Vacation Recap

Right now I'm hanging out in the case for Mid-Service, a special time in a volunteer's life where he or she gets a physical, pees in a cup, poops in a cup twice and has to deliver the specimens in a brown paper bag to the lab, gets a blood test, and goes to the dentist for the first time in atleast 15 months. I've done everything now except the dentist (that's tomorrow), but I still have to stick around at the case until next Tuesday because my supervisor wants all of the health PCVs in my training group to have a "best practices" meeting next week. So, assuming I get back to Lagdo the 16th, I'll have spent a month away from post. Here's a recap of how I spent my winter vacation:

Superbad
Out of the 5 or so movies released in 2007 that I've seen, this is my favorite. "Samesies!"

Mt. Cameroon/Buea
Well, the "vaykay" (how do you spell that?) didn't start off too well. Mount Cameroon was a bust for me. Several key issues: One, I'm out of shape. Two, things weren't explained well by the tourism organization that runs the hike. They didn't explain that the porter's weight limit would immediately be met by the amount of bottled water you're encouraged to buy, so we didn't realize we'd be carrying packs. Also, there were no switchbacks - the paths on a mountain that wonder across and back - so you are basically walking straight up a 12,000 foot mountain and reaching the summit in less than 36 hours. The guidebooks etc. say that the hike would be hard but not that hard.

My main problem was the very quick change in altitude. You start off in rainforest, then after 4 hours or so, you're above the treeline. I felt rushed from the guide, and I started to feel my head pounding, which was described to me as my "brain expanding in my head," and woozy, so I turned around and was disappointingly back down the mountain 10 hours after we started. I was not at my best. Everyone else in our group - other PCVs - made it, but not without blisters and saying the second day of the three days (2 1/2 really) was 10 hours straight up and straight down, so it was best I didn't try to make it.

I did get to enjoy Buea, though, for a couple extra days, which is probably my favorite city in Cameroon. It's the provincial capital of the South-West province, which is anglophone, but it's not too big and it has a university, so it's a young town and even has English-language bookstores.

Paris
Paris was great. It was nice seeing the padres and M. McCarron, and I recommend the Rive Gauche Marriott breakfast buffet. It was so nice getting a Cameroon break, and slipping back into the Western lifestyle was disconcertingly easy. We did all the touristy stuff: Eiffel Tower on Christmas Day on one of the only clear days of our trip; The Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Picasso; Notre Dame, etc., etc. I also went to Starbucks (cafe mocha), went to the movies (I Am Legend - English, French subtitles), and ate at a "tex-mex" restaurant called Indiana that was decorated in Native American memorabilia (Nachos) all on the same block. Vive la republique.

All-around great trip.

Limbe
I got back to Yaounde from Paris New Year's Eve and went to Limbe, Cameroon's best beach city, which is in the South-West province, the next day for four or five days. The beaches are black sand because it's on the foot of Mount Cameroon, an active volcano, and the place we stayed at has tents set up to sleep in for 5000 cfa a night (10 bucks), so it was non-stop bumming around before heading back to Yao for mid-service.

Axes grinding
Here's a link from the New York Times of an op-ed written by the last PC Cameroon country director, Robert Strauss, who bears a strong resemblance to Larry David. I agree with a lot of what he says on my first read-through of the article. My first question was who does Strauss know to get published in the Times.