Hello Yaounde

We stepped off the bus in Yaounde on the side of a red dirt road at dusk - and into the welcoming arms of Guy's family. They are the embodiment of the concept "home" full of hugs, laughs and lots of tender care. At their house, we were given our own room with lovely, brand new crisp sheets (though we did feel a bit guilty for evicting whoever was in that room. We found out later that while we had the luxury of sleeping two to a room, everyone else was piled in at least four to a room.) That evening was another of smiles, and much joyful jumping up and down. Happy people.

Guy brought out the gifts - oh so fun!

Shoes,
basketball jerseys,

Mp3 players....

Good stuff. And we recieved a few gifts as well!

Here we are with a doll and a collection of Cameronian food in a basket (food of the wooden variety so we can keep it as a memento)

And here is Anja with her basket of food and a wall hanging. There is a subtle message for her in the wall hanging. See if you can figure it out.


Most of our time here was spent visiting on the porch (see below) and running around on various erands. We registered our passports at the Canadian embassy (as passport theft is a serious problem in the country) and were given certified photocopies to use as ID while we were there. It was a bit surreal to spend half an hour in the plush ac Canadian embassy office, flipping through coffee table books of Albertan scenery while we waited. Then it was back into a hot cab and winding through busy streets. We made a quick stop at the fanciest hotel in town for a walk through the ac lobby and a luxury bathroom break (nice little trick in third world countries - just walk in like you are supposed to be there!). Guy then decided that he was going to go shop for his wedding outfit. "Shopping" consisted of driving slowly past a couple street stalls, sticking his head out the cab window for 2 seconds and then declaring that there was nothing here that he liked. Hee hee. So instead we bought some "soya" a Cameroonian staple which is really just meat on a stick served with powdered spices on the side for dipping- and can be found everywhere! We ate a lot of soya over the course of this trip...

Other important errands - visiting family,friends and more family and more friends.... finding a pretty headband for the bride, and buying a lovely outfit for the mother of the groom.

Here are a few more pictures of Yaunde:

The view from the street outside the house.