Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Douala, Rome, Sofia..

Hi guys, Sorry for the delay in posting..
Cameroon was quite the experience from my first trip a few years ago. Although they are celebrating 50 years of independence its still very easy to say I am on a farm... I visited with Sebastein and his family as well as my friend  Elvis from Tanzania,  during  his global tour to bring awareness to education and our environment ( chiletokili.com)
SEbastein has a small stand at the local school selling omelets to students. He is the subway of Bafoussam... add mayonnaise $ add spaghetti $$ add meat $$$ add seasoning $, and so on.. he fries the eggs and the students cut there own bread, and add the options they want ... he sells up to 60 full size subs a day .. also working Saturdays,  he makes about $18.00 per week..
My return was to give him an opportunity to do more, and help provide some future for his family.. we both soon found ourselves trying to help a friend instead . Sebasteins friend was sent to prison accused of stealing a speaker ( value about $20.00)
I was surprised by the corruption  just getting into a federal prison ( NOT A JAIL). I had to pay to get inside, prisoners have to pay for there own food, and should expect to be covered everywhere  in BITES from ??    Guilty in Cameroon if someone says you are, and innocent if you have the financial resources to do anything about it. He may spend the next 5 years there, and by looking at how slow Cameroon is to get on its feet and progress,  It may be longer... ( more to come )

Douala has an active nightlife, great sea food,  beer seems to replace drinking water, starting from the time many people get up. It was a nice change for Elvis who was arrested twice the previous week in Nigeria suspected of being Boko Haram . ( google it please )
The 250 kilometer bus ride to Douala included a minimum of 20 road side stops by the military all expecting some kind of payment for nothing from the driver... When I traveled Cameroon I never stopped , or considered paying a bribe. They do not want trouble from a white man, but they think nothing of cheating each other any way they can.

We split ways
 at the airport as I departed for Rome... The plan was Bulgaria, but Rome was on the way... kind of...
I spent a week with all the other tourists walking the streets looking at the map for the next tourist site. lots of good coffee , pizza, and  pasta to keep you going. My birthday that week was celebrated by the hotel manager and  friends from Iran  in there New Years eve celebration year 2578 ?? Traditional Iranian food and spirits.. Vodka mixed with wine ... !!

I get conflicting information about travel thru Iran. The motorcycle is registered in the USA , and  I do have both a Canadian and American passport , but with American tourists still in there prisons it seems a bit dodgy... despite USA Today and other articles that Iran is doing what they can to get American tourists to come visit... If given a choice I would rather ride Iran and Pakistan into India rather than ship it from Turkey... hmmm

Yesterday I arrived in  Bulgaria and took the BMW for a spin !!


3 comments:

  1. Garth, good to hear from you again, and even better to see that you are on the road again. Take good notes for that novel and be safe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I travelled from the north end to the south of Prince George, and no road blocks!

    Glad you r doing well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting and very wonderful pictures. You are really doing well in your Tour Garth,wishing you good health.

    ReplyDelete