Mountains of foods!

Sunday evening in Yaoundé. We have now seen and enjoyed the hills of west Cameroon! After a five hour trip by car, we reached the village of Bandja late Tuesday night last week. We had not expected to see such a landscape - the greens, the exotic forrests, the mountains and the small cottages spread all over the place. The air was fresh and cold. The contrasts to Yaoundé concerning sounds (here-silence), struck me the most. It was lovely to see yet another face of this country!


During the proceeding days we did an interview, talked to medical staff and viewed the surroundings of the village. Mostly though, it was a short, but ever so interesting and important course in the foods of Cameroon! We were invited to visit five of the women we interviwed and their families, to see how they live and spend their time. They also showed us how they collect water, do their daily neccecities and how they cook their food. None of us, Frida or me, could prepare food on a open fire like these women! We tried some foods, for example makabo rapé (grated and boiled makabo-root in a leaf, in the pic.), makabo-stew (with green leafs, smoked fish, spices etc)and bouille (corn-porridge. Simple foods, with most ingredients from the area.
The corn used for the bouille is dried in the kitchen, over the open fire.

In this picture you can see a very common kind of street foods: barbequed prune and plantaine (a kind of banana). Tasty and very cheap!


The last day in the west, we spent visiting other villages and cities in the area. For example Bafoussam, where we viewed its "chefferie" and were guieded around by the queen. A "chef" is the "king of the village", living in plygami with many women. The title is inherited. Unfortunatley, the "chef" was not present during our visit. But we got to see a whole bunch of masks and artifacts used during different kind of ceremonies. Very interesting!

On Sunday morning, me and Frida took the bus back to Yaoundé. The trip took just over five hours and with a big bag of groundnuts we got back safe and sound!

// Linnéa