Okay, well not really upside down per say but it was on its side in a ditch. I know that I complain about the public transport in this country a lot, but so many things went wrong on this trip from Bankim to Bafoussam that I just have to share it with you. Here’s the sequence of events:
I went to the bus station a day early to reserve my spot. Bus driver tells me the car will pull out 8 am the next morning. Friday morning I get to the bus stop at 8. I am alone. I wait for 4 hours for the car to fill up, we finally leave at noon.
Come to find out it’s a push start van. Ever seen that scene from Little Miss Sunshine when the family has to park on a decline or get a running start to get the van moving… yup, exact same scenario.
We drive for about an hour and we get a flat tire when we hit a rock that’s submerged in one of the many ginormous mud/water filled potholes.
We drive for another hour and we have to stop for prayer.
We drive another hour and we slide off the road while trying to navigate a particularly muddy stretch. This was actually the highlight of the trip. Let me just preface by saying no one got hurt because a) we were moving super slow and b) we’re always packed in like sardines so it’s not like one could move even if they wanted to. Basically the wheels spun out and we went sideways right off the road and into the ditch. Icing on the cake was that it was the side with the door that was submerged in mud so everyone had to climb out through the windows (as I’m sure you can imagine, me wiggling out of a tiny sliding van window was anything but graceful). Once everybody was out it took about twenty guys and 45 mins. to get it unstuck and the whole time they were all arguing and yelling at each other. Once it was out it only stayed out for about 5 mins. before it was stuck again…and again…and again. The car was stuck in the mud a total of three times with in a 30 min. time frame after the initial slippage. Then all the men that helped push it out (those who weren’t passengers already) demanded the driver pay them and wouldn’t let us leave until he did. Finally he did but he had to use the money that he would normally use to pay off all the people looking for bribes at the checkpoints, which caused problems for us later on.
Everyone loads back in to the car and we drive for a while before we stop for prayer again.
We start to go over the mountains and the car overheats. The solution…pour water over the engine until it cools down. So basically we stand on the side of the road for an hour. The good news is I made some nice friends with the other passengers. One older lady told me her whole family’s life story.
We’ve been on the road about 6 hours when we finally get to Foumban and the road becomes paved- YESSSSSSSSS ☺
We hit Foumbat and run into some problems with a particularly cranky gendarme at customs. He’s looking for a little motivation (code word for bribe) and starts giving this one guy in the back of the car a really hard time about the goods he’s transporting.. We spend another 30 mins on the side of the road while the driver, the owner of the goods and the police officer have a screaming match. Finally the driver ends up leaving the guy there (I hope if I ever have an issue like that they won’t leave me… that’s why I always make a few friends right off the bat)
I can see the lights of Bafoussam in the distance.. quite literally the light at the end of the tunnel and then the car over heats..again. This time we only wait about 30 mins. for it to cool down and then we're off for the homestretch!
We finally make it after 8 ½ hours (that’s a personal record, normally it takes between 4 ½ and 5). As I’m sure you can imagine I was cranky and tired, one, because of the ride and, two the fact that now I was going to have to shell out money for a hotel room because I missed the last car leaving Baf for Baham (where the volunteer who I was trying to stay with lives). But then an amazing thing happened... I checked into my room discovered not only that I had running water but that it was hot and for the first time since landing in Yaoundé 9 months ago I took a nice long hot shower. Now I feel great! It’s truly amazing what heated water can do for your spirits ☺
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Glad you're okay. I wonder what the trip would have been like without those prayer stops!
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