pics from Kribi last week

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Kribi last week. It was the third time, but the first one was with the churchmen of the EPC and entailed no beach time. The second one was a pleasure trip with friends from work at the end of December, but Ann got food poisoning on our anniversary (29th) while we were there. But the third time's the charm. We had an exciting bus ride (see last post), and spend three days and two nights kicking back, enjoying the company of our friends and coworkers Christi and Jeff and their kids, hanging out on the beach, swimming and eating seafood.

Ann on the beach.

A shot of the beach at Kribi.

There was a bougainvillea fifty feet high right outside the door of our cabin. It wouldn't fit in one picture. Note small Ann for scale. I actually lay on my back to take it all in one picture, but was immediately attacked by ants. Don't lie on the ground until you make sure you're not about to crush someone's house. Fortunately, the ants didn't bite very hard.

Christi enjoying a hammock at the beach.

This is a crab burrow. The beach was scattered with them, and when you got near the crabs they would hop in, then poke out again when you went by. This one is about two inches in diameter.

Christi at the dinner table on the beach. From top, fish, shrimp, tomato sauce and fried breadfruit. Not pictured are the hot sauce and beer. Shrimp and fish had to be disassembled by hand, which was messy and lots of fun.

Close-up of the fish. These were grilled with some kind of marinade, after being caught that day. They had a grilled, smoky, seasoned but not picante flavor. I've never been much of a seafood fan, aside from sushi, but the fresh fish here is delicious. It doesn't taste fishy. The bones in this variety weren't much trouble either.

This is where we stayed. It's up a small hill from the ocean, which you can see from the porch. The building has two units connected inside. The smaller one on the right is where Ann and I stayed, and Christi and Jeff and their kids were on the left which, in spite of how this angle makes it look, is actually the bigger one. Each unit has a kitchen, bedroom, and extra sleeping loft.

I didn't get a picture of it, but the water filter in our unit was simple and nifty. It was a four-food length of PVC pipe with a single ceramic water-filter "candle" on the bottom. You filled it up with a few pitchers of tap water, with a bottle underneath to catch the outflow, and gravity forced the water through the filter at a good clip. Jeff says he plans to build one of these.

This is Jeff.

Ann and the kids.

And again.

This is some kind of oil platform far out in the water, several kilometers. The plumes of flame came and went regularly. It was a little piece of Gary, Indiana offshore from idyllic Kribi.

Motorcycle with slogan. Lots of motorcycles and especially taxis have things like this written on them.

Took this at our house in Yaounde. Our dog Villa sleeps like this. Ann refers to it as paws-up-the-wall-pose.

Kids and Jeff hanging out on the beach, with the forest behind them.

This was our beach hangout and restaurant. The small smoky piece on the left is the kitchen, with the table under the shelter to its right. The ocean is about fifty feet behind the camera here.

Ann collected some shells.

Your photographer and the lovely and talented Ann.