Hotel Bantu Malabo

... as we were told in the office the day before. It was interesting to see one of the porters with probably the heaviest load walk off the path and up the incline like a mountain goat. We had to wait a couple of hours for the other 3 porters to appear with the rest of our stuff, it was beginning to get quite cold at this altitude. The temperature at night here was between 5oC to 9oC. The views, once the cloud disappeared, were impressive at night. I could by the ...

Traffic was heavier today on the drive to the hall. Douala was back at full speed or nearly. Taxis, trucks, motorcycles, all were spewing fumes, honking and weaving in and out trying to reach their destinations. The last part of our path takes us through a market and down sandy back streets and roads. Today we wrapped up the temperament profile analyses. Using the translation of David Register's PowerPoint ...

... in braziers on all over the city. The specks and ash fly up and out, and multiplied in their thousands, rain down here and there, randomly. A few had landed on my pants through the open car window. They leave small black smears where one unconsciously rubs over them with a casual gesture. Tomorrow will be our last day of seminars here, and if all goes as planned, sometime into the wee hours of the next morning I should take off toward Nairobi.

Today was a full and soggy experience. It's the rainy season in coastal Cameroon and so it's hot like it always is, but also more humid than usual - if that's possible. I broke into a sweat as soon as I stepped out of the air-conditioned hotel and remained in various stages of wet until I stepped back into it again about 10 hours later. Moïse was right on time with a taxi at 8:30. He had been able to collect ...

... of exasperation and sometimes despair. When luggage is finally claimed it then has to be shown to the customs agents who choose at a whim some suitcases to be hand checked: placed on a table, opened, and rifled through searching for who knows what. I tried my best strategy while pulling my suitcase, keep my head down, assume a bored expression and shuffle slowly past the agents while trying to look at once inoffensive, unobtrusive and as close ...

... of bananas, holding a gorilla's hand, patting a chimp and having a brilliant time. Very lucky to be given such a wonderful opportunity. Oliver and I chilled by the pool, ate a heap at the bakery, caught up on internet - including the blog - stoked!! Chatted to parents (great to finally have a good skype connection!). Watched rugby and best of all discovered the E Channel so sat watching all the trash TV I so much love - including ...

Voir un gendarme avec son costume ressemblant a celui des francais et dune tres grande gentillesse. Une frontiere ou je n ai pas pu prendre de photo. J avais hesite a prendre le risque de photographier mais finalement j ai pose la question et cela m a ete refusee. Je prends generalement beaucoup de risque pour prendre ces photos car c est strictement interdit et si un policiers/douaniers/militaires me voient en train de prendre ...

We left Douala for a few hours today, and saw a bit of both north-western and rural Cameroon. This morning it was Mr. Hongerloot who had the intestinal difficulties. He didn't feel well enough to leave the hotel, so just the Harpers and I would make the expedition. But we encountered another Cameroonian misunderstanding that became apparent first thing in the morning. I had explained that the camp would end yesterday evening. Today I intended to have a full day to show ...

Limbe is a large beach and port town a short distance west of Douala. The town is located on the slopes of 13,000 foot (4,000 met**) high Mount Cam**oon, wh**e lava flows from West Africa's highest mountain reach the sea. We saw impressive sub-peaks and the slopes of the supposedly p**fectly cone-shaped peak, but the summit was always obscured from view by clouds during our three days in the region. Time limitations and my int**est in spending some time on the ...

Quito (October 5th - arrived: We arrived safely in Quito, after a quite dramatic descent into the airport - Quito is surrounded by the Andes which are absolutely stunning. We caught a cab easily to the Marisical district (the new town) where all the travellers stay. We decided to stay in the Amazonas Inn. Not the trendiest of hostals, but it was clean and the staff were very friendly. $22 a night for a double with private bathroom and cable TV. Great breakfast ...