Spring Break Trip to the West

As I mentioned in the previous post, we went with friends Kelly and Bill Owens to Kelly’s old Peace Corps village in the western province for spring break this year. Before I describe the trip, though, I thought it might be useful to give some geographical context, so I’ve circled several locations on the map below.

First, you can see Yaoundé (with the star), which has been our home for the past three years. To the southwest of that is Kribi, our favorite little beach getaway (most recently blogged about here). Moving up the coast, I’ve circled Buea, which is where we began our Mt. Cameroon hike. Bamenda, where we visited a tea plantation our first Christmas here, is circled in the northwest province. The large circle is where we went on this most recent trip, but the village where we spent our 2009 Thanksgiving is not far south of there.

The point of all this is that the landscapes of all these locations are very different despite their relative proximity, and this is only one small section of Cameroon. No wonder it’s known as “Africa in miniature”!

For this trip, we left on Sunday, April 17, and headed into the mountains. (We followed the Owens, and it’s their red station wagon in many of the following photos.)
The roads were great until we got close to Kelly’s village, so we parked our car at their friend’s house and then got a ride to the top. Their friend’s uncle is the chief of the village where we parked, and this is a photo of the grand entrance to his compound.

Kelly’s village is called Bankondji (if you look at the map, it’s near the circled town of Bafang), and it’s in a lovely, quiet, agricultural area.
We arrived Sunday evening, and there wasn’t time to do much besides set up our tents and eat a quick dinner before dark, so the next morning we set out for an early walk. (Evan, a friend we met last year in Tanzania, came with us on the trip. He’s next to Bill in the photo below.)
Because the village is so high in the mountains, there are many vistas like this one along the road.
Here we are in front of the “Welcome to Bankondji” sign.
On our way back to the village, we passed the school where Kelly taught English.
This is a shot of one of her old classrooms that wasn’t being used the day we were there.

We spent most of the day reading, drinking beer, and playing games on the front porch of Kelly’s Peace Corps parents’ house. There was hardly anyone around during the day because the kids were at school and the adults were all working in the fields; after dinner, though, everyone relaxed. The older guys played soccer in the square.
And the younger kids goofed around and posed for photos.

Since it was the week before Easter, Bill thought it would be fun to do an Easter egg hunt. First, he and Brian demonstrated dyeing the eggs.

The next morning, Brian stayed back to read, but the rest of us went for another walk.
We went a different direction than we had the day before, and the views were even more stunning. This is my favorite photo from the whole trip because it comes closest to capturing the deep verdure of the region. Everything felt so fresh and alive.
There were all kinds of interesting colors and textures along the road:


This is overlooking a small waterfall…
…and this is looking back the way we came.
At one point, we came across a local farmer Kelly knew, and he offered to show us his land. The farms here are located along steep mountain inclines, so most of us just peeked over the edge; Evan braved the slippery path, though, and took these great photos of the proud man and his crops.

That afternoon, it was time to hide all the eggs.

(This is the front of Kelly’s parents’ house.)
When the kids returned from school, Bill explained the rules…
…and they were off!
Everyone was very pleased with their finds.
Afterwards, Kelly’s mom, Madeline, collected several of the eggs to store until dinner.
This is one of the only shots we got of her, despite the fact that she is such a dominant presence. She definitely runs the household and is one of the toughest and most admirable women I’ve ever met. Because of her hard work, her family is one of the most successful in the village; since they always have plenty of food, there are many children from less fortunate families who eat most of their meals at Madeline’s house.

She has instilled this work ethic in her own children, too. Many of them are older now and live elsewhere, but her daughter Leah and son Cedric (in the red shirt above) are still at home and were so helpful the whole time we were there: preparing food, chopping wood, taking care of neighbors’ kids, playing with the Owens’ baby, and carrying water so we could take our daily bucket baths. I can see why Kelly felt so taken care of in the Peace Corps!

After three days in the village, we said our goodbyes and made our way down to the main road, where we were treated to more mountain scenery.

In this region, these pointed roofs signify a chief’s house. (You can see the same style on a larger scale in the third photo of this post.)
First we drove to Bafoussam, the third largest city in Cameroon, for lunch and a little fabric shopping.

Then it was on to Dschang, where we spent our last two days of the break. Pronounced “chong”, Dschang is a college town with a wonderfully laid-back feel; it’s also at a higher elevation, so it’s much cooler than Yaoundé.

We stayed at the Centre Climatique, a charming place that is now somewhat rundown, but that was created in the ‘40s as an upscale resort for French military personnel who couldn’t return to Europe for vacations. The grounds are still quite impressive; this shot is from the central gardens looking towards the restaurant and lounge. (The buildings on top of the hill are not part of the complex.)
This is a view in the opposite direction from the steps of the restaurant.
The path that winds around the grounds takes you past gently sloping lawns and brightly colored flowers.


The rooms are in bungalows of varying sizes; we all stayed in a 4-bedroom/4-bathroom bungalow that shared a common living room; our favorite part was the covered patio.
Our first evening there, we pulled all the living room furniture out and had some area Peace Corps volunteers over for drinks.
The next night we bought some wood and built a roaring fire in the fireplace.
During the day, the majority of our time was spent reading and chatting on the patio.

Dschang is definitely one of the most relaxing places we’ve been in Cameroon, but on Friday it was time to head back to Yaoundé. We were slowed down by a Good Friday parade (led by the nuns in this photo) that streamed through traffic for blocks and blocks.
On the drive, we were struck by some of the sights that have become so familiar in the past three years, including lines of moto-taxis waiting for passengers…
…and cowherds leading their livestock down the roads.
There are other things, however, that we will probably never get used to. Take, for example, this method of transporting fresh bread.
Talk about a blind spot. :)

Thanks again to the Owens for a fabulous trip, and thanks to Evan for coming to see us. (This will likely be one of the last posts for this school year--I can't believe we'll be in the States in just over a month!)