Well I'm just back from my Cameroonian mini-break and I feel like I'm a new woman. It definitely feels like I was away more than just two days, and all of the vols feel the same. After the week I had last week, I really needed a break, and it has done me the world of good.

On Saturday morning, myself and Anita went to the market to get our vegetables for the week. Got all of them (onions, tomatoes, pineapple, okra, garlic, cabbage, peppers, carrots, chilli) for just under a euro. Not bad!!! Then did some internet business (which in the spirit of all of my recent contact with the internet was fraught with frustration and having to re-write the same e-mails three times before the connection lasted long enough to send them), and we headed off after lunch.

So first we went to Ndop, which is the third-biggest town in the North West region, and even has some paved side-streets! There was seven of us crammed into a Toyota Starlet, four in the back and two on the passenger seat plus driver, and we stayed at another volunteer's house there. Ryan is from the Phillipines and is the most incredible cook, so we ate like kings, and he is a truly brilliant host. Myself and Anita picked his brain for some delicious recipes, and are very excited to try them out. He made us delicious snacks when we arrived and then we sat around because he had a television, so we watched the news which we were all VERY excited about and then some National Geographic documentary, and read magazines, because he had loads of them. It was really like a proper holiday. Then we all went out for delicious dinner and a few drinks and you could practically physically see all six of us relaxing as the time went on. Then the three of us girls slept in one bed and the boys were on the sitting room floor, and the guard dog was barking for most of the night so we didn't get much sleep, but for me I just loved the feeling of lying in a comfortable bed so I was happy enough. (My bed is just a one and a half inch thick piece of foam over wooden slats so DEFINITELY nothing like my bed in Ireland which was to die for!).

Sunday morning, we were up at quarter to six, and then delicious spaghetti omelette in the chop shop, and the bikes arrived on time to take us on our hippo excursion. We were heading to a place called Bambalang where there is a huge lake and there are excursions to see hippos so we were all very excited. We get to Bambalang where we were meeting the guide and he was there on time. So far, so good, and so un-Cameroonian! We arrived at the lake, which was beautiful, at about half eight, and the guide told us just to sit down because the boat was on the way. There was loads of people from the community there, and our guide just told us that there was community work on. So an hour later we were still sitting there, and the boat was still "just coming". Then we met two volunteers from Dubai, who came to chat to us and we found out that they were building a school on an island in the lake and that the boat we were supposed to be using belonged to the community and the Fon (local chief) had decreed that Sunday was to be the day when the community really worked hard to get the school building materials transported, hence the boats were unavailable. However, when we asked our guide about this, he re-assured us that no there would be no problem. It was darned hot too, and there was no shade. Obviously we put on suncream, but Colby, in the grand tradition of eighteen year old boys, thought he knew better and didn't bother, so he slowly roasted. Eventually after three and a half hours, we just had to give up. But the upside was that it meant that we definitely would get to visit Kumbo, because that all depended on timing, as it's just not safe to drive here at night, so we would have to be back in Ndop in plenty of time to make it to Kumbo before dark.

Kosaku stayed with Ryan, to get fed other delicious treats so the other five of us headed off. One very large lady took up about 45% of the back seat, with Anita, myself and Franki stacked on top of each other in the rest of the seat. (Believe me when I say we had some choice words to say about that lady when we finally got to Kumbo), and then there were the two boys, plus driver and another passenger in the front. Poor Daniel was beside the window, and ended up spending most of the journey with his head out the window, unless we were driving right up in the ditch because the road is really bad to Kumbo so there's no such thing as driving on the right side of the road, you just go where the road is passable. Anita has a great video that I will post so you get some idea of what it's like here. It's a bit mad. Kumbo is the second biggest city in the North West, yet the main road to it from the main city of Bamenda is only tarred in two places at the steepest parts of it. Kumbo is absolutely gorgeous though. A really pretty city nestled in the hills (It's 2000ft above sea level) and it has a really nice atmosphere. We stayed in the house of another volunteer couple who work at the hospital. Kumbo is famous for having two of the best hospitals in the country, and there is a good few volunteers there as a result. We went for dinner and drinks, and met a good few of them, including two medical students from Derry, so that was a real highlight. In the traditional Irish way, we knew some of the same people (one of them used to holiday around Arklow every year when he was younger so that was the connection), and it was just brilliant to chat to someone else from Ireland. They were both really nice too. According to the other volunteers they were able to understand us for about five minutes and then some of them thought we were speaking Irish but we'd just slipped into speaking at Irish pace again. (I've had to slow down the way I talk and the way I walk here to fit in better with the pace of life.) We had a delicious chicken and chips dinner-so good!!! There was no talking at the table for about ten minutes because we were just devouring our meals. The next day the plan was a two hour hike up in the hills overlooking the town, but we instead elected to abandon that idea in favour of having chicken and chips again for lunch, because we just don't get food like that in Belo. I make no apologies for eating it twice in 16 hours. The way it works is you order it, and then the people in the restaurant go and buy a chicken, kill and prepare it, then cook the dinner, so you order about an hour and a half in advance of actually getting food. So we just sat around playing cards and drinking coke. It really was a holiday and then back to Belo via a bus journey in a tiny van that brought 24 people from Kumbo to Bambui and then taxi on to Belo. I promise as soon as I get the laptop sorted I will put up photos of these vehicles. I think they probably have to be seen to be believed.

This country is so beautiful! We were up so high and looked right across the plain, and it was really the first feeling of "Yup this is Africa!" that I've had here, just vast expanse of land as far as the eye can see, with everything either green or brown, apart from the huge lakes that we could see. I definitely know how lucky I am to be able to have an experience like this and that the people I am here with are as fantastic as they are. The other vols are basically your family and friends and agony aunts and uncles all rolled into one, and it's a really essential support structure. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I was the only Westerner in the village.

Useful/Useless things I have discovered since my last blog:

Sigur Ros' Hoppipolla can put a smile on your face, and lift your spirits pretty much no matter what the situation is. I've always loved them, but listening to that song transported me miles away from the cramps and squishiness and smell and discomfort of the bus journey. Same can be said for Eskimo by Damien Rice.

How to make rashers: Ryan gave us the recipe for the solution to cure pork belly so that you get bacon. If this works out, I swear I think I might die from happiness. My Ballymaloe relish is looking forlorn here in my kitchen area and I think it's lonely for some bacon so we are really looking forward to seeing if that works out. The fresh bread is totally savage here and will make absolutely incredible bacon butties. I will keep you all posted, and since, by virtue of my buying pots and pans, Maria DeC said I could be an honorary member of the Home Ec Dept I will pass on the most successful recipe when we get it to work!

AIB customer service is excellent!!! I was panicking a little bit about money because my ATM card doesn't work here and I seemed to encounter lots of error messages anytime I tried to transfer funds on the internet. (Again seriously thinking of joining Mary O'D and denouncing the internet and all technology as evil!!!!) But I actually declared my undying love for the poor guy who answered the phone back in Dublin when he sorted me out. (I either made his day or scared him into seriously re-considering whether he was in the right job at all!) And I had set my sister ringing the branch in case they could help her quickly because being on hold from Cameroon costs mucho spondoolicks, which would really only contribute to the problem I was experiencing in the first place, and she said that they just couldn't do enough for her. I know we have been giving out about the banks lots lately, and a lot of it is justified but darn it I am one happy customer!!!

THE best line ever to have at your disposal in Cameroon: (Overheard as used by one of the volunteers from Dubai while we waited for the boat that never came) "You can't ask me for money like that! That's begging and everyone knows that begging makes Jesus cry!!!" LOVE IT!!!!!! Variations include: "Do you love Jesus?" To which everyone here invariably will answer yes. When they do you say, "Well you wouldn't want me to tell him that you've been begging for money in return for nothing now would you? He'll be so upset with you!" I've already used that one to great effect because one of the most annoying things about some people here is the way they just ask white people for money. I mean I know that in the grand scheme of things I have way more money than the people here, but I've taken a year out of my life without pay so I really don't have much more than lots of them at the moment. I certainly don't have enough to be going around giving money for nothing to random strangers just because they have the neck to ask for it!. By no means is it everyone, but it's an extremely irritating bit of life here as a white person, so having heard that line is like hitting the jackpot.

Hi Brendan! I can't believe you're home, even though obviously you were due back soon after I left. Best of luck with the job-hunting I will have all of my extremeties crossed for you!

Thanks for all of the messages everyone! I love reading them in the evenings. Hopefully soon I'll have the internet myself so I can keep in better contact individually too. And I promise I will get around to putting up the pictures asap.

Right in my newly rediscovered work mode I am off to do some field visits, as I have so much to do this week, and have a bunch of meetings and business in other towns so must get the local stuff done today!