Back Home!

I have made it safely back at my home near Washington DC. I am tired and a little dazed, so I will run through the basic points of my odyssey from Cameroon.

Friday: Went to Mile 17 to prearrange a clando (private car) to Douala with the help of Christy, Jill's research assistant. We were able to secure a decent rate at a time early enough so that I wouldn't have to worry about Douala's horrendous traffic or unexpected obstacles along the way. In exchange, I've agreed to take a dress to one of Christy's friends in nearby Maryland.

Saturday: The clando and its driver, Victor, arrived at 6am and I left my keys in the door of the guest house, put my luggage in the trunk of the clando, and drove through waking Buea onto Douala. We arrived to the airport without any issue and Victor was very courteous in helping me bring my luggage into the airport. Once I got into the airport, things began to go downhill. An overweight carry-on bag resulted in the loss of 7500 CFA. Even worse, I had to bribe an airport official 40,000 CFA before I was allowed to leave the country because of visa issues. The flight from Douala to Addis Ababa was a hour and a half late, arriving in Addis Ababa 10 minutes after my connecting flight to Washington DC had left. The hotel put me up in a hotel and set me up for another DC flight the next night.

Sunday: Turns out missing the flight wasn't so much of a bad thing. It allowed me to avoid spending more than 24 hours straight on a plane ride. It also gave me some time to explore a little bit of Addis. Went to see the National Museum, where I took tons of pictures of Lucy and other paleohominid fossils. I chatted up a local and bought an Obama shirt. I wandered a bit around the city before hoping into a minibus at the suggestion of my local friend. The taxi ride to the National Museum cost 50 birr; the minibus back cost 1. Got back to the hotel, enjoyed some Ethiopian food courtesy of the airport, booted up the hot water heater, drew a bath, and soaked. A bus arrived, took me to the airport, and I hopped on a 17 hour flight back home.

Addendum: Back home safe and sound. Everything is good, except that my laptop is not booting up, which is a problem because 3 months of field work and interviews are on it. I have backups of most of my research on cassette tape, but it more work is required before the data from the backups can be analyzed. It also means that there will be no pictures until the laptop is fixed; IF it is fixed.
Oh well. It was great to see my family again and lie down on my old bed.

Cameroon was great. I thank the nation, its people, and everyone that participated in a truly wonderful experience. Even with all the set backs and frustrations, these past 3 months have been inspiring and profoundly impactful. Thank you.