Limbé – definitely a vacation spot (pt 1)
Well, my trip from the airport to Limbé was pretty good. Its about an hour’s drive and I think our driver did it in like forty-five minutes or so, but that’s only if you subtract the hour long wait in traffic. We had to go over this bridge that was really backed up.
Turns out Akilah hired a friend or brother of one of the guys at the Holiday Inn Resort in Limbé; he ended up charging like 25000 CFAs. Kind of expensive, but worth it. Of course I paid for it. Wouldn’t expect Akilah or any PCV for that matter to pay it.
(SIDEBAR: if you’re gonna do a trip to Limbé and are trying to look up the Holiday Inn Resort, don’t bother calling any of the Holiday Inn hotlines or whatever, they don’t have them listed. You will find them, however, in one of the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide books. Or I could just give the number now: 33.22.90)
We arrived at the Holiday Inn, and it was a pretty nice hotel; the rooms were about 11000 CFAs. Now, you also have to keep in mind, if you’re coming to a country like Cameroon expecting American hotel “star” quality, you may wanna stay home. Though I would equate this to about a three star. The room was about the size of a college dorm room (depending on where you went to school of course). The room had a tiled floor, cable television and air conditioning, which you’ll find is a luxury here.
One thing I had to get used to though was the layout of the bathrooms here in Cameroon. Okay lets put on our thinking caps again. Imagine, if you will, an average size “half” bathroom in the states . . . well this is a little larger. There’s your commode against one wall, your sink against another (or even right across from the commode), and the other side of the bathroom is the shower area.
Only the shower has no walls. There’s a showerhead in the wall; and there’s a hole in the floor. . .and depending on where you are there may even be about a six inch raised portion of the floor or tiling to make a barrier for the water. There was none in this room though. So if you splash when you shower, your bathroom will show it. (SMILE)
Well, I was at the Holiday Inn for only one night, as we were planning to go to a hotel at the beach the next day. So before calling it a night we went to a place called the Hot Spot in the Botanical Gardens; after fasting for a day of Ramadahn, I had to eat something. Stephen, Akilah and I went there and had a pretty good meal.
Of course that was after I got used to the idea of thinking I’m ordering fried fish, and it comes back with the head and bones still intact. Remember though, no expectations. Hmph. Didn’t really do anything else because between the time change and sixteen-hour flight, I was beat.