It's been about two and a bit months since I updated this, so apologies for that. The main reason was that for most of January, I had low voltage in my house, and so couldn't charge my computer in there. I had to do it in the office, and then my computer only stays on for an hour, and I was using that time for work stuff. There's just too many people, and too much going on and so much darned clutter in there that I'm far better at working in my own room.

So we had Christmas, which was awesome here. We had really good food, and did the big feast on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of volunteer drama here in Christmas week, so we there was a lot of trepidation about how Christmas would go, but myself, Simon and Erin were determined to give it all a good go, so we did most of the Christmas shopping and food prep and decorating, including a lovely tree with lights and everything. On Christmas Eve eve we spent the afternoon listening to Christmas music and drinking tea and making snowflakes to hang on the trees in the compound and on our Christmas tree. We had a Christmas Jumper dress code too, and so we merrily shopped for those in Bamenda the week before and then baked in them in the midday heat while we were prepping everything for Christmas. I'll put up the photos. Then on Christmas Eve the three of us did most of the cooking and we had the big dinner which included some VERY disappointed chicken which we had been tremendously excited about (we've since solved that problem and now get delicious chicken in town instead of in village). A few drinks but not too many and proper present-giving at the tree and then most of us went inside when it got a bit too cool to stay outside and we had a good old-fashioned candle-lit Christmas carol singsong. It was great. Then on actual Christmas day we did homemade Mexican and the best hummus I've ever had (which I understand is not so Mexican, but went well with the homemade tortillas). It was a very different Christmas and very laid back, and I was chatting to lots of people from home so it was really nice too. I felt so far removed from everything that was going on at home in terms of snow and ice, and all sorts of trouble that goes along with it. It was really hot here those few days, although during the dry it does get quite cool at night here as there is no cloud cover, hence we moved inside to Simon's in the nighttime.

Then on St. Stephen's Day we set off to Buea, which is the starting point for climbing Mount Cameroon, We spent three days climbing what is, at 4090 Metres, the second highest peak on the African continent. It was pretty tough, and hard work, but it was a great achievement. There was a group of nine of us, and we each had a porter to carry most of our stuff, and there was a guide for the whole group. The porters are skipping along with huge bags on their heads, in their flip-flops, which did make us feel slightly inferior, but it was still cool to do it. The only blemish on the experience was that the porters ate the majority of our food, and that was kinda tough, especially on the last day, because by then we had done two full days of tough climbing, and we'd had two nights of not too much sleep, (the first night we stayed in a hut and then the second night we camped in tents), and the porters left down enough bread for us to have a slice each, and about a third of a triangle of Laughing Cow cheese and then proceeded to tuck into huge piled up plates of left over rice from the night before, right next to us. It was taking the piss a bit, and left a sour taste. However, it was really cool to get to the summit, and there is a great natural high that goes along with that. The mountain is an active volcano, and the lava flows are pretty spectacular, and the volcanic craters are magnificent. The last day is through rainforest too, which is really pretty. I'll post pics of that too. They're pretty nice.

Then as a treat for ourselves, we had booked into the amazing hotel in Kribi for New Year's Eve, so we rocked up there for a few days of gorgeous warm ocean and throwing ourselves into the lovely pool and eating all around us. The fish market in Kribi is absolutely AMAZING, and we had also been told about a place that does incredible pizza. So we found le Cigar, and completely gorged ourselves on pizza as the start of our New Years Eve celebrations. A few of us went to a nightclub on the beach, to ring in the actual New Year, but I wish we hadn't. It was really sleazy, and a view of a horrible side of Cameroon that made me really angry. It was lots of really rich white people, the vast majority of them older men who were accompanied by at least two prostitutes each. It was completely horrible. I knew that side of Cameroon existed, but I hadn't seen it first hand before that, and have tried to make sure that I have actively avoided it since. There are some people here with obscene amounts of money. When we were in Kribi during that trip, we were very definitely the poor relations. I think the guy who owns the hotel was torn between being exasperated with us and feeling sorry for us because we couldn't afford to eat at the hotel all the time (It was really really yummy but pretty expensive), and so we would walk into town to the Boulangerie and come back and tuck into French bread and croissants and beignets. I love going to the Francophone area, cos the food is just so much better than where I live, but I inevitably end up eating my body weight in bread, and things like that, especially when we stay in Yaounde, as there is a delicious bakery that's open 24 hours just up from the Catholic Mission where we stay. I have been known to eat two little pizzas for breakfast the day I arrive. Travelling here is such a balls that I feel zero guilt for that!! Sometimes it's one of the only things that keeps you going when you're still on a bus that was supposed to only take 6 hours and you've been squished next to a huge smelly mama for 11 hours already, and the Jesus music has been blaring for all of that time.

Anyway, we stayed in Kribi for a few days and then went to Yaounde, which means one major thing: Supermarket, (and for me: BACON!!!!!!!!!) I think bacon is the one food thing that I miss the most here and there is none to be had in the North-West, unless you can cure it yourself, and I just don't have the space in my single room to keep a big barrel of salty water for days on end. So we got lots of treats like Jelly sweets, cheese, chocolate and pasta sauces (I can make pretty good pasta sauce from scratch here, and yet there is something about finding it in a jar already made that compels me to pay an extortionate price for it!), and myself and Simon were planning Erin's going away party so we were hatching plans about what to buy (we did delicious Mexican again, and got all the good stuff in the supermarkets.) And myself and Erin had a lovely girly day in Yaounde too, when Simon was despatched to purchase the goodies, and it was my job to make sure she was kept occupied long enough for that. Some of my favourite days here have been with Erin when we've gone shopping in Bamenda, and just had the chats and gone for lunch. She left at the end of January, and I miss her so much! I still do it by myself and I still love it, I think cos it's a little taste of home, but I miss having Erin here to have the craic with, (I'm sure it's no secret that I like a nice day of shopping, can't WAIT to do it in Dublin, although it'll be more window shopping until I start getting paid again!) I bought a bunch of material that day too to get some nice clothes made here, partly because of the fact that it's so much cheaper here, partly because getting clothes made here with the great African fabrics is nice and unique, and partly because once I leave here, there will be no new clothes bought for quite some time!!

Then finally after we had supermarket shopped to our hearts' content, it was time to come back to Belo, so we got the night bus back, and like all trips it was nice to come home again. Even though it was lovely to go away and I like to get a break from Belo, we were ready to get back to rice and beans and fufu and njamma njamma! January was a pretty nothing month in terms of work. I found it pretty hard to motivate myself and get back into it, which is unusual for me, I'm usually pretty good. I just found it hard to get back into it. I think it was the six month lull, and it lasted about 3 weeks. Although, my social calendar was pretty full, and that included Erin's going away dinner, which was bitter sweet for me and Simon, as the three of us were thick as thieves. (Obviously it was a bit harder on him, since she was actually his girlfriend). We got two new volunteers in Belo just before she left though, Ruth from the UK, and Sven from Germany, who I think might be the sweetest boy in the history of the world. If I don't take Amos and Joel home in my suitcase, Sveni had better be careful that I don't stuff him in!

Because I'm writing this in March, I don't have any random observations, but I'm sure I'll come up with some in the next post. I will put up some of the photos from our trip though with this post.

The one thing that I did notice though, was that when I hit the end of January, there is a natural high that comes from knowing that you've done more time here than you have left. I guess it's the realisation hitting you that hey, you can actually do this! Plus I worked out my timelines for my projects and they're going to work well within my time here too, so I found my mojo again, and threw myself into work again by the end of the month, which suits my work hard play ethic more. I don't get much out of work a bit, but still play hard. I prefer to feel like I've earned my time when I let my hair down.