packing

In less than 24 hours, My friend Lance and I will be on a plane to Belo, Cameroon. Well, sort of.
We'll be on a plane to New Jersey
where we'll board a plane for Brussels, Belgium
where we'll board a plane for Douala, Cameroon
where we'll board a taxi and then an 8-hour bus for Bamenda, Cameroon
and then another hour-long taxi
and THEN - less than 36 hours later - we'll arrive in Belo, Cameroon.

All of that is contingent, of course, upon the arrival of my Cameroonian visa in the mail today. The agency that I'm paying to get my visa for me screwed something up, which has put me in a very last-minute situation with my visa. In theory, I should receive it today. If not, well... I can't get into Cameroon without it, so I'll have to find a way to delay my trip. I don't want to think about that right now.

Today, I'm packing, last-minute supply shopping, delighting in the comfort of my last few meals in the U.S., and saying a few goodbyes. 5 weeks is not very long, but it's long enough to miss home a bit. Then again, I'm also having visions of fresh-picked mangos, plush green hills and red, African clay/dirt, the quiet, slow pace of Cameroonian life, and the much-missed faces of my Cameroonian friends.

I will let you know when I have arrived. :) In the meantime, here's a small taste of what I'm looking forward to in the next few weeks...