Life's a beach!

Firstly, I want to acknowledge that this blog post is late, and offer my apologies. However, it isn't entirely my fault... I was lacking inspiration, and then there was also that time my laptop broke. Turns out my 30% working lights estimate was way high and only applies to the bathroom and hallway). 

A couple anniversaries happened since I last posted:

1.     Firstly, the 24th anniversary of my addition to the Canadian census (wait- do we even still do censuses? I'm looking at you, Harper...), which for those of you that didn't catch that... I had a birthday! I was lucky enough to be spoiled by those around me, with presents of wine*, food and specifically beignets (they know me so well already!). Beignets are essentially sugary donuts, which are widely available thanks to the many delicious boulangeries everywhere- one of the references to the history of French colonialism. These sugary delights have become my latest addiction, and I might have even gotten a beignet-tower instead of a birthday cake.....

*Also, a note the most popular wine in Cameroon is comprised of the following four ingredients: selected grape extract, water, ethyl alcohol, sugar. For reals. (see photographic evidence below).

2.     The second anniversary was my 1 Month in Cameroon! This means I am already 1/6th of the way through my internship already.... crazy!

Above: Photographic evidence of the "most popular" wine in Cameroon.

I've been getting more accustomed to life in Kribi, and I think Cameroonians here are also getting more used to me. For example, I actually had a moto-taxi driver the other day who remembered me and didn't try to rip me off!! Eureka! I was also invited over to my neighbour's place for some  traditional Cameroonian cuisine. Despite that I mentioned being vegetarian, I was served a dish of fufu and fish sauce. (I had an inkling this might happen, as vegetarian here still means you eat chicken, and fish, and shrimp, and pork etc. etc. I can't even imagine if I were vegan....). I tried to eat as much as possible so as to not offend, while still avoiding the chunky bits of fish. It didn't help that fufu (or foufou, or sometime even called cous cous) is essentially just straight gluten and makes my gag reflex kick in. In the words of other VSO volunteer Chelsea: "bonne chance, stomach, bonne chance!".

I've also been loving weekends in Kribi, which I have spent exploring the many beaches in my new neighbourhood, including Grand Batanga and Bwamba pictured below (left and right respectively).

 
And in between these two fantastic beaches, there happens to be some fabulous waterfalls! It's a tough life I lead, but somebody's got to do it.. right? I'm already dreading rainy season, which if the weather this morning is any indication, appears to be coming sooner than expected....

Half of the Lobe waterfalls.

But it's not all-play-and-no-work (I can dream, right?). The past couple weeks have been filled with meetings, and lucky for me... another two day workshop! This time on participatory mapping hosted by WWF- pretty cool!

Lastly, IMPORTANT question- I thought I had fixed the ability to comment on my blog, but apparently not... Is there anyone out there more tech-savvy than I to shed some light? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

À la prochain! Much love!

- C