Views of Nature

Feeling very good the past couple days. I did a young girls camp for girls 10-14 (we had a few 5 year old straglers) for a week with some other volunteers. It went really well. We taught them about communication, decision making, health, careers, saving and income generating activities. Let's not forget another condom demonstration by yours truly. I planned the whole thing start to finish so it was really good to see it come to fruition.

Now I'm heading down to mid service, which is basically a series of medical examinations. We will need to provide at least 3 stool samples, so we were told to bring at least one with us. Nice. So on my way I stopped in another town called Kaele to check it out. First we ate some traditional southern vegetables. Then we went to a nearby lake to see the crocodiles. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We only drove about 7 km out of town, but it felt very isolated and remote. It was an old quarry so it was very deep with large ledges. There were mountains right next to the spot so standing up on the precipice with the wind blowing, I felt great. There was only one little grouping of huts at the foot of the mountain. That and the boys bathing in the lake when we first arrived were the only reminders of civilization. We saw the crocs pop their heads out of the water and float on the surface and then go down again. The most we saw at one time was 7.'

Then on the bus ride to Ngaoundere we passed the river in Garoua and saw a big pile of hippos. They were huge and just sitting in the water. One popped its head up as we passed.

After the 10 hour bus ride, we arrived and immediately went to our favorite restaurant Le Concorde, where I had delicious rotisserie chicken.

Today, after 3 hours of negotiations, we found a car to drive us to the waterfall at Tello. It was a little over an hour drive on an unpaved road. Now that it is rainy season, and we are in the Adamawa region, there is so much greenery and the earth is a dark red. Then we had to walk down a very long and steep flight of stairs made out of rocks until we reached the waterfall. The stairs led to a big cave, where the water was falling from the top of the cave, so we were essentially behind the waterfall. There was lots of moss and it was beautiful. Then we took another flight of stairs which led to the other side and took some great pictures. My camera is broken, but my friend has already tagged me in some photos on facebook.

This country really is beautiful and I cannot do it justice in my humble blog. I know that I will always want to continue to travel to new and majestic places like Cameroon.