A week in paradise! um, okay maybe not

Ahhh, vacation, finally! The peace corps requires that we stay at post for the first three months of our service. This helps us in getting to know our community. After in-service training which I just finished, volunteers are free to take vacation and travel elsewhere in country. My travel/vacation plans this month are Kribi (meetings all day with beach in the evenings), climbing mount cameroon in Buea, and (most exciting) New year's in London with the parents. By the time I make it back to Batouri, I will have been a month away from post. I have no complaints as to the timing of this vacation.

So Kribi. I got there a day and a half early with three others just enjoy being at the beach before everyone else arrived. This was probably my favorite time of the week. We found a secluded beach 15k down the road of which we had to wade through jungle bookesque streams and crab-filled beaches to get to but worth all of it! This is where I can say skinny-dipping off the coast of Africa if it was ever on my check list of things to do, it is now checked! It quickly ended as a volunteer swimming close by was stung by a jellyfish. That put a quick stop to things. And yes, I now know several ways to treat jellyfish stings.

As the week continued, it was nice seeing all the volunteers that I did training with as well as being introduced to a lot of other volunteers. Being in the east where we are small in numbers it was a treat. During presentations, we shared pictures or stories of what our different posts were like. As soon as 5:00 came and we were dismissed it was a mad rush to the beach. However as the week dragged on, there was a fair amount of us that were falling sick. Of course the hospital diagnosed them with malaria, since its the catch-all when they are unsure. The ones still sick at the end of the week went back with the medical officers to Yaounde for further testing. The saying by the end of the week was that those robbed were the healthy ones.

And so that leads me into the end of the week. Yes, we were robbed and by gun-point most unfortunately. I share this not to freak anybody out, but to be honest about the experience. However, because of my audience I will be vague in some details. I believe it was caused for two main reasons: we were a large group of white people who had been hanging out at the same beach for several days at this point and it was around 10 at night. 21 PCVs in total were involved. We had made a bonfire earlier that night and at the point when it happened half had decided for a late night swim while the rest of us were at our bar/local hangout for the week at the beach. Three men entered firing warning shots in the air. We did nothing but hit the ground while they went around the table grabbing all of our bags. Within less than a minute it was over. Those watching from the ocean could tell more what went down. They walked away with my purse, wallet, & sadly my camera. We immediately called Peace Corps. When they arrived, the compliment we all received from everybody was how calm under pressure we were. And thus it came to be that it was not with the saddest of feelings that I bid adieu to Kribi.

Now I am in Buea staying with Bill Colwell and Trixy Franke, a couple that run the Buea SDA hospital. It has been some great R&R while I gear up for the trek up Mount Cameroon. Best moment of the week: walking into their house after a long day of travel to see a christmas tree and lights with christmas music playing. How comforting to the soul. Who knew it could be such a mood-lifter or how much I've missed it. :)