It’s quittin’ time!
Well it’s Friday and the weekend’s finally here. We’re gonna head to Bafoussam and chill. I liked the Bafferie II so much that I suggested we stay there since this was our only free weekend before I return to the states.
We headed out at a fairly decent hour, somewhere around 10:00 am or so, and headed to the gare. Little did we know just trying to get a vehicle would be such a task today. We must’ve stood there for at least an hour or more before we finally were able to find a car, and that one was only going to Foumbot.
Nonetheless we jump into this seven passenger mini-van and head down the road. By the time I realize how many folks are in this “sardine can of a bush taxi,” we’re stopping to pick up another passenger. He places his things in the rear of the van and the chargeur jumps back there as well.
We’re now seventeen deep; four up front (including one sharing the driver’s seat), four with their backs to the driver’s seat, four facing them (technically the first row), and four in the rear. Oh and the chargeur in the rear. Here we go setting records again. By the time we reach Foumbot, this driver will collect 7500 CFAs for a twenty-minute ride. If he can do this about ten times a day, roundtrip, he can easily make a nice living. Of course this is before you take out the expenses, but I’m sure it’s relatively comfortable.
Other than being severly cramped, the ride was not bad. We did stop to drop off and pick up about two or three times, but this is normal. I just wanted to hurry and get to Bafoussam, I’m experiencing cyber café-syndrome.
As soon as we pull into the Foumbot gare, Akilah and I both hear someone yell “Bafoussam?!” We got out of our taxi a little bit down the road, picked up some shell nuts for Akilah (I’m allergic to all nuts), and head to where we heard the voice. While walking that way, we couldn’t discern which vehicle was heading to Bafoussam, but we kept going.
Good thing we did, as we got closer, I noticed a van with about six people seated, and they were definitely headed our way. We jumped in the back and grabbed two pretty good seats before anyone could come and shove us out of the way.
The driver must’ve been trying to compete for a Guiness Book record, because by the time we left the gare, he’d put the normal seventeen for this sized van plus two more. This dude opened the back door, pulled down the back of the seat next to us, and sat two passengers there. Now this did nothing for the comfort of the two people sitting next to us, but it put more CFAs into his pocket.
He was obviously going for twenty-one because he began trying to lower the back to our seat, but couldn’t get it to move. Well actually, he needed me to lean forward so he could push the seat forward then move it back, but my knees were already on the back of the chair in front of me, so where was I to go.
Even the woman next to us, who’d just lost her back comfort, came to our defense; asking the driver why was he trying to overstuff the vehicle. After a few unsuccessful efforts he abandoned his attempt. Good thing he did, I don’t think the person sitting behind me would’ve been very comfortable; I had no intention on leaning forward to avoid putting pressure on them. We made it to Bafoussam without incident. One of the rare times the gendarme has never stopped us.
Immediately, we decided to get a little snack from the boulangerie and head to the bank. Though I believe I’ve lost at least ten to fifteen pounds since arriving in country, I love to partake of the local pastries. Okay, I’m a snack fiend. This would’ve been a very delightful part of the day had it not been for the oversized cockroach that kept walking back and forth across the floor!
The most amazing part about that was that no one seemed to care. Not the workers. Not the other customers. Not even the cockroach. Akilah commented that he must be half dead because he was kind of wobbling while crawling. I simply told her he was near dead, he was full and trying to get home!
Credit Lyonnais bank was relatively crowded, so while I stood in line for Akilah, she went to the customer service (yeah right) area to see if she could get information on how to have someone electronically wire money to her account. What a waste. The gentleman essentially told her all she has to do is tell the sender to send it to her account at Credit Lyonnais – Bafoussam.
Now how in the “ham phat” does he think someone in the states would know where the heck Bafoussam is? Doesn’t he, as a bank employee know, these things are done electronically using computers? So that means a computer wouldn’t know where to find the bank without the correct set of numbers. Why can’t anyone here just give a straight answer?
After this unsuccessful attempt, she joined me in line as we waited an additional thirty minutes to get to the window; I’d already been standing there for about thirty minutes or so. The problem is not that the teller goes particularly slow, though I think she could speed it up some. But very few banks use stanchions, and therefore, some opportunistic folks like to just walk up and stand as if they’re the next person in line.
What ticks me off is not only the audacity of the person doing this, but the fact that the other’s in line don’t say anything to the individual. There’s not much I can say, I don’t speak french, but I made it known to Akilah (out loud) that she’s in front of that woman who just barged her way into the line.
We got out of there as fast as we could, headed to the Bafferie II and claimed a room before heading back out for dinner. We stopped past a place Akilah and Becky had eaten at before. The meal was half decent and could’ve been better if the plantain were ripe. At least they had my favorite drink; d’Jino.