My first motorcycle taxi ride

Friday, I did an oil change on the Toyota Landcruiser while instructing Tim, Bethany, Joan and Abdu on everything I was doing. It was pretty simple; no hiccups or problems. Afterwards, Bethany, Tim, Abdu and I played Monopoly. Bethany won even though I had both Park Place and Boardwalk. At the height of my game, I had two houses on both. If only someone had landed on them once, perhaps things would have worked better for me, but no such luck! Maybe next time…

That night, Abdu and I went into town for dinner. It was getting dark when we started to walk along the main road into Banyo. We walked for about ten minutes before a motorcycle taxi came along and we got a ride into town. It cost 200 francs (roughly $.45) for the five minute ride. Abdu rode in the middle and I was on the very back end. I was surprised at how safe I felt on the very back, holding onto the luggage rack for support. I see three people riding motorcycles quite often and I always think it has to be scary for that third person. But we didn’t really go that fast. I’d say the fastest we were going was about 25 mph downhill. These 125cc (.125L) 4-stroke single cylinder motorcycles top out at about 45 mph on a paved road, unloaded. So naturally, we didn’t gain much speed. The taxi drivers around here really use and abuse the machines. They’re certainly not supposed to have three people on them or much of any weight. Bob said one time he saw someone carrying four 80lb sacks of concrete mix on the back of a motorcycle. The suspension just bottoms out and you have to pretty much drive in first gear the whole way but I guess if it’s the only way you have to get from point a to point b, then you have no other choice.

The taxi dropped us off at Salamoun Voyage. Abdu and I split three plates of soya steak meat, four loaves of bread and we each had a cup of hot, sweet tea. It was 2,000 francs ($4.20 or so) for the meal. It filled us up and was pretty tasty. We walked around town for a little bit, stopped in a grocery store to buy some bottled waters and some candy. I was hoping to get something unique to Cameroon and I didn’t know what to get so I just told Abdu to pick out a candy he likes. He picked out some lollipops and I kind of laughed inside a little bit. Maybe next time I’ll know what to look for and pick it out myself. I asked Joan what some candies unique to Cameroon/Africa are a few days ago but didn’t write them down right away and couldn’t remember the names she told me. I’ll have to ask again and get those the next time I’m in town.

We walked around for a bit longer and bought some meat on a stick being fried on the street. It was 50 francs per stick of meat. It was okay, but didn’t have the flavor of the soya at Salamoun Voyage. It also probably wasn’t as healthy either since it wasn’t exactly hot and fresh but so far I feel fine. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. It took a little while to get a taxi back into town. To hail a taxi you either stick your fingers up out in the air as one is driving by or make somewhat of a hissing, “pssst” noise as they drive by if they didn’t see you at first. I guess they really tune their ear for that noise because I was surprised they heard Abdu “pssst” over the “waaaaahhhh” of their engines. The first several people that stopped either wanted too much money to get back (600 francs) or didn’t want to drive to Wouram because you have to pass a police checkpoint. If they stop you and you don’t have the proper insurance papers (which most don’t), then the taxi driver will be bribed and they just don’t want to deal with that. Finally we found someone for 400 francs that wasn’t afraid of the police. We made it back safely, this time I rode in the middle. When we were back Abdu, Dayyibu and I watched a movie I have called, “No Country for Old Men.” It’s about a hunter who finds money from a drug deal gone bad out in the middle of the desert in west Texas. As a result of finding this money, another man who also wants the money and knows the hunter has it, tries to hunt down the hunter. In the process, he kills many people. It’s a pretty suspenseful movie with lots of shoot ‘em up scenes. I think Abdu and Dayyibu really enjoyed it. Dayyibu kept on saying throughout the movie, referring to the man who ruthlessly kills everyone in the process of trying to get the money, “that man is a very very bad man.” From what I can see, most of the American movies that are around here are mostly Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, kung fu movies. I think it was like something they had never seen before.

Saturday, Bob and I hooked power up to Dayyibu’s house by connecting it to the power coming into my house. It took a few hours and we had to crawl into the roof for a little bit, which felt like Texas and made both of us sweat quite a bit. Apparently it isn’t as hot as it’s going to get, yet. March and April will be the hottest and I’ll see how it stacks up to the Texas heat. Saturday was also Tim’s birthday. Joan cooked lasagna, some garlic bread, and made some jello for dinner. We had coke and sprite as special treats to drink. After dinner we had some cake and ice cream that Bethany made. Afterwards, Tim opened presents and we watched a movie I have called the Transporter. It’s about a guy whose job is to transport goods, no questions ask. Things go wrong and bad guys are trying to kill him, he has to rescue a girl, so on and so forth. I’d say it’s like a James Bond movie in a sense. Lots of car chases, fight scenes and things blowing up. I think the family enjoyed it.

I went to church in Wouram today, where I went the first Sunday I was here. The music was very lively and the sermon was on forgiving those who do wrong to you, and not counting transgressions. The forgiving someone 70x7 times reference came up a few times. I didn’t catch the entire sermon since it was a little hard to understand the pastor at times, but I caught the basic gist of it. After church, we had lunch at the Lokkers home and now I’m on the internet. Until next time...