Not My Cup of Tea

Last Sunday I had quite an escapade. One of our patients had given me his phone number and offered to take me to Limbe. "Call after 9 am on Sunday". I thought Perfect, he'll show up around 10, it'll take an hour to get there, and I can spend some time at the beach. Wrong! I called at 9:30, he said he'd arrive at 2 or 3 pm. At 2 pm, a downpour started, and I was irritated to move my laundry inside to waft mildew smell through apartment. I figured he wouldn't show, so I hunkered down with a book and some Hot Cheetos. The rain let up at 4. I started making spaghetti sauce around 5, and of course he showed up right after it reached a simmer. I told him that I had dinner on, but he convinced me to abandon dinner and come. I offered him my last 2000 francs for gas. I should have gone to the bank the Friday before, but the CFA was on a weakening trend, and I figured I'd give it the weekend to see if it would devalue more. It paid off, but the weekend was a financial squeeze. I had to borrow taxi money (about 80c) to get to the bank on Monday! Before we left, we had to visit most of the gas stations in Buea to find the right petrol. The sun was setting as we drove through the tea farms, and we stopped for a while for him to relieve himself and to work on the horn. Driving in Cameroon without a working horn is like driving in the U.S. without a windshield. Upon opening the hood I noted that his engine was held together by a lick and a prayer. His business is selling car parts, though, so I hoped he had enough knowledge/spare parts to get us back. While we were stopped I picked a few bunches of tea leaves. We got to Limbe and it was already dark so I didn't see much. We went to one of the beaches where there were food vendors and he ordered fish. I began to realize this wasn't going to be a quick jaunt. I'd hoped to be back by 8 or 9 pm! He ate his fish unhurriedly, and convinced me to try some (not bad). I was trying to be polite because he'd graciously offered to bring me but I wished he'd hurry up! The horn had disconnected itself again, so after working on it for another 30 minutes in the dark, we started our journey back at around 8:45 pm. I was optimistic that we could be back by 10. On the contrary! We had to stop every time he ran out of cigarettes. He would buy them two at a time, smoke them back to back, and then we'd have to stop again. Just buy a whole pack, good grief! On our way up a hill, the engine died. We opened the hood again, and he took off the intake, disconnected the gas line, and started sucking gas out and spitting it into the carb. After about 10 minutes, the car was back to running like a dream (nightmares are still dreams, right?). ETA would still be 10. Except that his house was on the way to the health center and he wanted to stop and show me around. He got sidetracked doing something with the water in his bathroom, and opened the hood on his car again to fiddle with it. I told him I really needed to get back because I had work the next day, but he was in no hurry! I would have hailed a cab, but no cash! At any rate, I finally got home exhausted. The guy had a heavy accent too, and I struggled to understand him during the drive home. I rely a lot on lip reading, and in the dark it's tough. Lesson learned: Next time I will just pony up for a cab to take me there so I can go and come back whenever I very well please.
The good that came out of it was getting to brew tea from leaves I picked. I'm normally not a big tea drinker, and to be honest it's too hot here for tea anyway, but it was quite the novelty to be involved in every part of the process of making it: Harvesting the leaves, drying, boiling, etc. I drank the tea along with some donut holes (the dense donuts like you'd get covered in cinnamon at the fair). To my amateur palate, it tasted exactly like any other black tea I've ever had. But I did more than taste this tea - I experienced it. That was almost worth the ordeal I had to go through to get the leaves in the first place.
I'm eating a lot better now and my weight's climbing. I've discovered a few street vendors that can leave out the meat without compromising the integrity of the food. I've started jogging some, and met some Americans that have a gym that's close by (their 5 year old was admitted with amoebiasis). I went by on a jog one day and they were closed, but from outside the building looks pretty small. Not sure what kind of equipment they have but I'm praying for a flat bench! The dues are under $5/month, though, so I'll probably join and go once or twice a week.
The other noteworthy occurrence of the week happened on Tuesday. A big assembly was held at our hospital regarding the government initiative to hand out mosquito nets. The governor was even here! They were handing out free t-shirts, which I capitalized on. Afterwards, a meal was provided for the delegates (I snuck in after they'd left and swiped a couple of leftover Sprites and some grub). They had 2 cultural drumming bands here. It definitely was out of the ordinary for a Tuesday! The Ministry of Health workers have been here handing out the mosquito nets to the for the rest of this week.
TL;DR I went to Limbe, but didn't get there til after dark. It took a lot longer than expected, but I got to pick tea leaves and brew them which was pretty cool. I'm starting to eat better now that I know where to get food, and I'm trying to exercise now that I have calories to spare. The government held a huge bash for just handing out mosquito nets. They even fed the delegates (and me, inadvertently). It was a cool event with some cultural and civic immersion that was undoubtedly a good experience for me!

Beautiful sunset over the tea fields. The peak in the distance is called "Little Mt. Cameroon" (Officially named Etinde)

Drying the tea leaves in the sun

Enjoying the fruits of my labor

A school group showed up for the assembly. This was taken before the governor's entourage arrived.

Worker handing out T-shirts to an eager crowd

Stoked on my free T-Shirt

"Empty" Cameroonian chawarma (empty is the way to order no meat here). Not bad at all! Chased it down with an equally delicious passion-fruit pineapple smoothie.