I spent Sunday through Wednesday in the capital city of
Yaoundé. Here's a quick rundown of the trip: First the bad. Of course, I went
to get my visa renewed and in brief - that didn't happen. I got the ball
rolling, but the longer version is that I spent over $100 to go there and spend
3 days just for the people at the Union office to make a copy of my passport.
This being 2016, I should think it reasonable that a photocopy could have been
made here in Buea and sent to them without me having to bodily go to Yaoundé to
give it to them. The hospital administration seriously dropped the ball on
informing me of this, and I'm still a little sore about it. The worse news is
that they'll need my real passport for the stamp in about a week, so instead of
staying in Yaoundé the whole time to wait for it, I opted to come back. I
either have to entrust my passport and the 50-70,000 CFA renewal fee to
somebody, or return to Yaoundé myself. So it looks like I'll be going back
sometime next week. This option is only possible if they get the letter back
before my visa actually expires, after which I'd be restricted from travelling
outside of Buea at the risk of being caught with an expired visa. Otherwise I
have to trust someone with my visa, which is a little bit too risky for my
preference.
The
good part is every other part of the trip was pretty neat. After getting to Yaoundé
I made it to the Union office which was closed on Sunday afternoon. The French-speaking
gatekeeper miraculously figured out my problem, and called somebody who took me
to the compound where some Union workers stay. This was to be my "home
base" for the duration of my stay. It had great views of the city and was
in the "expat" part of town (with all the embassies). This meant that
there was a supermarket 100 meters from the place, as well as some awesome
restaurants. I waited until 9:30 pm for the current guests to leave, and
tiredly got settled in. The first thing I noticed was the persisting smell of a
hamster cage, which left little doubt as to whether I was sharing the room with
mice. I met a guy about my age on arriving, whose name was Markus. He spoke
English really well so I quickly latched onto him. He took me on a walk to show
me around the area while we were waiting for the other people to leave. Turns
out he's a vegetarian too! I had pizza with him after our walk to kill a little
more time. It was his first time trying pizza, and he seemed to think it was
okay, although he was worried that it was too expensive.
Monday
morning was the visa fiasco, and I struggled with my French, but kept seeming
to find an English speaker at just the right time. I managed to tour the SDA
dental clinic located just below the Union offices too. That afternoon I helped
Markus butcher a sick goat. Ironically, of all the possible candidates living
on the compound, the two vegetarians were the ones doing this... I'm not complaining though, it was really
interesting and quite possibly the most "medical" procedure I've
performed here. Seeing how all the muscles, internal organs, bones, tendons,
etc. are packed in there is a pretty amazing and inspiring reminder! (WARNING:
Pictures included below. I've posted the tamest ones I can find. The girl who I
gave my camera to took some pretty graphic shots) After washing the smell of
butchered goat off my hands (this was a real challenge) I went to a Chinese
restaurant walking distance from the compound. I had tofu there for the first
time in 6 months! On Tuesday I took a walking tour of Yaounde, and ended up
visiting a garden, a cool monument, and a zoo. I ate Indian food for dinner.
I'll tell you this, it's easy for Americans to feel like America is the center
of the world and English is the only language ever, but when you see two
Chinese guys ordering food from an African waiter in French at a restaurant
owned by an Indian guy it really shakes up this mentality! Expatriates are an
interesting bunch for sure. By Tuesday I
was a lot more comfortable with my French. Not good, but comfortable. During my stay, my lunches typically
consisted of bread, fruit, and (real!) cheese. The bread in Yaounde is so cheap
it's practically free and it's of way higher quality than anything in Buea.
There's so much more variety with pastries too. And of course there were tons
of supermarkets with cold sections so cheese was readily available. Any time I
saw a supermarket or bakery I always went inside, mostly just to gawk at all
the options. I spent most of my time on foot, so this happened quite often.
Especially on Tuesday, I think I walked probably at least 6 miles. Other
highlights of the trip included tuning up the kids' community bike on the
compound, eating ice cream twice, unsuspectingly getting caught in the
crossfire of a shoving match in downtown Yaounde, and getting sunscreen in my
eyes with my hands full, walking around semi-blind and with tears cascading
down my face until I managed to hail a taxi with my eyes closed. I didn't want
to stop moving to make myself vulnerable to pickpockets or muggers in the busy
part of town, and I had sunglasses on to hopefully conceal the fact that I was
walking around with my eyes mostly closed. Aside from failing the main
objective of the trip, I'd say it was at least interesting, if not a success.
Hey, could you bring that Renault delivery van home? I'd settle for that as my souvenir. As for the goat, well, never mind. Makes me a little sad that you have visited the capital city of Cameroon, BEFORE the capital of your own native country (Wash D.C.) We'll have to try to rectify that somehow in the near future, after you're back home.
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