Trip up North

After a 15 hour train ride I'd finally reached Ngoundere for a week of In Service Training. Stepping off the train I could already see how different the grand North is from the South; its hotter, flat, savannah and most people milling around are wearing traditional Muslim attire. I was really surprised by how much calmer it seemed up north, here in the south people are very loud and aggressive! The first part of the week was spent with our counterparts the rest was just us volunteers. It was a great opportunity for Serephin, my new counterpart, to get to know Peace Corps and to better understand my role here. And of course it was also so good to see everyone from stage again!

From Ngoundere I took a bus up to Maroua in the Extreme North with some friends for some vacation time. Maroua is a really pretty city with naam trees lining the streets, the shade is so nice! We visited the market (bought several varieties of mangoes!) and spent a couple of days just relaxing with other volunteers and eating really good food. There is a great artisinal market there where I found some pagne that can't be found here, a cotton blanket and some jewelry. I'd picked up a bit of Fulfulde and attempted to use it while negotiating prices which vendors thought was hilarious. Abdu is the 'PCV' leather guy, so I visited his shop and got a couple of totally free range, handmade wallets and also commissioned a purse- so much shopping, so much fun!

We took a day trip up to Waza national park which was only a couple of hours away. I saw warthogs, monkeys, lots of birds, antelopes, another antalope-esque animal, ostriches and GIRAFFES! I've always wanted to see a giraffe in the wild, I think their just hilarious animals, those necks crack me up.

We also made a trip out to Rhumsiki which is a tiny village in the mountains surrounded by these huge ancient volcanic plugs. We got to Mokolo late afternoon and still had to moto for over an hour to get there. Riding westwards at sunset in this incredible, almost lunar, landscape was really beautiful. For dinner we went to the amusingly named Vegitarian-Carnivore restaurant- it was delicious! The owner was really welcoming (“Bienvenue, Bienvenue” all night long) there was a guest book to sign filled with entries from other PCVs. The following morning we went on a guided hike down and around one of the large volcanic cores then to the village itself. There I spun some yarn with mamas and saw some intricately carved wooden figurines. While there I also had my fortune read by the feticheur; a sorcerer who told my fortune by watching the movements of a crab. Our guide acted as translator and I'm told that the crab “adored” me. Apparently I'll be contented by my time in Africa, will be very successful in work (more so than my husband), will have a boy and a girl and will not have any major health problems in my life. Needless to say I was happy with the experience!

By the end of the whole trip I was pretty exhausted and looking forward to getting back to Bandrefam. The train ride seemed even longer heading back but getting back to the dirty south felt pretty good!