cameroon log

The excellent truck adventure

It all started yesterday morning, at around 7:30am with some negotiation on the price of motorcycle rides to Echambord, which is about 21kms south of Lomié. I tried to get the price way down.. but that didn't work.
So, for 2000k CFA (4$) we all, and by all, I mean Jen, Vieux (a neighbor kid) and myself, headed off. It was cloudy, but cool. I was carrying my camera equipment, vieux was carrying the bamboo grumier truck that Vieux's brother made. He was carrying it so that the family would be complete. That was the reason for the trip. His little brother had finished several new trucks, and I was going to film him putting them together, and talk a little bit about selling them. At the very least, I was buying the ones that he made. So, off we go. Jen was carrying.. um, nothing. The ride was fantastic. The jungle is just fucking amazing, and as soon as you get about 10kms south, it gets to that really nice jungle, and it comes right up to the edge of the road. After about 20 minutes, the bike I was on got a flat....or more accurately, it had a slow leak, and we had to get down while it was getting fixed. Don't think that there were approriate tools. Think, metal wires, spit and some glue. We waited about 30 minutes for the guy to fix it. Off we go again. It turns out that Vieux lives a good 5 kms outside of town.so, we got to the town, and the drivers didn't want to take us the final 5k to Vieux's house... actually, they wanted to get the white man to pay some more...so.. we got down, said, you do what you have to do.. and we walked. Luckily for Jen, who was there to do research for Koko, a vegitable that grows wild in the forest, the local expert
so... Jen found the person she was looking for, and headed off into the jungle to collect plants. Vieux and I walked 5 kms to his house..where, when we walked in, the first thing that happened is that one of the boys there said: "merde".. I just flat out shocked him. I don't think they have ever had a white man in their house, and I was clearly a guest that they had been waiting for.. for weeks. Was I coming, was I not..they were sort of convinced that I was blowing them off...but then, walking down the road, there I was. merde. I sat with the father chatting for an hour or two, the father was gracious, and we had a long conversation... which was.. sort of interesting. There is is trait here that men have..Its this tendency to create a whole logical framework world view based on a few key assumptions that are, well, for lack of a better term, way way off. It is amusing and tragic all at the same time. After a meagre meal of plantains and avacodo (they are really really poor)...we got to the trucks. They were awesome. The kid had a basket full of parts, and built two more totally complex and fantastic machines in front of me. All of which I got on film. The whole family sat around, watched and commented and shouted at the boy.. who was so nervous at first, his hands were shaking badly. A few hours later, two totally amazing vehicles were sitting in front of me.I mean, they make the first truck look simple (I think I posted a few pictures of it somewhere... can someone check for me? If not, I'll post some photos). He also even made balsa wood logs for them. One is a tree lifter, and the other, a tree dragger.
they are like tractors.. but one has a crane...which works, and is counter balanced to be able to lift things without problems.
My coming there and filming.. was pretty much the highlight of his life. Seriously. It is strange having that kind of effect on people.
I really do want to sell his stuff so that he can afford to go to school. He lives a 10 mile walk from school, lives with his 7 brothers, and uses a razorblade, and bamboo to make these things. Sometimes, when he can find one, he takes a plastic bottle and makes windows, on even rarer occasions, he finds some paint, and paints them. And he makes absolutely fantastic vehicles. His mother is going to make special baskets to transport each one. I had to spend a lot of time convincing them of that. They were talking about me taking the kid to the port, and having him assemble them there, as if the rest of the world was just outside the port. Like the port was the end of the world. From there, it was all wine and roses, so why did you even need put them in a container, or box. It is difficult negotiating with people who are absolutely convinced that they understand how the world works... and clearly have no clue. They are sooo sure that the world is like.. well, 15 minutes of video they saw once, mixed with an experience of working with a white guy 20 years ago... Mostly, I let them say what they want without breaking it all down too much. Its just to far.
So.. hopefully, I will get the customized rattan baskets.. which will help in transport and sales...and I can work on getting them out of the country.

So, at about dusk.. we set off to walk back a short 30 kilometers (20 miles for the metrically impaired. After about 10kms, the geovic truck, full of singing workers drove by. One of Jen's friends has a sister who works for them...
and they stopped. I got in the back and hung on for dear life for 30 minutes
I was really, barely hanging on, there were 20 of us in a pickup.. the muslim guy who speaks no french and I, were shoved out of the back, hangin on. There was a lot of singing, as they just got paid, and they were mostly drunk already. It was fun.. and totally scary. I got off and had a very sore calf. I was essentially holding myself in the truck with one leg, wedged under a giant mass of plantains... and got a very bad charly horse. I worked it out with some tiger balm....and that is half the story of my yesterday