A few firsts

This weekend we have managed to do a few things for the first time. On Friday night we went out to a local bar for a beer. This was the first alcohol we have had since we arrived. After a busy day on the radio we decided that we deserved a beer. So we plucked up the courage and walked up the road looking for a bar that did not look too scary. We decided on the Gaston Friendship Club, as it had a friendly name!! We went in and ordered two '33's. I was being a bit dim with the price. Thinking it said 4.50. I was thinking in pounds. When I should have been thinking in CFA. We were trying to give the bar man 9000 CFA which is £9 thinking these beers were expensive. He was saying that was too much. The price was actually 450 CFA which is 45p!!!! So we had 2 beers at 45p each and they were big bottles 625mls each. Afterwards we bought some pork (we think) on a stick to munch on the way home.

We continued our braveness and on Saturday got a taxi (more about the scaryness of taxis another time) by ourselves for the first time to the next suburb of Buea called Moyoka. This area is a little busier than Bonduma and we had a nosy round the few shops that were on offer. Found a great book shop with100's of books. Most look pretty rubbish but I am sure some will come in very useful once we have read all the books we brought. We went to the phone shop. Very posh new compound with a great yellow wall around it and security guards. Quite daunting and a bit much for a mobile phone shop. Anyway I got a mobile phone on a local network so I can make calls here. After we finished in Moyoka we got a taxi up to the market.

The market is on a Tuesday and Saturday. Its a collection of wooden structures with tin roofs. We went with Sheila last week in the pouring rain so we decided to go again as it was not raining. It was sooo busy people everywhere and shouts of 'hey white man' as we walked passed stalls.The ground was really muddy so we did not stay long. Managed to get the essentials. A blanket, a brolly and some painkillers for my toothache. It was crazy a stall with various sheets of drugs scattered on it. Most of which would be prescription only in the UK. No instructions on how the drugs should be taken. My ward pharmacist would have had a field day!!! I got 10 Diclofenac for 25p and ny tooth soon stopped hurting. (fear not there is nothing wrong with me)

After all this excitement Sunday was spent generally lazing around and setting up the computer to watch DVD's. Oh and drinking a rather lovely bottle of red wine Marceline was given. After we managed to open it with out a corkscrew that is.