Mama Done Come

She has arrived unscathed!

I picked my mother up at the airport last night. There was some bumbly confusion at the customs line (she was in the wrong one), but after a lot of hand gestures she was able to get through. We got 4 pieces of her checked luggage (plus 2 carry on's). The 80lb bag with full of salami, parmesan cheese and new bras did not make it, but we are in communication with Laurent, the guy who barely speaks English at the Yaounde airport. I have full faith in Laurent. We escaped any customs trouble with the bags by jumping in the “Diplomats Only” line and saying that we were with Peace Corps… as if that would make any difference. But it did, and now she’s here!

She came knocking on my hotel room door at 6:30 this morning with a cup of coffee. She had been making “observations” from her balcony since 5, mostly of the car wash across the street. She wanted to throw money to the man without legs walking down a hill on his hands. And she said she saw a really nice blue-colored bird. She also watched a man in a red coat poo in a grassy knoll next to the Hilton and has been watching him since (she believes he lives there and has a garden… she calls him “Red Coat Man”). We toured the American embassy and picked up some Cheetos from the commissary (that we are not allowed to use… but I have an “in”). My mom was able to see the fraternity house that is the Peace Corps transit house (the bathroom is really gross she says… but I don’t understand. At least it has a toilet) and then had Japanese food.

Tomorrow we leave the comforts of Yaounde and head for Bafut fondom… where my couch is musty and the toilet typically needs to be flushed with a bucket, where climate control lacks and she’ll sleep on a thick piece of foam in a room where tarantalas have been known to scurry. He he he.