in Mbingo with Ann's parents

Ann's folks are visiting from Grand Rapids, Michigan. We are running them around Yaounde today and tomorrow, and they leave tomorrow night. We spent the past several days in a place called Mbingo, in Cameroon's mountainous, lush, English-speaking Northwest Province. It was our first time there, and we had a great time. Here are a few pictures from the Mbingo trip.

Ann's ma, Ann, and Julia, who just happened to be taking a bus up to Bamenda in Northwest Province that day and wanted some company.

The major river we crossed on our way from Yaounde to Bamenda.

We did lots of hiking. We scaled that green mountain behind Ann right after we took this picture.

This is the view from the guesthouse where we stayed, which was just behind me when I took this.

The entire place was encircled by mountains, which you could see when you hiked up a bit from where we stayed, which was already at the head of a mountain valley.

View from the top of that green mountain a few pictures back.

Ladies at church, taken by Ann's folks. The guesthouse is part of a Baptist mission hospital, which also has a church, hostel, daily chapel, and a school.

Ann's folks, in front of the school. They spent some time volunteering there; Ann's mom in the library, and Ann's pa sanding tables.

Ann and her ma removing her African braids.

Another hiking picture: Ann's ma and Ann.

The hospital reception area. That was our cab, which we took the 40 minutes or so from Bamenda.

We had a fair amount of rain, especially at night, but not enough to seriously interfere with hiking.

Rain rain. This is the view from the guesthouse again.

The guesthouse, at right, and the cottage next to it.

The view over the valley looks south from the guesthouse. This was the sky around sunset.

The resthouse had tupsicles (tupperware + popsicles). My mom used to make these.

Us outside the guesthouse.

More hiking. There is a small waterfall to the right, just out of frame, that we had hiked up to see. This rock hung over a serious drop.

View from the rock in the previous picture. The buildings at right are the hospital compound; the big L-shaped one is the school.

With Ann's parents at the bus station in Bamenda, the city nearest Mbingo, coming home again.

The four of us bought out the back row, which otherwise would have had five people plus babes in arms, like this row just ahead of us. People here ride like this for seven hours straight and think nothing of it.

The bus ride home, at the halfway stop. Luggage on top.

We heard great things about Mbingo when we got here, and decided to save it for Ann's folks, when they visited. It was worth the wait, and one of the most beautiful places we've seen in Cameroon, in a very different way from Kribi on the sea, the semi-desert far north, or the hills of Yaounde. And everyone speaks English, which made it a perfect place to visit with Ann's parents, who don't know French.