A second great thing is that we can play our advanced version of the "smell" test game. Because one's clothing becomes sweaty and damp within 5 minutes of putting them on and the primary means of fixing this is try to air them out after a long day in the same tee shirt (but "airing" a shirt out in 100% humidity is kind of an oxymoron), we spend some of our evenings trying to figure out which of us is or is not acceptably smelly and which article of clothing is the most offensive. I don't think I am being unfair when I say that Scott's socks usually take top prize.
Limbe
After the wild commercial capital of Douala, we headed to what I hear is the best beachtown in the country, Limbe. We traveled to the town from Douala via two taxi cabs and one minibus. The minibus was similar to those we took in Uganda/Rwanda/Tanzania except in this one, there were some angry Angry people. The minibus proprietors piled people into the bus, telling them that the bus would take them to their destinations - the only trouble was, people in the bus were going to all different destinations. Their game was to take people's fares to their final destination, then take everyone to a major road junction, buy them onward tickets on some other vehicle for less money than was paid to them, dump everyone off the minibus, and make money on the transaction. By the time people compared notes and realized that the bus could not be taking everyone to the disparate destinations, all people could do was vocalize their complaints, but everyone was already piled in and ready to go (or, wait for 20 minutes while the driver prepared himself to drive) so there wasn't much to be done other than suck it up.
The taxis, which was just small (typically very old) cars like nissan sentra hatchbacks, are super efficient. They are always shared unless you request to buy the whole thing out (and why would you do that?) , they travel on major roads and you point in the direction you are going in, the driver slows down, you shout your destination into his window and either he stops or it is not a good fit so he keeps driving. They carry the maximum volume of people possible of course. Typically, that is 3 people in front and 4 people in the backseat. We have not ridden in one with people in the trunk yet, but we have seen them drive by with 7 in the main part of the car and the trunk open with 4 people sitting in the trunk with their feet hanging over the back. People are very friendly on the taxi but I have a hard time understanding their conversations which are usually in English-pidgen.
In Limbe, we visited a wildlife sanctuary which was very interesting; the place is nearly completely populated by gorillas and primates rescued from poachers or from people's homes where they were being held as pets (typically purchased from poachers who killed a baby-gorilla or baby-monkey's mother for bush meat). The exhibit included each animal's story of arrival to the sanctuary.
We met a university student from Barcelona who was volunteering at the place and, after we congratulated her Spanish team on their victory, she noted that actually, the World Cup was won by Barceloneans as most of the team is from that region. We also eavesdropped on some other volunteers, one of whom were observing the behavior of the gorillas. As we were sitting watching them do what they do, the gorilla-observer correctly noted that one big male gorilla was trying to mate with a baby gorilla, she sighed and marked it in her notebook.
We also tried a lot of different food in Limbe. I was finally able to try Scott's famed rice, beans and pepe (hot pepper sauce in palm oil) dish, his favorite in Cameroon or actually anywhere. This is best procured from ladies on the street who set up their wares on street corners. They can be identified by their special pots, they look kind of like crock pots but no plugs and plastic, not glass. Inside these pots can be any variety of items so you must ask what they have cooked that night. The first night we did this in Limbe, we encounted several ladies without beans or rice so you must be persistent! When we finally found our lady, we bought the dish for 200 CAF (central african francs, a common currency used in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic) less than $0.50 and it was very good. I must say that the delight with the flavor of the dish (essentially white rice with a tomatoey/oily pinto type of bean along with hot sauce) cannot be disentangled from the fantastic value. Cheap restaurants provide comparably sized dishes (but less flavorful in general!) for 2,000 - 3,000 CAF. There are risks with eating street food with sanitation and what not, but these risks exist in restaurants and at least we can watch the lady cook/plate our food the whole time. We have eaten street food everyday and so far, so good with the not-sick..
Limbe's beach is below - Black sand and volcanic rock.. And pretty strong waves!
The Worst Value Meal Yet
After 2 nights in a scrappy-beach hotel, we decided to splurge on one night in a fancy-ish place. This hotel was was some miles from town with no meal options nearby so we expected some overpriced meals. Unfortunately, the only choice at the restaurant wa a fantastically overpriced buffet - a whopping 9,000 CFA, $18 per person, compared with 200 CFA for a whole meal on the street. We sat in the restaurant with maybe 3 other tables of people waiting for the buffett to get prepared while numerous other diners approached the place, saw the price , laughed and walked out... We stuck it out to avoid traveling at night. The food was not good, the staff were extremely surly (probably because they couldn't believe how little they were getting from that 9,000 CFA per person we forked out), and I left feeling overly full because I stuffed myself on couscous, the only item I liked, to justify the huge expense.
Congratulations Seme Beach Hotel at Mile 11 near Limbe, Cameroon, after nearly 3 months of searching, we are awarding you the Worst Value Meal of our trip!
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