Wednesday Journal Entry 12/23

As I write this, it still feels like I'm wearing the baseball cap I wore all day until 3 hours ago. I just got back from spending all day in Douala with David. Late though it be (10:45) I'm wanting to journal before I forget fragments. First of all, I spoke on the phone with the family last night. Mason was to go ski today, and I guess they've gotten about 1 meter of new snow in the last 48 hours. Lucky son of a gun!  I miss skiing a lot.

This morning I woke up at 6, since the plan was to meet David at Mile 17 by 7 am. In the twilight outside my door I saw a rat the size of a wiener dog ambling past. Swell! There's no possible way it could get into my apartment being as big as it was, but just knowing they're out there is so gross. Breakfast was just instant oatmeal and my doxy pill. I packed a lunch and headed out. I didn't end up eating that lunch until our return trip.

We left and rode a bus from Mile 17 to Bonaberi, which is just on the near side of the bridge from Douala proper. It took a long time, almost 2.5 hours, which was a bummer. Traffic at the bridge is always really bad, since the bridge is two lanes. A new one is being built, which also slows things down with the construction. We then took a motorcycle taxi across the bridge and into Bonapriso, which is where the supermarkets and international food options are. That was definitely a "bargain" at 1700 francs for the both of us. What with the time it saved weaving in and out of traffic, and it was a good ways, I think it was worth it. Total time from Mile 17 to Bonapriso was 3 hours.

We were dropped at a "supermarket Kado", which we were pleased to find was air conditioned! It had a great selection of stuff, but all David bought was a cold water and a chocolate bar. I held onto my cash to see what else would come our way. We set out to find a place called Super U, which he had heard of. We walked the wrong way accidentally for a little while, but found a few interesting looking restaurants on our wandering. On our way back the right direction after asking directions, we went into a pastry shop with these fantastic looking pastries. I said they were so beautiful that I wouldn't want to eat them if I bought one. I would later eat those words as well as one of the pastries. But I'm getting ahead of myself! We left empty -handed and -stomached, passing a Chinese restaurant, and stopping to look at a menu. Then we found the crown jewel of Douala: The Indian restaurant named Bombay Masala (Don't be fooled by the unfortunate initials). More on that later too. Finally after asking for directions a couple more times we were headed towards Super U. The nice thing about Douala is that, while French is the official language, and most people will say "Je ne parle pas Anglais", most of them do understand and speak some pidgin, which David and I both happen to be getting pretty good at. So we would start in French, but usually conversations would switch over to pidgin.

When we got to Super U, I was astounded. There was a paved parking area. When we went inside I went from astounded to scraping my jaw off the floor. Air conditioned, clean, broad, well stocked aisles, and the selection was amazing. There were even carts! It was like a small SaveMart but also with small clothes and toy sections. The white person per capita population in the store was also frighteningly high (the prices tended to favor only the richest inhabitants of Douala, which are made up of a disproportionate amount of expatriates) David would jokingly call out "white man" when he saw them on the street or driving but here it would have been too conspicuous. We went down every aisle. Twice. It had aspects like a European supermarket, so it was simultaneously completely new, and completely like home. They had two REAL Christmas trees in stock, for the equivalent of $100 USD! Only after seeing every product the place had to offer did I prudently pick out a handful of goodies that I thought I could get the most use/joy out of. I also tried to choose things that wouldn't melt or be crushed in my backpack, as well as items with an aspect of newness that I'd not tried before. Highlights included dates (haven't had a date in a while - either kind), caramel flan in single serve plastic cups, good quality chocolate milk powder, and canned tomatoes. David and I also shared a kilo of caramel gelato. First real, good ice cream I've had here. The total cost came out around 11,000 francs (20 bucks). Not bad all things considered!

After the supermarket we went to check out a cathedral that turned out to be pretty cool and worth the walk. Then we took a moto to the airport to pick up David's German friend Thomas, who's spending 12 days here hanging out with David. We spent probably 2 waiting at the airport. After that we went back to where we started and pretty much started over from paragraph 4 and continued to Super U again, via the same path. This time, though, I stopped and got a little mini key lime pie at the pastry shop for 1000 francs. I ate it all and didn't regret it! We stopped at Bombay Masala, hoping to get an early dinner and hit the road to miss traffic, but it didn't open for another hour and a half. Our goal changed to making it to Spar, another supermarket farther away than Super U. We left Thomas' luggage with the building's proprietor (and Indian fellow who also owned the restaurant). Finally we got there after a LONG walk with a quick stop at Super U to use the really nice toilets there. David accidentally left his Cameroon guidebook there. We got to Spar and it was more expensive than Super U, but had about the same size food selection with even cleaner, bigger aisles. It just opened a month ago. There I was even more frugal, but got imported Canadian maple syrup and a kilo of high quality cocaine (just kidding, I meant rice. But when you say "a kilo of high quality..." cocaine just kind of wants to be the next word. Guess I've watched too much COPS). Another 4,000 francs put me up to ~$30 on groceries. We got a taxi back to the Indian restaurant.

This dinner was the priciest meal I've had since I can remember, and definitely the priciest in Cameroon. We each spent about 10,000 francs. The restaurant was wicked fancy, sure felt like a date! Except for the part where I was with two other dudes. I got chana masala served with poori, and dal tadka, which was yellow lentil and pepper soup. Thomas got a chicken rice dish, and David got mutton. David took off right after we ordered to try and locate his guidebook, but it was an unsuccessful attempt. The food came after only 20 minutes of waiting! Surprisingly fast. Thomas and I waited 10 minutes for David to return, but ended up starting without him. It was all delectable, and soooo worth the money. There were options galore on the menu, and even as a vegetarian I could have eaten there every night for a week and tried something new (although it'd put me in the poor house). That meal was what I'm considering to be my Christmas dinner.

Getting back proved to be tricky, and we spent more than we wanted to on a private car to take us home. It turned out to be a good move, because we got home in only an hour and a half. But I made it, tired, dirty, but with a backpack full of groceries and a huge, shop-shocked grin on my face.
TL;DR Went to Douala with my German buddy, David, who I know from the gym in Buea. Most of our sightseeing was actually just going to supermarkets and taking pictures of graffiti/art on some of the walls that we walked past. We picked up his friend at the airport and took him to Indian food for his first meal in Africa. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I could eat Indian food every day for the rest of my life and I don't think I'd ever tire of it. Even though the "date" scene isn't real strong here, I wish I had asked the owner of the restaurant if he had any daughters around my age who know how to cook!

David's reaction to finding Super U

Stoked on our gelato

Blurry photo of me because I was too excited to hold still

Super cool graffiti (Or is it commissioned art?) on the side of a building

St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral (no graffiti on this one)

Quick discreet snapshot inside the cathedral.

Fine spread at BM Indian restaurant.

The satisfied customers

A gymnasium across from SuperU. The cost of a onetime workout session is more than the monthly fee David and I pay in Buea!