Travels to the North and Beyond

After mom's departure and Raph's arrival in Cam-Town, and a 4^th of July party that would make America proud, I headed up to the Grand North for a little fun in the desert. This entailed a 24-hour trip directly from Yaoundé to Maroua, which was beautiful and filled me with region-envy. The city itself is wan-da-ful – planned, calm, and beautiful – and not nearly as hot as I had imagined.

After copious amounts of bean sandwiches and a little day-drinking, we left for Rhumsiki, which is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been (GOOGLE IT!). We visited Suzie's post only a few kilometers from there - some of us are luckier than others... And although we were all peeing out of our butts by that time, we still had a ball enjoying the view, the company, and the amazing cooking.

Celebrating America. With Mexican beer. In Cameroon.

Katie, Laura, and I in Rhumsiki

All of us in Rhumsiki

We meandered through the Extreme-North. Our itinerary unfortunately ended up mostly revolving around the transit house and its two bathrooms, since we all got amoebas and were more or less immobile for ten days. Ashia for us. But all is well that ends well. We didn't get to see nearly as much as we had hoped up there, but that just means we'll have to go back, sooner rather than later. Insha'allah.

After our hike up Mt Maroua

Victorious!

Popping some anti-diarrheal tablets, we hopped on the bus to Garoua, the regional capital of the North. We visited a few surrounding villages where volunteers from our training group are posted, which was great. It was really nice seeing how different people are adapting to different environments, seeing the connections and relationships they've built, and just seeing everyone in their new homes. We really have grown a lot in the past 11 months. It's crazy to think that we're only a few weeks away from hitting our 1 year mark in Cameroon!

Crystal, Katie, and I in front of the Lamido's palace in Gashiga, Shane's village

After our Tour du Nord, we bussed down to Ngaounderé, the regional capital of the Adamawa region. The culture is northern, but the weather is like the north-west – best of both worlds! While there, we got henna drawn on our hands and feet, which was beautiful and people back in Fonfuka absolutely loved it. We finally headed back down to Yaoundé on the train, which broke down after an hour. Luckily for us, we had a CD full of American music, which the train staff was gracious enough to play for us as we waited, and we were gracious enough to dance to, much to the amusement agony of our fellow passengers.

Henna!

And so my trip to the north comes to an end. This country really is so diverse, and I feel very lucky to be able to experience so many different cultures and climates within its borders. I absolutely loved it up there! But being back at post also made me realize all that I have built in Fonfuka. I had initially considered moving to the North, since I have struggled to find work in my village and was becoming frustrated. But as my motorcycle sped through Fonfuka for the first time in 6 weeks, people literally ran after it shouting “Welcome Aunty Alissa.” How could I leave that? How could I leave those relationships I've built over the last 8 months? Peace Corps is not easy, but the basis of the work we can hope to do here is in these relationships we have within our community, and being away for so long really made me appreciate those that I have there. I'm currently on my way back from a Girl's Empowerment Forum that I attended with two counterparts from my village. I think they learned a lot, and we all got a lot of ideas of projects we could try and implement in village. So all in all I'm very excited to go back to post tomorrow, and for the rest of my service in Fonfuka.