Nous sommes arrives au Cameroun!

We're in cameroon! Well, it was a pretty long journey (up at 4 in the morning at a Heathrow hotel, greeted by our lovely hosts at their/our new apartment in Buea, Cameroon at 8.30 in the evening - no time difference, Cameroon is GMT+1, i.e. British summer time...) but all in all a fairly hassle-free one. One of our flights was a little delayed, but we got through immigration no problem, and Genesis was there to greet us (and to help extricate us from the oh-so-helpful freelance porters who wanted money we didn't have).

The drive to Buea was interesting, it started raining pretty hard soon after we arrived (after we got in the taxi - result) which meant some of the rather pot-holed roads got pretty flooded pretty soon.

We arrived no problems though, and met Genesis' wife Marceline (who is pregnant and due any day) her sisters Constance, Amelia and Sheila, and their nephew Jefferson (I hope I got all those names right...) They have all been very welcoming and their cooking is awesome - more on that another time.

Our room in the apartment is great, ensuite bathroom, running water, toilet etc. (no hot water yet though, cold showers for now - wakes you up a treat...)

On Sunday I showed Jefferson the football I'd brought, and went outside for what I thought would be a kickabout in the yard. I ended up getting a taxi across town to a full size pitch, and promise of 11 vs 11! That pitch was occupied though, so we went on to some other ground and played 6-a-side. We played for about half an hour before someone came and kicked us off (note to Manny roaders - same old story then - also, you think the surface between the four white pillars is bad?) So it was good to get my first taste of Cameroonian football, hope to get another game in soon...

In the evening we just hung out, doodling with Jefferson. There seemed quite a bit of a buzz about the place, but we weren't really sure what was going on, then Genesis came and told us that Marceline had delivered! Mother and baby are both doing well, it's a girl and they have named her Naomi.

So things have been pretty eventful so far, and that was just the first day...