Tuesday December 16th, 2003
Today is my 37th birthday. I got up at 4:45 am, and headed to the bus stop. We were crowded as usual. We left at around 6:30, as usual. The difference: the holidays are approaching, and this bus was direct to Yaoundé. There was another difference due to the approaching holidays: Bush Meat Fandango. We must have stopped 10 times between Lomié and Among Mbang to buy meat. Monkeys, Prorqupines, Ant Eaters, small deer creatures.. the bus was full of dead animals. The roof was full of dead animals. Then, we got to town. We stopped for a few minutes, long enough to take all the meat off, and send it up ahead to avoid the checkpoint. We passed the very lame checkpoint, and picked up the meat again. The system for passing the checkpoint consisted of putting the dead animals in briefcases, and getting a well dressed man to ride on the back of a motorcycle with the brief case… as if he was going to some meeting. Between that and the bribes, it worked. All the meat made it across…and no one really even broke a sweat. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I even got to Yaoundé relatively early. Early enough to hang out with Anne, Wynette and Leanne. George is in town as well, but Isabelle is already back in Canada. I think she is going to end up going home early…