Yaounde

We got into Yaounde on Thursday with no trouble. I felt a bit sick once we got here and for the rest of the evening. I threw up but felt fine the next day and have since then. We’re staying with a missionary family, the Colemans, the same place where we spent one night on our way from Banyo to Kribi. They don’t live right in downtown but it’s only about 15-30 minutes away by car, depending on traffic. We’re fairly close to the airport and I can usually here a few planes taking off each day from my bedroom window.

Yaounde is the capital and second largest city in Cameroon. You can find a lot of things here you wouldn’t normally find elsewhere in Cameroon. I went to a couple grocery stores with Arnie Coleman, the father. In Yaounde, you can get Crunch bars, Kit Kats, Snickers, Lindt chocolate, all sorts of seasonings I haven’t found elsewhere, soy sauce, Dove shampoo, Duracell batteries, and a lot more. You can buy full size refrigerators and other large electronic appliances. I’ve seen a few car dealerships including Peugeot, Renault and Toyota. I haven’t found a Mercedes dealership yet although I know it has to be somewhere around here. There are definitely a lot more Mercedes in Yaounde than anywhere else.

There’s even a Hilton Hotel. We went there on Sunday for church. The International Christian Church of Yaoude, where Arnie is an elder, rents a meeting room at the Hilton on Sundays to have church. It’s a small congregation, mostly consisting of missionaries station in Yaounde.

I ate at a MakDonald’s the other day. It’s a knockoff on McDonald’s but had pretty good food. They didn’t have the variety of burgers they do at McD’s in America but you can still get a burger, fish, chicken, soya steak meat, fries, salad and ice cream. There’s no cheese though.

Tomorrow I will try to find some parts to take back to Banyo, as well as a watch battery.

And I’ve added a few more photos to my photo album. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038953&id=1337370415&l=bba13eaecb