North Trip Part Two ~ Maroua

When our bus finally reached Mokolo Spencer was there to meet us!  We were so happy to see him and have the 33 hour part of the trip behind us.  

After 11 hours straight in a packed bus, we were all in great need of a 'public restroom'... this is the facility we were very happy to find!  Spencer had mottos lined up for us for the final hour of our journey.  It seemed like we were going deeper and deeper into the African bush!  It was dark so all I could see was faint outlines of mud huts and the bumpy, hilly "road" as far ahead as the little motto's light reached.  I couldn't really see any of Koza when we pulled in the first night but it was just such a relief to reach the missionary's house and settle in and relax a bit!  

Onions are the bounty crop in the north, there were HUGE sacks of onions like this one everywhere, one place we passed had bundles like this stacked deep and about as long as you could see.  After a day of seeing a little big of Koza we took a 3 hour trip  to the closest "big town" of Maroua.  There was a small hotel with some animals for tourists like us to go see... the ostriches and tortus were the main attractions! 

This fence left much to be desired, let's just say it was not sturdy and that bird was not happy!  I was sure he was going to get out and let us have it... but thankfully he stayed inside! (to my family: remember getting attacked by Festus?? I'd hate to know what an angry bird 150x his size would be like!)

This was the girl ostrich, she was much nicer, I was going to pet her and she pecked my fingers, just like a little chick.

This tortus was pretty amazing, a big 'little' guy!  Not sure what he weighed but I'd guess around 50 lbs.

Not only was his shell strong enough to hold us without him even feeling our weight... he was still able to move a little (turtle speed) with a passenger!

Yep! Got to ride a lion in Africa!

After playing with the animals we explored Maroua's market.  We walked through the artesana where all kinds of merchants were selling home-make goods.  Then we went through part of the regular market with clothes, food, and other goods.  We were just about to go find a restaurant when I spotted a lady selling prepared food right there in the market.  We decided to give her the business for only 500 fancs a plate.  I got a huge plate of rice and coco-yams with some pepa!  She washes all her dishes and silverware right there in a bucket and you're expected to eat and bring it back.  We didn't really know where to eat because we were just standing in the middle of a crowded market isle, a man from the shop right beside her told us to go and sit in his shop, so we crawled into his little jean store, sat one the sand floor and enjoyed our meal.  I was skeptical about the cleanliness of my fork, and just rubbed it in my shirt until the stickiness went away and the fabric of my shirt didn't stick to it anymore... fresh and clean! MMmmm Bon Appetit!