Over the Hills and Far Away

Back from Takui, a most splendid place indeed! We have returned, eaten, washed our feet, and finished the last episode of Downton Abbey; all in all a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend. Takui is a Fulani village, like Sabba Njowra, three-ish hours away and at a super high elevation (don't ask me the number of feet or meters or anything of that sort, it'd be no use), and nestled in the midst of countless rolling hills. (Mostly brown and dry, but still so beautiful - I can't imagine what it's like in rainy season!) Our group consisted of nearly the entire Jackson village, plus a few extra tagalongs we persuaded into joining us! Which included Delaney and Jayson, who came for pizza and a movie on Friday and ended up staying the night. That of course turned into an invitation to come to Takui with us the next morning, which was then extended to Michael and Ryan, the two other guys they live with once we found out about them. Always room or one (or several) more! So it was with a few more people, and a few hours later than planned, that we finally hit the road, armed with long skirts, water bottles, and our trusty ukulele.

Cuisine: fou fou, njamma njamma, potatoes, stew, tea, bread, and geloff rice. YUM.
Lodgings: Two to a bed. That way you can kill two birds with one stone: fit all the girls in the same room, and ward off the freezing temperatures with the help of your cuddle buddy!
Activities: Sitting and talking. Playing football (soccer) in the yard. Watching everyone attempt juggling with boche balls. Walking up the nearest hills for the sunset and again at six in the morning for a very anticlimactic sunrise. Listening to the Lion King soundtrack during said sunrise. Playing the Animal Game with Fulani men (quite possibly THE funniest thing I have ever witnessed). Oh, and not to mention riding shoeless and saddleless over the hills and through the woods as fast as you can get your horse to run! WOOHOO! Riding in Takui is even better than up in Sabba Njowra; the horses are happier, there are more of them (necessary for a group like ours), and there are so many places to ride and to run! We just kept riding over hill after hill, sometimes down through creeks, sometimes through herds of cows, sometimes past other Fulani compunds. LOVE it. Our twenty-four hours there was simply not enough... I could stay up there for weeks.

Since we aren't, in fact, staying up there for weeks, we have instead made plans to braid our hair tomorrow! And fill up Karissa's last two days in Bamenda with wondrous things before we make the dreaded drive down to the airport in Yaounde to send her away. :( Wie schade! But in the meantime we are going to have loads of fun and general jolliness, to be sure. Tally ho!