Arrived!
Door: Elise
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Elise
09 Januari 2015 | Kameroen, Garoua
Hello all!!
Here, my first story of my trip to Cameroon. I'm going to try to keep it a bit short. Although so many things are happening so that is going to be difficult haha. The trip to here was pretty long, but was totally ok. On sunday morning, my parents brough me to Brussels where I flew to Istanbul. There we had to wait a pretty long time. After that, we had a comfortable flight of 7 hours to Douala.
We arrived there with only a half an hour of delay. When I came out of the aiplane, the first breath of African air reminds you that you are back, and that is so nice! I was really happy that we were picked up at the airport. It was the middle of the night and we still had to go to the hotel. The hotel was pretty close, so that was nice.
The next day we went to Yaounde by bus. It was a quite luxury bus, and we even got some food. Againt my expectations in Africa haha. It was a trip of almost four hours through the rainforest. It was beautifull to see all the green. The comoing monts I will barely see a lot of green, so I was happy that I had to see it now. In Yaounde we searched for a cheap hotel.
We had to wait for another day to take the train. The next morning, we found out that the ministry had cancelled all the reservations for the beds in the train. Thus, one of the bed we were planning to take.. In the end, it could be arranged that we had some seats in the first class. I was happy that we had some places in the train and that we did not have to wait for another day. However, for a traintravel of 15 hours in the train, I would have preferred a bed. Before the train was going, we still had to wait a couple of hours and we did that in a little african cafe. Many things were happening. Tons of salesmen passed by sell their stuff. Women preparing food etc. Good to see all those things happening. Only then, you know that you are back in the crazyness of the African life. AND I LOVE IT!! haha.
The train itself was totally fine. We were sitting next to nice people. The train was stopping at many different villages and people were waiting outside to sell all kinds of foods. People in the train can buy stuff through the windows. So funny to see! Because the traintrip was during the night, I tried to sleep a bit. It was not that easy, but it worked out in the end. The next morning, the went light at around 7 AM. The surroundings had changed to a much drier environment. We still had some hours to go and I spent my time by looking out of the windows. At around 10 AM, we finally arrived in Ngaoundere. There we would finally meet Iris. When we left the train we had to search for our luggage. Chaos all over again. All carriers came to us to help. In the end we chose one that searched for our stuff. In the end we found it and we were ready to go to the car! Yay
The car is the next story. It was broken down again. It was a miracle that Iris and Maloum (our driver) even made it to Ngaounere in the end. In the morning, Maloum arranged to fix one of the parts of the car, but the rest has to be done in Garoua. In the beginning, everything was still quite ok. We only had to stop a couple of times to let cool down the motor. However, after a while, the pump also stopped working and we had to stop even more often. I don't know how we made it to Garoua, but we did. After at least 30 times of stopping and having quite a delay we made it. We were all super tired after this trip.
In the evening we were already meeting quite some people from EFG. People that I had not seen for a long time, so I was happy to meet them again. We put all our stuff in our rooms. This time, I even have a room for my own. Quite relaxed :D We had some dinner at the house of the director because his wife had cooked really nice for us. After that, we went to bed, because we were super tired.
The next day.. Our first full da in Garoua. We did not do a lot. We went to town to arrange a simcard for my phone and new internetcredit. We also did just some regular shopping. Back home we relaxed a bit and later in the afternoon we played a bit with the children of the director. We even played oldschool hide and seek :D. In the evening we went out for dinner in town. We went on the motor, a really nice trip through the dark of the city. We had a really nice dinner with chicken. ANd sitting ooutside a whole evening outside in january.. soooo perfect. I love the temeratures here now. Not too warm yet, just perfect :D Much better that the cold in the Netherlands (sorry!!) When we gt back we went for a cup of tea at the directors house and after that we went to bed.
Today, the car is getting to repaired. When it is coming back, we are going into town to do some shopping for the next field period in Bouba Ndjida. We are going tomorrow for 10 days (I'm so exited for that!). Furthermore, we don't have a lot of plans for today, except for a bit of preparing for tomorrow..
So, that was was had happened those last few days since I left home. Hopefully I can update you soon after the field period.
Greets!
Elise
Here, my first story of my trip to Cameroon. I'm going to try to keep it a bit short. Although so many things are happening so that is going to be difficult haha. The trip to here was pretty long, but was totally ok. On sunday morning, my parents brough me to Brussels where I flew to Istanbul. There we had to wait a pretty long time. After that, we had a comfortable flight of 7 hours to Douala.
We arrived there with only a half an hour of delay. When I came out of the aiplane, the first breath of African air reminds you that you are back, and that is so nice! I was really happy that we were picked up at the airport. It was the middle of the night and we still had to go to the hotel. The hotel was pretty close, so that was nice.
The next day we went to Yaounde by bus. It was a quite luxury bus, and we even got some food. Againt my expectations in Africa haha. It was a trip of almost four hours through the rainforest. It was beautifull to see all the green. The comoing monts I will barely see a lot of green, so I was happy that I had to see it now. In Yaounde we searched for a cheap hotel.
We had to wait for another day to take the train. The next morning, we found out that the ministry had cancelled all the reservations for the beds in the train. Thus, one of the bed we were planning to take.. In the end, it could be arranged that we had some seats in the first class. I was happy that we had some places in the train and that we did not have to wait for another day. However, for a traintravel of 15 hours in the train, I would have preferred a bed. Before the train was going, we still had to wait a couple of hours and we did that in a little african cafe. Many things were happening. Tons of salesmen passed by sell their stuff. Women preparing food etc. Good to see all those things happening. Only then, you know that you are back in the crazyness of the African life. AND I LOVE IT!! haha.
The train itself was totally fine. We were sitting next to nice people. The train was stopping at many different villages and people were waiting outside to sell all kinds of foods. People in the train can buy stuff through the windows. So funny to see! Because the traintrip was during the night, I tried to sleep a bit. It was not that easy, but it worked out in the end. The next morning, the went light at around 7 AM. The surroundings had changed to a much drier environment. We still had some hours to go and I spent my time by looking out of the windows. At around 10 AM, we finally arrived in Ngaoundere. There we would finally meet Iris. When we left the train we had to search for our luggage. Chaos all over again. All carriers came to us to help. In the end we chose one that searched for our stuff. In the end we found it and we were ready to go to the car! Yay
The car is the next story. It was broken down again. It was a miracle that Iris and Maloum (our driver) even made it to Ngaounere in the end. In the morning, Maloum arranged to fix one of the parts of the car, but the rest has to be done in Garoua. In the beginning, everything was still quite ok. We only had to stop a couple of times to let cool down the motor. However, after a while, the pump also stopped working and we had to stop even more often. I don't know how we made it to Garoua, but we did. After at least 30 times of stopping and having quite a delay we made it. We were all super tired after this trip.
In the evening we were already meeting quite some people from EFG. People that I had not seen for a long time, so I was happy to meet them again. We put all our stuff in our rooms. This time, I even have a room for my own. Quite relaxed :D We had some dinner at the house of the director because his wife had cooked really nice for us. After that, we went to bed, because we were super tired.
The next day.. Our first full da in Garoua. We did not do a lot. We went to town to arrange a simcard for my phone and new internetcredit. We also did just some regular shopping. Back home we relaxed a bit and later in the afternoon we played a bit with the children of the director. We even played oldschool hide and seek :D. In the evening we went out for dinner in town. We went on the motor, a really nice trip through the dark of the city. We had a really nice dinner with chicken. ANd sitting ooutside a whole evening outside in january.. soooo perfect. I love the temeratures here now. Not too warm yet, just perfect :D Much better that the cold in the Netherlands (sorry!!) When we gt back we went for a cup of tea at the directors house and after that we went to bed.
Today, the car is getting to repaired. When it is coming back, we are going into town to do some shopping for the next field period in Bouba Ndjida. We are going tomorrow for 10 days (I'm so exited for that!). Furthermore, we don't have a lot of plans for today, except for a bit of preparing for tomorrow..
So, that was was had happened those last few days since I left home. Hopefully I can update you soon after the field period.
Greets!
Elise
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11 Januari 2015 - 11:37
Mama:
Door jouw verhalen ga ik ook terug verlangen naar Afrika.
xx Mama.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
