Kribi

Kribi!  What a gorgeous, beautiful place!  We had a wonderful time, it was like a little getaway to somewhere you would see in a book labeled "paradise"  The entire time we were gone I was trying to soak up my surroundings, take mental notes, and capture as many pictures as possible in order to relay a small taste of the experience to all of you!  You were literally on my mind the whole time!! I wish you could have experienced it with me!  Pictures (especially from my small  camera!) do not do it justice!  There's just NO WAY to really capture it!  But I did my best to put together a little taste for you.  I always tell my sisters not to post too many/pointless pictures.... but today I'm breaking my own rule!  This is a long one!  Sorry!  I just wish there was a way to give you a good feel for what it was like!

Taking pictures most places along the beach is fine, but allot of the pictures I sneak to show you guys what things are like are sly and carefully planned.  For one thing, it's usually not a good idea to pull out a camera in a crowd because, well it shows that you have a camera. Second, allot of Cameroonians do not want their picture taken and will get pretty upset.  I try to be as respectful as possible, and most don't mind at all, in fact, love to jump in a picture, but you never know who does and doesn't unless you ask, which is usually not really an option.  so I've gotten really good at setting my camera for no sound and no flash and just pausing somewhere as still as possible with it cupped discretely in my hand.  I try to capture the moments and peice them together for you to get a little idea of what it's like here!  (pictures from the fish market, bus station, and our bobolo in the bus are prime examples!)

Like I said, this weekend was incredible, a paradise vacation... but, we're still in Africa, public transportation took a solid 6 hours in a "45 passenger bus/van" to go roughly 80-90 miles, and our motel room and restaurant had no electricity half the time we were there... but I love it!

Our hotel bathroom the first night, no toilet paper, toilet seat, soap, towels, and well, water either... if there was water though, you could take a shower while standing basically against the toilet and look out the window! 

Our bathroom the 2nd night... once again, shower, sink, toilet, and window are all "in the shower" :)

The beach is lined with little places to eat or buy souvenirs, all kinds of quaint little places, things that just seem straight out of a picture-book, or brochure for somewhere you never expect to actually visit!

...like this "restaurant in nature!"

I wish you could have been standing there...

There's just no way to know how beautiful it is without experiencing it, but I'm trying to give you a small glimpse!

at the "restaurant on the rocks" Just some tables and such setting up there on the rocks!

our "guides" (two guys that just walked with us to help us find our way around) took us up to a place to swim on the falls or "shoots" and just a little ways from where we were these ladies were washing clothes and there was a little girl taking a bath... when she was done soaping down she stood there the rest of the time (with nothing on) and washed clothes.

One of our "guides" hung out with us and showed us his little swimming hole, however, he hung out with us until it was about lunch time, as soon as we got out of the water and appeared to be done swimming he quickly fetched the other "guide" and they made sure we were going to their restaurant to eat!

This place was amazing!

Just before we left our little swimming spot some more guys showed up to show off... they jump in one at a time from the side and stay down until you get worried!  I believe what they were doing was mapping out where the rocks were! 

The water was not deep at all, I could stand up in most places because there are just random rocks really close to the surface....so... needless to say, this is very dangerous!! but they sure enjoyed our concern for them and gasps each time we were sure they were going to kill themselves!

To the right you will see a man swimming, to the left you will see his shorts!

A colorful little souvenir shop along the way to the shoots

We made a friend the first evening when we got a motto ride back to the hotel, the next day he took us around Kribi for a little tour!  It was so great!

 Our friend took us through the fish market, he explained that you can pick out your fish and buy it, then go a few steps away to where all the fryers were and have your meal made.

Fish of all sizes and other sea creatures!  Even some small sharks apparently!

Wow... pinch me!

December!?

Mosquito net!

The "bus station" in Kribi on our way back, lined with cases of alcohol... one guy who we thought was our driver was drinking away, just slightly unnerving!  We decided to get a bus to Douala instead of Edea.  African driving in the first place makes you grip the seat with white knuckles and hold your breath!  Compared to our very first taxi ride from the airport to Buea, I've calmed down completely and enjoy the rides.  I expect them to pull out to pass with a car coming head on and almost clip off every motto driver.

On our way back to Buea we were flagged off the road by the gendarme (police)... all vehicles were waved off the road.  We didn't know what was going on but kept hearing things about a parade, and president in french, finally realized that Paul Biya the president of Cameroon for almost 30 years now, just re-elected in October, was coming by... when we were outside the bus I was going to try to get a picture of the motorcade but one of the gendarme across the road started yelling at me... so I put it away quick!  All I could get a was a sneaky picture of the Paul Biya billboard beside the road.  But at any rate, I thought it was amazing cool to see the Cameroonian president's motorcade!

When you take public transport you have "concessions" continually every time the bus slows down enough for people to hold stuff up to the window.  On the way back today we got a couple bags of plantain chips, a coconut, and this... something wrapped in a banana leaf, it looked like "bobolo" (something I do not like) but the ones she had cut open were a dark red-ish color and "normal bobolo" is white, so we we decided to try it... when we got it unwrapped it was all gooy and the looks of it would have made my stomach churn a few months ago... but now it made me think Mmmm.... looks interesting, let's try it! :) ... it's wasn't bad! (this is one of those pictures that was taken sneakily basically from my armpit).