Day 5

I got very little sleep last night, with the rare z’s filled with bizarre, passionate dreams. The morning was unremarkable except for a botched attempt at French toast. Lexi and I headed to the Ecotourism office in the afternoon for a tour of the nearby tea plantations. The tea plantations themselves were underwhelming, although the opportunity to discuss Cameroonian issues with our guide, Ferdinand, made the trip more worthwhile. The tea plantations of Cameroon went from a reasonably successful government operation to a privatized monopoly which employs a fraction of it’s original workers, lowered wages, and ships the majority of tea overseas, according to Ferdinand.

On the route back from the plantations, he elucidated on the funeral practices of the Bakweri people. In a traditional home, where thatched roofing connects several smaller huts and floors are bare earth, a deceased elder is buried in one of the rooms (huts) of the home and the door is locked. When there is a dispute in the family, a family member is ill, or an issue requires ancestral intervention, the significant individuals enter that room. Outside of traditional villages, this practice is rare, but even in Christianized communities, esteemed family past are buried in front of their homes, marked with small porcelain tombs.

In addition to guiding tours of tea plantations, The Ecotourism office provides services for trekkers on Mt. Cameroon and the surrounding ecosystems, including guides and porters to the summit. The guidebook said that the Ecotourism office hires many former hunters. Indeed, Ferdinand tells us that he himself used to be a hunter on Mt. Cameroon, before becoming a guide for the Ecotourism office.

Once I learned that Ferdinand could track, I tried to get him to teach me, but the tidbits of advice he gave I already knew and his more advanced classes are for only for guides. Still, I think I will pester him some more.

We returned to the mission, and I enjoyed a frigidly refreshing shower. We tried a restaurant off a side street called Prime Cateres with surprisingly tasty fried fish. Lexi’s verdict of the fried chicken was also top-notch. After picking up some fried street-beignets, we took a taxi to Beno bakery. It had a lower selection of western name branded, but more practical items that Cameroonians may actually buy. In short: they had peanut butter! The can is all oily, but the price wasn’t bad (1750CFA=$4) for 1½ pounds. I’m going to spread this on freaking everything. Also grabbed a sausage, a couple of sugary beignets, and beer (Becks!). I’m a happy man.
By the time we were heading back to the mission, it got very dark. We both managed to cram into a taxi with 3 other passengers (in a sub-compact). When they say don’t drive or ride at night unless you have to, they mean it.

New critter update: millipede (not in my bathroom, but in the mission hallway).