Vista Views

I don’t know if you can see it, but in the top left picture is the American Embassy. It is the big, white, square building at the end of the nicely cleared out grassy area. Its backside is up against a private country club. It’s kind of weird because out front there are numerous walls/gates, with electric barbed wire. To get in you have to go through a series of security checks with x-ray machine, metal detectors and much checking of id. Yet, out back you can easily hit a golf ball up and over the little chain-link fence.

The Grounds

Out behind the buildings (people other than the monks live there as it is a mission too), there is a spectacular view of the city. The grounds themselves were meticulously kept up and the flora just breathtaking. That is a tombstone, there were several ornate graves on the grounds.

Photo Fees

There was no fee to get into the museum to view it, but you have to pay to take photos. That is a common thing here. When we went to the gorilla sanctuary we had to pay to get in and an additional $5,000 cfa ($10) to take pictures and even more if we had video cameras. For the museum it was $1,000 cfa, but I gave a bit extra as a donation (I need all the blessings I can get). It was very nice on the inside, with about 3 rooms of things to look at.

Monestary Museum

On Saturday October 28, Meredith and I entertained a visiting lady named Diane. Diane works at Columbia University and was in town to help Peter with the college counseling. Unfortunately he was sicker than a dog due to him catching my bronchitis. So we headed up to the top of Mount Febe to the monastery museum. Our driver, Jean, came in with us and helped to explain what some of the artifacts were used for. None of the items in this museum were from his village.

Ramadan

Monday last was a big holiday for the Muslim community. It was the end of Ramadan. It is a big celebration because for a month before that they cleanse themselves and think of it as a new begginning by fasting during daylight hours, then praying, and they can eat after the sun goes down. I don't have any muslim students in my class, but there are many at the school, so we had the day off. Pete and I went for a walk towards Mount Febe and saw all these men with their outfits/caps on (just like the one Pete got for that reception we went to), with their sons, and payer rugs all heading to their mosque. The most amazing-- four little boys in maroon, their dad in blue, their huge prayer rug--all on one motrocycle. If only I had my camera!!!!!!!!!!!
At night we were invited to the Saudi residence. We were late as we had to pick up a visitor at the airport. It was just as lavish as the one at the Hilton. The house was, yet another mansion, filled with amazing art work, rugs, furniture, and artifacts from their homeland. The two boys, Waffi and Hussein, served us this special tea and made us eat all this food. Their father came around and kept giving us dates and chocolates. It was very elegant and fun to see a bunch of the highschoolers dressed up in their finest.

Ramadan

Monday last was a big holiday for the Muslim community. It was the end of Ramadan. It is a big celebration because for a month before that they cleanse themselves and think of it as a new begginning by fasting during daylight hours, then praying, and they can eat after the sun goes down. I don't have any muslim students in my class, but there are many at the school, so we had the day off. Pete and I went for a walk towards Mount Febe and saw all these men with their outfits/caps on (just like the one Pete got for that reception we went to), with their sons, and payer rugs all heading to their mosque. The most amazing-- four little boys in maroon, their dad in blue, their huge prayer rug--all on one motrocycle. If only I had my camera!!!!!!!!!!!
At night we were invited to the Saudi residence. We were late as we had to pick up a visitor at the airport. It was just as lavish as the one at the Hilton. The house was, yet another mansion, filled with amazing art work, rugs, furniture, and artifacts from their homeland. The two boys, Waffi and Hussein, served us this special tea and made us eat all this food. Their father came around and kept giving us dates and chocolates. It was very elegant and fun to see a bunch of the highschoolers dressed up in their finest.

Bronchitis

I have been sick for quite a while now. I finally broke down and went to the French clinic during school. One of the drivers, Fabien, took me in a school van. It was about 5 minutes from school. It looked just like an older clinic would in the US. The receptionist spoke no English so Fabien translated for me. Then I sat and waited. So far so good. The difference was that as every person that ientered the waitng room greeted the room with a Bon Jour, instead of avoiding eye contact, which seems the general protocol in the US. Then the doctor would come out and just ask who was next (except it was in French so I didn't know that). When it was my turn the lady next to me nudged me so I would know to go. I went in and she determined I had bronchitis. She laughed and said, "ahhh, sunburn, your swim costume is quite interesting, no?" when she saw my poor peeling back. $25,000 cfa later I was out the door and on my way to the pharmacy where once again Fabien translated for me. The first pharmacy had only 2 of the 3 medicines I neede so we had to stop again. I was back at school by 9:45 to teach. Unfortunately I got worse and ended up missing two days of school. But, knock on wood, no malaria or ameobas yet!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shrimp Update

Hey all. I got some more photos from Anna. Here are the ones fo me actually eating the shrimp dinner, so now you know that this is a work for fact, not fiction!

Monkey

Yes, that's right folks, I wrote monkey. This is why I wrote monkey. Yesterday, I was in the teacher's workroom typing away, when I noticed something our of the corner of my eye. Now periphial vision is tricky to spell and sometimes even trickier to believe because I thought I saw a gray cat on the floor next to me. I turned to the lady next to me, Amy,(she is the wife of a teacher here, used to be the art teacher and now stays home with their baby, she happened to be with the baby, using the computer because this is practically the only place you can get service and even then it's sketchy....) to say there was a cat when I suddenly realized it was a MONKEY!!!!!!!! There was monkey not two feet away from me! It was the kind we saw at the gorilla sanctuary when we first got here. It was grey, with a long tail and a white face. It was pretty cute until I realized it was between me and the door and Amy had a baby in her arms. I couldn't stop saying, "there's a monkey, there's a monkey!" Over and over again. It perused the room and then decided to go back out the door. This interface lasted all of a minute, but freaked me out for the day. Can any of you beat that one?

Leaving the Pygmie Village

On the way back Anna and Maurice were smart enough to cover thier heads with their towels and then didn't end up as sunburnt as I did. I am peeling write now as I type, not pretty.

Mail Call

Yippeeee! We got mail yesterday. Three letters from Pete's parents, a letter from each of my sisters (Stephanie and Anna), and a letter and our first PACKAGE from my MOM!!!! Pete forgot to tell me until we were in bed for the night. I was so excited I made him get up and get it for me. It looks like a month is the standard time frame for delivery. It means so much to get something, so go ahead, get out your dusty old stationary (for some of you, you have beautifully hand-crafted stationary I made for you in the hopes that you would send it back to me!) write us a little note, include some pictures for me to add to my wall, get an 84 cent stamp and send us a letter. Today! Not tomorrow. Not when you find the time. Now. Get up from the computer. Scratch that, type the letter on the somputer if you want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Schmitts
Amercian School of Yaounde
B.P. 7475
Yaounde, Cameroon

Pygmie Village Part II

The guy that was in the front of the pictures that had Pete and Maurice in them was our guide. Did you see any resemblance? I think we just went back to his village to "meet the family". Notice how in the picture on the right I can't wait to get away so I am not even willing to stand still for the second shot. I am also doing my very best to avoid any physical contact withe mangy dog I have to pass that growled at me earlier. Hmmm... is Anna trying to steal the spear? Nope, just can't wait to get away either.

Dinner or Aliens?

... The fish did come with heads- I even tried a little bit when Maurice remove the head and skin for me. The fried pantains and french fries were great. But the biggest amazement of all, since we've arrived in Africa undoubtedly, was that I ate the schrimp. They were fully cooked and fully connected to their bodies. There were legs, antennaes, eyes, heads, the works. I looked at that tray, took a deep breath, while Pete watched in awe, and was the first one to rip the little creature apart and eat the shrimp. It was actually the best flavor of shrimp I have ever had. Now I know why shrimp is so expensive in the store. It takes a lot of work to disconnect all the parts so it looks like the pretty, little, harmless appetizer everyone loves. Pete could not believe I ate it. He was even hesitating himself, until he saw me dig in. I figured I would be insulting these guys who live from day to day on this stuff and I also didn't want to be wasteful. I still shiver when I think about it, but am glad that I did it and didn't act like a baby, making faces and rolling my eyes, which is my usual response

Dinner on the Beach

We went down to the shack at the beach and surprise, surprise they were ready for us. You have to be careful because standard time and Africa time are two very different things. We sat down on the benches, got out beers and awaited the culinary delights that were about to be brought forth....

Let me take a moment to point out that I am one of the most pickiest eaters ever. I don't do meat very well, and have been known to cook an entire meal and then not eat it. I gag very easily, even at the smell of something, don't even necessarily have to see it. So, I was very nervous about this meal. I knew the fish would still have the head on it and it would not be deboned-apparently that is an American innovation. I have gotten over that by picking apart everything given to me on my plate and saying how I am SO full, a lot. I took a big swig of my beer and waited with baited breath....

Lazing on the Beach

Back to the room to snack a bit and then down to the beach we went. We saw maybe 10 other people the whole day. It was so nice not to hear gangster rap, people driving their cars onto the beach, or stepping on cigarette butts. There weren't even any seagulls! The only time I got freaked out was when we got too close to the shrimp traps, so we just kept away from those. Only a few peddlers came by and they understood us as soon as we said we had no money, off they went.
We got cleaned up and began to notice our extreme sunburn. Yes, we used sunblock. The sun is very strong here, especially since there is a lot of cloud cover throughout the day. Luckily I sent aloe lotion in the shipment. Unluckily it was 4 hours away in our apartment. I am still lobster red as I sit in the teacher workroom and every single person that walks by feels the need to tell me I am sunburnt- yeah I know, I am the reason the AC won't kick off because I am eminating too much heat.

Peddlers

We were then accosted by a bunch of peddlers. There were 3 official stands and the rest were just guys roaming up and down the beach with bags of stuff. We checked everything out so we could see what we wanted and not act too interested. There was one artist whose paintings we liked so we asked him to come by our hotel later on, as we had no money with us. We ended up getting four paintings from him. It was hard bargaining, I am way too soft for it. Pete is pretty good so we kind of play good cop/bad cop with it. The main thing is to NEVER let them see the money in your pocket. We just picked out a bunch of stuff, said we had only this amount and started to walk away when they said it wansn't enough. In the end I am sure still payed too much, but this stuff is hand-made, not made in China. We went back on Sunday and got what we had scoped out the day before. I was very proud of us for doing it on our own, with no interpreter.

Pygmie Village

There is a clearing and Maurice is like, "This looks just like my village, what the...?" We went past the clinic, to a mud/wood building, just like all the other villages we passed to a group of a dozen or so people. Now, they weren't all that short, were dressed just like everyone else we see and they are jsut waiting for us to take out our cameras. Our guide presents them to us like they are some amazing wonder--Pete said,"Don't show your disappointment, this could get ugly." We didn't even want to take pictures but the guide kept mimmicking it. So Anna and I took ours out of our pack and low and behold, all the "Pygmies" lined up, with spears, and smiled for the camera. They then showed Pete and Maurice where to stand for the best shot. Anna and I were next and they even made her hold a spear. They then mimed that we owed them money. Pete handed over the coins and they all started yelling that it wasn't enough. We showed them our empty pockets and got out of there as quickly as possible. It was bizarre.
The pirogue ride back was much quicker and there was no one yelling at us when we got back. As soon as we got to the ocean I scrubbed my feet off and headed in the direction of a little jewelry stand to cheer myself up!

The Pirogue

The guide finally comes around and tells us to get in. Anna and I are like, we are not stepping into that sludge on the shore to get in, so we had to scramble over/through another boat. All settled in and we are off, gliding down the river, going against the current. There are two very small guys rowing this 14x4 foot wooden boat. So we had to hug the shoreline the whole way. Again, "Are we there yet?" was the main topic of conversation, and, "I wonder if there really is a village?".
About 40 minutes later, after about 10, "We're almost theres", he tells us to get out.
Off into the rain forest we go. This time there was no avoiding it, my feet got muddy and I started to pray about parasites and worms as this was exactly what all the books I read about said NOT to do. Suddenly, the guide does this shout and we could hear, in unison, a shout of reply. Then they started to whistle back and forth--we're like great, they're getting the pot ready to boil us-kidding!

The Trek

I do not have photos for this entry so I just did more of the falls. The left photo is of Anna and Maurice next to the falls. The right photo is of Peter and I in the ocean next to the freshwater falls.
Off we went, blindly, following our guide, right next to the waterfall and into the rainforest. Hmmmm, suddenly he seemed rather Pygmie like himself and we figured this was definately a scam. Up and up we went, farther and farther into the rainforest, until we came out onto a road into the heart of a village. Nope, not there yet. We walked for about a half hour down this dirt road, under the blazing sun, until we finally came to a bridge. However, throughout the walk Peter and Anna are telling Maurice to ask, "Are we there yet?", every two minutes--ok maybe not every two, but a lot. I was regretting not wearing a t-shirt over my swimsuit.
We get to the bridge and go down the embankment to wait for the guy to bring the pirogue. Now, what you haven't heard about yet is that there are about 20 or so people just milling about and we are their morning entertainment so we are being watched this entire time. There is a man on a large plank yelling this whole time. He is on a plank because his legs are not formed correctly and is upper torso is way developed to compensate for it. He is yelling because this is his port and he deserves to get a cut of the money. The argument continues for about 10 minutes, and at this point we just want to throw them the money and get the hell out of Dodge. Maurice can't interpret because they are speaking a dialect he doesn't know, but we can tell because no matter what you do here somebody wants a cut, whether they deserve it or not.

Waterfalls

We continued down the beach and just around the bend was the waterfall. It had a wonderful thunder and was so pretty. Again we were approached, this time to see if we wanted to take a pirogue ride to see a Pygmie village. Anna and Maurice had never ridden in a pirogue so we decided to go for it, despite the tourguide book saying that the Pygmie village was not very authentic. Can you tell where this is going???????
The guy wanted $10,000 for the group and we just laughed. In the end he took $6,000 because that's what Maurice had in his pocket. We had some coins that we kept because we knew we would have to pay if we took any pictures.

Saturday Morning

Neither Peter or I have been able to sleep much past 6:30 since we got here as the sun rises at 6:00 am everyday. We actually slept in untill 7:30 and then got up to sit on the front patio. Once we were all up and had some of the food we had brought with us we headed down to look for these waterfalls we had heard about. It is one of the few place on earth that the fresh waterfall flows right into the ocean. As we were walking the fellows from the night before stopped us to make sure we wouldn't find someone else to make us dinner. The left photo is of a fish they had just caught-it wasn't the one we had for dinner, this fish a group of 7 Europeans ate at the table next to us, later that night. We we laughing with Maurice and Anna that in America men always have these stories about what big fish they have caught, with all kinds of high-tech equipment no less. Here these guys use nets and ticks with line on them. I took the shot of Maurice(right photo) so some day he could brag to their kids that he caught a big one!

Ilomba

For dinner Friday night we went to the posh hotel just down the beach. The Ilomba is the most expensive place to stay- I could see why. There were actually deck chairs to lay out on, playground equipment for kids to play on, bookaroos to get out of the sun in, and the cool chess set in the photo. We ordered drinks out on this lovely veranda facing the ocean. Poor Maurice had to ask all the questions to the waiter and then translate again with the answer- we wanted to know how everything was prepared. He knows his own dialect, French, and then he learned English when he attended the airforce academy in Colorado Springs, so sometimes he doesn't always know how to say something in English. We then went up to the actual restaurant for a delcious meal of shrimp in coconut sauce and crab appetizers. It was yummy!!!!

The Beach

We brought our stuff up to the rooms and went down to the beach to watch the sunset. Maurice had never been to the coast before and had never swam in the ocean so it was a momentus occasion. It was also pretty funny to hear him say how it was so salty and the waves just didn't stop. It was warm, no slime or sharp rocks near the shore. As we swam we were approached by a group of locals who said they would cook us dinner- fresh from the sea- so Maurice bargained again. We decided on fish, crevettes(shrimp), fried platains, french fries, and of course beer for the next night. These shots are from our patio on the second story.

Car ride

The four of us packed into our car, Trixie, and headed out. Maurice was wearing his uniform so we wouldn't get hassled if there were any police road blocks. We only saw one or two the whole ride. It is hard to tell because there are so many uniforms here and some people aren't actually real police, they just want the bribe. At one of the toll places there was what seemed to be an explosion and people were all running in the direction of a huge flame. We just kept going as we weren't sure if the whole area would start on fire. When we finally got to Kribi we drove around trying to find a decent hotel. We decided against the Hotel de la Ocean(small prison-like rooms with a distinct odor of mildew, no windows, and questionable sheets) and went with the Le Cr....x Blue(it meant The Blue Meeting Place in French). It was right on the ocean and we got a second story room to enjoy the view. Maurice, the master haggler got us the room for $10,000 cfa a night, about $20. This meant that there was a bed, mosquito netting, a toilet, sink, and shower. Our room had a fan, no AC. These pictures are the view we had from our veranda on the second story, it had a restaurant, courtyard and bar area. You see Peter and Maurice unloading our stuff from the car.

Kribi Vacation Weekend

On Friday we went with Anna and Maurice to Kribi. It is about a four hour drive outside the city of Yaounde to the coast of Cameroon. It is a white sand beach, thought not the crystal blue waters you would think when referring to the Equator. It is the Atlantic ocean and much warmer than the Atlantic on the east coast of the US.

The grounds

The round, thatched roofed buildings are called bookaroos. I am sure I spelled that wrong. The picture on the right is the view from the bar area. The grounds were really beautiful and I hope we can utilize the facility somehow.

Luna Park Resort

This was our rag-tag crew on the trip, with the exception of Fred as he was taking the picture. The background is the pond at Luna Park.

Local Kids

Fred took these shots of the kids that were at the stands while we waited. The were so excited to see their images on his digital camera screen. They smiled and giggled. It was nice to be stared at for a good reason for once.