted of his car, a dozen officers on motorcycles, even more black Mercedes and a few other vehicles. It was quite amazing to see the president riding through town (well his entourage at least because I didn’t actually see him). I hear that whenever he passes through the city, they can have road closures that last hours. We can see the president’s palace from our balcony. I still have yet to take a picture and post it to my website, but will one of these days.

Oh! I almost forgot. I got my hair braided this weekend. The lady who did it is from Nigeria. She says she has been in Yaoundé for only a few months. She did an excellent job. However, the braids are extremely tight. Check out the picture! I have also posted pictures of the school. When I get my classroom decorated, I will post pictures of that. I hope all is well. Talk with you later.

My first day at work was good. I hardly slept that night so I was very tired. There is still tons to do before the students arrive on Thursday. My days will be extremely busy and therefore I will most likely post every other day or every two days.

We hired our house helper on Monday. This morning we pretty much asked for her to cook and clean for us twice a week, Monday and Wednesday. After a hard day at work my roommate and I get back to an apartment that is totally cleaned!! Our helper, Florence, cleaned the floors, washed the dishes, and cleaned the bathrooms. Florence also washed and folded my clothes. I believe she even washed the sheets on my bed. She’s super woman. Not only did she do that, but she also cooked for us. We had a lovely meal of sea bass with cream sauce, fresh green beans, salad, rice, and fruit salad for desert. It was absolutely amazing to come home to such a wonderful surprise. I think this will help us out a lot since we will put so much time into the school day. It was so nice to come home to a clean house and have a meal cooked for us.

Two of the new teacher’s and I have been running since we’ve been here. Yaounde is a city with many hills. We run on Mt. Febe. Monday and Tuesday we ran for 15minutes, but it was tough because half of that time we spent running up hill. I think we are going to try and train for a marathon. Our plan is to train and run one in March over spring break. But, we’ll see how that goes for us. It rained so hard today. I believe it is the beginning of the rainy season for this part of the country.

Today was another intense day. I needed to buy some plastic containers to place library books. The market, which has these items is called Rayco. Well, while driving there I accidentally take the wrong road, which means I wound up driving through the very crowded vegetable market. This place is totally filled with vegetables, people, and cars. It really doesn’t seem like a place for cars to pass through, but there I was driving through it along with the other cars. I found myself driving through massive amounts of people. It became overwhelming pretty quickly. The car was surrounded by people walking every direction, there were men trying to sell me live chickens, children hung on the sides of the car (even the rear spoiler), and cars coming the opposite way. It seemed as though I would hit someone or something. So, I tried sliding by a car that was coming my direction. Since my mind was trying to look out for 10,000 things I didn’t realize that I was too close to the truck to my left. I realized how close I was when my car scraped the side of the truck!! At this point, the children are still hanging on the car trying to get money from us. People who passed by told me to keep going because the truck hadn’t been ruined, only my car had been scraped on the side. This, like our weekend trip to the marche central made me extremely tense and nervous. I wish I would have taken a picture, it was such a crazy scene. I thought I would never get out of this market, but we finally did end up at Rayco where I did find the plastic tubs. At this point, I was still slightly shaken up by the drive through the market.

On a different note, my classroom looks absolutely amazing. The painters came in and painted the top portion of my classroom light blue. It totally brightens up the place. My class is still in a mess and I’m not sure how I will finish it by Thursday.

Well, I must go. I am extremely tired and will wake up early tomorrow morning to start fixing up the classroom.

I can say that this weekend is filled with adventure. Friday night we went out to a club. They played mostly western pop songs as well as some African songs. We had such a good time dancing. I went with the new teachers here. We met up with some folks from the embassy and a few of the marines who are stationed here. Many of the people I have met here (from the embassy and at the school) seem to not get out into they city itself and meet with the locals. I’ve heard many conversations about ordering food from the United States and only befriending others from the expatriate community. It seems it is so easy to not mingle with Cameroonians or delve into the culture. I’m excited about getting to know Cameroon and its people. I want to learn about the culture. I don’t want to be here for two years and just barely skim the surface of Africa. There are tons of things to explore and I do not need to transport my American life here to Cameroon.

Well, anyways, at the club some guy starts dancing with a bunch of us. At first he is quiet and doesn’t say much. After a few songs he begins to talk with us. When he is talking, its all in French. I say to him “Je ne parle pas francais.” I don’t speak French. This happens to be the only sentence I know in French. Anways, after saying this in his best English he says, “I love you! Come with me over here” Apparently he was in love and he wanted me to get a drink with him and his friend. I politely said no, but he kept on saying I love you and grabbing my arm!! So I finally escaped by heading to the bathroom. This guy was definitely a bit more aggressive than what I am used to. I thought it was absolutely hilarious that he loved me after only dancing with our group for 10minutes.

On Saturday, another one of the new teacher’s and I decided to take a mini tour of certain areas of the city. We first took a walk in Bastos. Bastos is the community of Yaounde where we live. There are a lot of foreigners in this area. It is very quiet. We had lunch at a rotisserie chicken place (kind of like the “roadkill” they had in Italy mom and dad). So both Amy and I had a half chicken with sauce and plantains. It was excellent, very delicious. I definitely will head back there again. We continued our walk down the main street and stopped into tiny convenient stores, clothing stores, and video stores. I love walking in cities because you can see so much. In your car you miss a lot of these little shops. Well, a little ways down from the chicken place we see posters outside of a hair salon. The poster contained various braided hairstyles. So, we decided to check out the salon. It sits on the lower level of a building so we had to take the stairs downstairs. The two ladies who came to greet us were so friendly! They gave us a tour of the salon and told us their various services. It costs $6 for a pedicures and $3 for a manicure!! They even offer massages and a sauna. I plan on getting my hair braided, which will cost me 5,000CFA. That is only $10!! In the states the style I want would cost me $40. The ladies were very friendly and we decided we definitely will go and give them business. In another post I will talk more about the hairstyles here.

Later that afternoon we decided to become brave and take our chances at the marche central (central market), a gigantic, crowded market in an old multi-story car park. We thought this would be easy, but it turned out to be an intense eye opening experience. So,we drive down to the area and finally find a parking spot. As soon as we get out these guys start talking to use in French and English asking if we are here to buy a cell phone. They ask us to come into their store and we pretty much say we are only here to walk and look around. Walking down the street towards the market, people are yelling at us to come into their stores.
“Come, I have shoes.” “Would you like to buy a cell phone.” “Look at what I’m selling.” I think I pretty much ignored it and kept walking. So, we enter the very outskirts of the central market, when we are pretty much surrounded by five guys who are trying to get us to buy stuff!! “What are you here to buy?’ “Do you want some shoes” “Come look at this” “What do you need.” They kept surrounding us and trying to get us to go to various stores to buy things. We decided to not even enter the market. Instead we did a loop around this outside part and left. It was such an intense experience. I think we were pretty much drained after that. We felt that that was enough and walked back to the car, where the original guys wanted money for watching my car. We drove off, without giving them money. I am not sure if it is custom to give money to store vendors for watching your car.

We decide to drive into another part of the city, the Briqueterie, which is a poor muslim area. We pretty much drove around in this area looking at all the things they are selling. There are a lot of wonderful fabrics for sale in this area and interesting foods. The traffic in this area is bumper to bumper. Taxis and people are everywhere. Oh, I made a wrong comment before, there are rules to driving (although it doesn’t seem as so). On the traffic circle, those cars entering have the right of way. Those already in the traffic circle have to yield to the incoming cars! That’s helpful to know because a taxi driver was yelling at me because I did it wrong. By the way, my car doesn’t have power steering either. That makes for some fun turning.

This small trip gave us a great idea of the layout of the city (well at least part of it). The briqueterie is between the area where we live and the area where the school is located. We know how to get there and to the marche central. It also made me realize that going to the markets here are a totally different experience than any other market I have been to. I think for now on I will go with someone who is from here or very experienced.

I have posted a couple pictures of the city. A few of them are bastos and a few are views from our school, which is located in the Quartier du Lac area.

Tomorrow is my first official day of school. We have several meetings tomorrow. The students come on Thursday. I’m not sure how often I can post especially if I am real busy with work.

Here are some pictures I took today and yesterday. The first one is of my car! Isn't it cute. The steering is tough, but it works very well. Remember when I told you I put gas in it yesterday, well I forgot to tell you how much it cost me! Are you ready for this? 50 DOLLARS!!! How crazy is that! That is like filling up an SUV in the states. Let me tell you that it isn't so cheap living here as I imagined. A lot of food products are imported so they are more expensive. I will drive home today! It will be the first long drive that I have made.


The second picture is of my room. And yes mom, I already need to clean it up. We will hire someone who will clean our apartment for us and cook some of our meals. Many of the other teachers have someone to do those things for them.

The third picture is of my bathroom. They just constructed that wall in the center. If you look at the bottom right (underneath the sink) you will see where the water would spill before the wall went up. There is no drain there and it would completely flood. I feel I can take more of a comfortable shower now.

Yesterday we took a trip to the embassy. It was really cool to meet some of the people who work there. We also went to the comissary where we bought a few American food items. They also have a gym that is open 24hours! We went through a lot of security to enter the embassy. That embassy won't be there much longer as they have built a new American embassy in another party of the city.

We went running yesterday at the Parcour vita (spelling). It is a circular trail at the foot of Mt. Febe. Although I didn't run that much this summer, I thought I was in shape. And boy was I wrong! The hills on this course were killer. A few of us had to stop and walk. But, I hope to run it in the future without stopping.

The name Cameroon, comes from camaroes. That is prawn in Portuguese. The first Europeans explorers found a bunch of these prawns in the Wouri River. This info is from my Bradt travel guide on Cameroon.

By the way, we didn't go to the gorilla sanctuary. We will go another day. Talk with you later. OH! I also figured out how to reply to your comments. I am reading every single one. I will now reply to comments since I know how. KEEP READING!

Cameroon thus far is quite different and quite wonderful at the same time. I like that there are tons of people in the streets, on the sides of the streets, crossing streets, practially everywhere! A lot of people just hang out while others are sell whatever they can. People sell shoes, steering wheel covers, peanuts in whiskey bottles (they taste so good), gum, or whatever they can. I'm not sure, but maybe jobs are hard to come around! I enjoy seeing all the many differnt faces of Cameroon. They come in lots of hues.

I bought a car from a teacher who will not return this school year. It is a Toyota Carina SE. I'm so excited to drive myself around, but nervous because there seems to be no rules for the road. You can pretty much do whatever you want. Driving in Cameroon is totally different than driving in the United States. Most streets have no lanes so you are free to make your own lane, wherever that may be. There are massive traffic circles where there is no such thing as yielding, you only have to go for it and force the other people to stop to let you by. I can turn into oncoming traffic if I want, making those drivers stop. So, you can see why I am nervous about driving. But, I did attempt my first drive today! I went down to the nearest gas station to get gas. I must say, that I did pretty well. I guess driving in Los Angeles prepared me for this.

The last few days I have set up my classroom. I am currently taking on the task (along with Richard, my teacher' aide) of organizing my library by genres. The desks are set up. The painters will paint the top portion of the classroom. However, the big part is lesson planning, which I will start shortly. I even met one of my student's. His name is Nathan and I found out he shares the same birthday as me! How cool is that.

We are going on our first excursion tomorrow to the Gorilla Sanctuary. I'll definitely write about that.

By the way, I am not trying to write a thesis here so I pretty much don't care about the grammar or spelling in the blog! I'm letting you know just in case my subject-verb agreement is off or whatever else is wrong wtih my writing! :)

I hope all is well.

I wrote this long post about things so far and the internet shut down on me. But, thats what happens here in Yaounde. So, I will post what I was going to write another time because I am very tired. I have posted two more pictures. One is of the view from our balcony. From the balcony we can also see the presidential palace. How cool is that. The second picture is for you TJ. You said you wanted to see insects and bugs. This thing was in the toilet this morning when I tried to use the bathroom. It is a little worm. If I had the video you would actually see the sucker moving. Yuck. Ok, more later when I'm not so tired. Oh! By the way, we have only done mostly grocery shopping, driving around, and having meetings at the school. Therefore, I don't have much to say about the culture and daily life here because I have not yet experienced that. But, as time goes on I will and I will write more about that.

Good Morning!! I woke up at 7:00am this morning after a restless night. We went out to dinner last night at Cafe de yaounde. I had a sea bass in a cream sauce and potatoes. It was so funny trying to order when the waiter didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any French. We returned to out apartments at 10pm and I was not tired at all!! I lied awake in my bed for hours. I woke up this morning to walk up Mt. Febe, one of seven mountains in Yaounde. Parts of it were steep while others weren't. A lot of people were out walking and running up and down the hill. We saw a group of soccer players running together. It was such a gorgeous walk. It has drizzled here everyday since arriving. Today is the same. Therefore, when we were walking up the mountain, parts were covered in a mist. Everything looked so beautiful. At the top, we were able to get a wonderful view of the city,

Yesterday, while I was moviing my furniture around, guess what I saw? Yup, my roommate, a greeen lizard!!! I yelled so loud when I saw that little creature running from behind the dresser. It was so nasty. I talked to our neighbor who has been here for a year and she tells me its normal and that they are good for the bugs! I think my little buddy is still under my dresser this morning. I just hope I don't see one of those things in my clothes or shoes!

I need to get going, but will write more later. The internet connection at our apartment is nice, but it logs you out every 2 minutes. I have posted pictures of Mt. Febe. I hope they are there.

I MADE IT TO YAOUNDE!! I arrived yesterday evening. I had such a long journey here. The trip took well over 24 hours. I left on Friday, arrived Saturday evening and now it's Sunday!!! It feels like I've lost one day. I think it hit me that I'm in Africa when I looked out the window of the plane and we were flying over the Sahara! We then passed over lush greenery! It was so amazing. On the long flight, my legs cramped so much. I think they got numb after awhile. I didn't sleep on the flight from Atlanta to Paris. Instead I played 3 hours of Solitaire (I'm obsessed) and watched Be Cool. In Paris I met 3 of the other new teachers. From Paris to Yaounde, I slept most of the way.

The airport was somewhat hectic. We had to pass through health control (where there was one person checking EVERYONE'S yellow fever certificate) and we then passed through passport control (with 3 people checking). We met up with some of the folks from the school and went through customs.

There is so much greenery and plant life in the city. It is beautiful. There are some paved roads and some dirt roads. Driving is quite different! We had a couple close calls on the way to the apartmetns. I haven't seen much of the city, but can talk more about that later.

Our apartments are wonderful! They are quite big. But, I guess anything is quite big when I just moved from a studio apartment. Taking a shower was funny. I have a stand up shower that is about 2 feet by 2 feet. The water pressure was so so so low!

I live on the third floor. We have a balcony that overlooks the city! Its a wonderful view.

Today we went to the Hilton to have brunch. The food was great. I did try a typical Cameroonian dish called Ndola (I'm not sure of the spelling). I guess its a local vegetable crushed up into a paste. It was no doubt an interesting taste and can honestly say I didn't like it. It tasted very bitter. There is nothnig else I can associate it with. I also had I think the best pineapple I've ever tasted. It is picked ripe, therefore the taste was so sweet.

Well we are off to take a tour of the school. I would love to write more, but will later on. Everyone from the school is making the transition smooth. I don't feel quite lonely, although I don't really know anyone well. I slept well last night and am not sure how I feel tonight.

Thanks for the comments. They are awesome! I'll talk with you later.

Tomorrow, I move to Yaoundé, Cameroon! Cameroon is a country on the West African Coast. To prepare for this move, I have researched (with some help) what Cameroon is all about. With all of this information, I still don’t feel that I am aware of the huge experience I am about to take part in. I am extremely excited to be able to move to and live in Cameroon for the next two years. During the two years in Cameroon, I will teach Fourth Grade at the American School of Yaoundé (check the school out at www.asoy.org). I’m very excited about teaching Fourth Grade because they are older than the First Graders that I am used to. I will stay in school owned apartments in a nice part of the city. The apartments are fully furnished with utensils, bedding, and living room arrangements. And the best part is I don’t have to pay rent or utilities!

Each time I tell someone that I am moving to Cameroon, they ask me why I chose Cameroon. The main reason I chose an African country is because I have heard so many positive and negative statements about the continent. I decided that I want to make that judgment myself and form my own opinions based on my experience there. I am expecting a totally different way of life from the one we live in the United States.

I leave tomorrow, August 12 for Yaounde. My plane leaves from Charleston, to Atlanta, to Paris, and then down to Yaounde. The plane ride is going to be so long! There are so many emotions associated with this move including excitement for such a change, nervousness about the unfamiliarity, and slightly sad because I am moving away from the wonderful time I had in Long Beach, CA. It is kind of a bittersweet time. I still have packing left to do. I am not sure how I will fit all of my things in the suitcase. About two months ago, I shipped 13 boxes to Cameroon! Although I’ve shipped boxes, took seven shots, applied for a visa, shopped for school items, and gathered paperwork, it still hasn’t completely hit me that I am moving to another country. I assume it won’t feel real until I step foot on Cameroonian soil.

I decided to keep this blog so that people are able to share in my experience in Yaounde. In this journal, I will write down everything that happens to me during this two year journey. I will also post pictures of all of the sights of my travels. I am unsure how often I will be able to post, but I will try to post as often as I can. My hope is that you are able to come visit my site once or twice a week to read about my life in Cameroon. There is also a portion where you can post comments, so feel free to post your ideas. Also, I know many of you love travel, so if you get bitten by the travel bug, feel free to come out and visit me! Come back again because my next post will be from Cameroon! Talk with you then! In the mean time, you can check out info on Cameroon at this site: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/cameroon/index.htm