It was wonderful, and very long, traveling from Yaounde up to Garoua and our training sites. We traveled from Yaounde to Ngoundere (the capital of Adamoua) via the overnight train. I think it was a 12 hour ride, through the night. We didn't have sleeper cars, but we had two cars to ourselves, which was nice, so we lounged all over the place, with our luggage. It actually was so cold at some points in the night that I was too cold to sleep! whoops, should have packed some warmer clothes. With the lights on all night and chairs instead of beds, it wasn't the best sleep situation, but I think I managed to sleep for two hours at a time, waking up every few hours for 20 minutes or so. I will never foget the jerking of the train at every stop along the way (usually jerking me awake), sticking our heads out the windows to peer at villages and trees racing by at dusk and dawn, and the surreal sound of all the "vendors" selling lait, miel, l'eau, banane, ananas at every stop, even in the middle of the night, going window to window, as passages passed money through the window in exchange for the goods. I think we'll all remember that....
We got to Ngoundere sometime in the morning, maybe more like noon. From the train station, we took two bus/taxis to Garoua, which I think was another 1.5 or 2 hour drive. The Adamoua portion was lush, cool, with tree covered hills and valleys. I will definitely be going back there at some point. As we crossed over the mountains in the car, you could feel the temperature changing, not only because the day was progressing and it was getting towards noon and then one pm, but because we were entering the sahel zone. It became much flatter, with some mountains still sprouting up here and there, covered with some scrubby trees. The whole drive was very pretty though, and I loved looking out the window and taking it all in.
No comments:
Post a Comment