The Cameroon diaries

We attended a three day beach party this weekend, a gathering of whiteman volunteers from Buea and beyond, a gathering which had been dubbed 'Burning Fish'. We camped on the beach for two nights; fires were lit, Matango was drank (local palm wine), fish were roasted, the ocean was splashed about in, sunburn was acquired (not by me though - result!) friends were made and fun was had.

Over the last couple of weeks I've gradually become aware that a few of HINT's internet cafe customers seem to be engaging in email scams. I'd noticed that a couple of guys were looking at small ads sites in Europe and the States, which seemed a little irregular. I kept an eye out (because I was concerned and because attitudes to privacy are quite different here...) and it became clear that they were indeed running scams.

Hev and I went round Bill's for a Mexican-themed Easter celebration last night. We've been plotting an attempt at a Mexican feast, as it slowly dawned on us that most of the ingredients for a passable attempt at Mexican food are available in Buea. The exceptions to this are sour cream (no chance) and coriander, which is strangely absent from Cameroon's vast array of herbs and spices. The final piece of the jigsaw came when Bill mentioned that he had a recipe for making tortillas! Game on! So on Sunday afternoon, we rocked up to Bill's and we all got busy in the kitchen.

I completed my course of rabies injections this week, having been bitten by dog back in January. This was the final injection of a course of six, administered on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 28 (or 30, depending which instructions you were following) and 90 after the incident of possible (but probably not) infection. I mention this because I'd previously heard from a few people that Rabies injections were terrible, really painful,etc. I think one story involved an elderly member of a family refusing the injection entirely, preferring to take her chances.