Not-so-marooned in Cameroon

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well. Happy early Valentine's Day, good gracious how is it already mid-February? Here is a brief summary of my life for the past month:

January 17 Plane from Niamey, Niger to Casablanca, Morocco
Transition Conference in Rabat, Morocco
Traveled around Morocco Jan 26-Feb 5
February 6 Plane from Casablanca, Morocco to Yaounde, Cameroon
Cameroon Transfer Training Feb 6-9
Feb 9 Head to regional capital, Ngaoundere
Next week: Move into village outside of Ngaoundere

Life has been a crazy whirlwind over the past month, but I am so grateful to be in Cameroon now. The Peace Corps staff and volunteers here have been accommodating and patient with us. Two volunteers came into Yaounde for the few days to help us buy phone cards and transition to life in Cameroon. The country director here and my health program manager are both amazing women and I am pumped to work with them for the few two years. Driving on the train yesterday through the lush rainforests on the outskirts of Yaounde, I couldn't help but breath in the fresh air of eucalyptus trees that we were passing. I was reminded of the gift I have been given in continuing service.

After having internet in Yaounde and being able to catch up on current events around Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan...), I caught myself having mixed feelings. On one side, I am deeply frustrated by the negative events currently happening here that involve government corruption and people protesting in demand of their rights. It is frustrating to me that these events are happening period, but it is also saddening. When people in the US or other parts of the world turn on the television or go to cnn.com, these are the images they see of Africa. This is deeply saddening because this is not the Africa that I know. I think that if people could see the rainforests and smile at children out of a window of a train, then they may gain a new perspective about this wonderful continent.

Traveling around Morocco

30 Janvier 2011
Hello all! Greetings from Marrakech, Morocco; the tourist center of the country. It doesn't feel like Africa, more like a petite Europe. I arrived here two days ago after a 3-day 2-night tour through the desert and Atlas Mountains. Here is what we (Michael, other Alison G, Alma and me) did during the tour:

Day 1: Left Fez at 7 am with trusty van-driver Haj, drove through some cities near Fez which included a resorty type of city that people from Europe stay in during the winter, drove through the mid-Atlas mountains (sooo weird to see mountains after being in Niger that is completely flat), fed monkeys in the mountains (holler), drove to Sahara Desert hotel (called Kasbah Erg Chebbi, Kasbah in arabic means 'family home' or 'home of') where we dropped off our stuff, rode camels into the desert (plus saw sunset), got to our tent site, served traditional Moroccan food of meat and vegetables in a tajine and mint sweet tea, chilled with owner of the hotel named Hassan, climbed hugeeee sand dune in the dark for fun, went to sleep

Petite Monkey

Riding camels in the Sahara Desert

Day 2: Woke up for sunrise, rode camels back out of the desert, breakfast at the hotel, drove through the high Atlas Mountains in van, stopped by the large and cool Toudra Gorge, stopped by a Berber house/souvenir shop where we learned about the different types of traditional Moroccan rugs and drank mint sweet tea, drove to Ouarzazate Hotel for dinner and sleeping and a much-needed shower. For dinner, we ate tajines with chicken and veggies. Here is what a traditional Moroccoan Tajine looks like:

Kefta Tajine (ground beef + egg) in ceramic Tajine bowl. The meat and egg are cooked

in the bowl and then served with bread. So yummy! Back to the right are brochettes that Ms. Alma ordered.

Day 3: checked out of hotel and drove to Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou which is a traditional Berber village in the mountains. This site is the scene of many famous Hollywood movies we were told. Check out the photo to see if you recognize it from any films. Then drove through the LEGIT Atlas Mts, windiest roads of my life, felt like a rollercoaster at some points, saw the largest mountain in Morocco, then Haj dropped us off in Marrakech.

Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou , one of the oldest known Berber villages in Morocco

Great three days! Lots of driving but definetly the best way to see Morocco. It is crazy how widely the climate varies. One minute we were driving through an oasis with palm trees and plots for gardening, the next minute it looks like the American midwest with large rock plateaus and cactuses (cacti? how do you spell the plural of cactus?). The moutains really were exceptional to see. I tried to take a pic of Mr. Stanley in the car while I was driving. I need to get better at taking pictures of him. Or maybe he's just not very photogenic haha jk!

So I've been in Marrakech for two days now. Here's what we've been up to:
Two days ago: met up with two other Peace Corps Niger volunteers, Laura and Nora, who are traveling around Morocco, walked around Marrakech, ate yummy soup in the bustling and crazy night food market for 3DH (8DH=$1)

Yesterday: Tombs, walking around, looking for gardens, getting lost while walking around, asking for directions back to our hotel, finding our way back to the hotel, walking around the medina and streets upon streets of cool shops, ate amazing egg+potato+onion+oil+cheese in a big bun sandwiches in the night market for 10DH

Today: Breakfast with everyone before parting ways (Michael is headed to South Africa, Griecs and Laura are heading home, Nora is headed to France), it's sad to say another round of good-byes. I feel like these past 3 weeks have been only good-byes. Then we (Alma, her sis who is visiting, and me) went to the Moroccan Art Museum, the bus station in the 'nouveau ville', or new city, to buy tickets for tomorrow, walked back to the old city/medina through a marathon that was going on, and then had a lovely and relaxing food session of omelette, green olives, fries, yogurt, crepe+honey and mint sweet tea.

Note: I realize that I talked about food A LOT in my blog. This may be due to the fact that a people and their culture can most accurately be described by their food and how it is prepared? Or, it may be due to the fact that I heart food. So don't mind me if you find that I excessively document what I eat each and every day.