GO LAURA

At 8 weeks into my Cameroonian experience, it’s time for that “half way high” to kick in (some Welsley cheerers, Gatorade, and Jamiroquai wouldn’t hurt either).

Just had a surreal past few days during our 4 day excursion to Kribi. Before going, I was warned by several people to watch out for the “mamiwatas” or mermaids (Kribi is apparently known to have lots of black magic and sorcery). On our first night, we met some Rastas and had an epic drumming session on the beach. Fleur, one of the 4 Cameroonian students participating on our program, warned me that drumming so close to the water was a bad idea. About an hour later, one of our SIT coordinators came out and told us to stop, because we had no idea what the drummers were chanting and what evil spirits they were conjuring up. These 2 instances just added to the list of intelligent and level headed people who warned us about sorcery-such a crazy and foreign concept to me. Really interesting hearing all of their personal stories about magic… on Fleur’s grandfather’s deathbed, he made her mother swear that she would never bring her children to the village because there was too much black magic (Fleur has never been to this day…).

Hiked 2 miles into the rainforest to visit the Pygmies (the TVS gear absolutely passes the Cameroonian rainforest test Leezo!) Before the visit, we had a lecture by our translator on the Pygmies. The Pipeline Project from Chad to Cameroon implemented by the World Bank a few years ago not only displaced many Pygmies, but also made the prostitution rates skyrockets. Starting around the age of 13, many female Pygmies begin to become prostitute themselves for 50 CFA, or about 15 cents.

[Insert story here that I don’t want my mom to hear until I return safely home…]

On a lighter note, Kelsey and I had our hair “tressed” with “mesch” last night. AKA I am now rocking a weave. It took about 5 hours of tugging and braiding for this fabulous new hair style- I can’t quite figure out what I look like. My best conclusion is that I resemble one of those Bratz Dolls. Dream come true.

I GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE TODAY! I couldn’t be happier…Tasty Kakes never tasted so tasty. I introduced my sister to microwave popcorn for the first time. My mom came running in when she heard the pops and thought I was breaking the microwave. It was amazing to get to correct her for once (she LOVES correcting me…this morning I learned that I’ve been hanging my clothes on the wrong spot on the line all this time. What was I thinking??) Anyway, they couldn’t believe that it was salty. Apparently all Cameroonian popcorn is sweet and made on the stove.

Originally, we were supposed to leave tomorrow for the North by a train. Unfortunately, it has been derailed one too many times over the past few weeks, so we are now traveling by van. We’ve been informed to wear sneakers and get ready to push the bus, as the roads are apparently horrible. 24 hour bus ride here we come!