A trip to the southwest

Not much had happened since my last post - went to all beaches in Bata several times, ate various reptiles, found out my return date, etc.

Last Sunday I decided to visit Cogo, a place in the mouth of a river into the ocean, near the border with Gabon. One friend and I got up at 6am and headed to Bata to pick up Spaniards. Around 9am we were there, looked at some map on the wall of their office  and decided to visit Cabo San Juan as well (I heard it was nice).

To cut the story short, we ended up nowhere. The road to Cogo was cut by a river (the bridge is still in the faze of construction); Cabo San Juan is a village, with crappy beach, in the middle of nothing (100km of dirt-road); if it weren't for hotel in Mbini and cold beers and rum, we would spent our whole day in the car. 

Summary, 600km covered - nothing to see. Good thing is that the gas is free. 

But no remorse, I laughed and made fun with all of them the whole time. It was a friendship-building journey :D 

Another food tasting

As my friend and I have agreed, every second Saturday, when we work till noon, is the day when we're gonna eat something new.


This week's menu item was marmot. I was surprised to hear that not a lot of people know what marmot is, how it looks like and so on - like they've never watched Milka chocolate commercials ;)
Just like the other dishes here, this one is not eye-pleasing at all. But the meat is tasty, the texture resembles beef and is much stronger, given it's a wild animal. The smell is very strong - the most discouraging part of the dish. We ate it, drowned it in a couple of Guinness beers and survived African cuisine once again.

Just like the one in the commercial :) 

Funny story on our way back: We met a friend from other company in the bar were we were eating and went together to buy some pants at a nearby market. There we've bumped into a guy who's a bit crazy, demented, not completely well. He started talking nonsense, like he's a Tyson's teacher, he's Bruce Lee, he wants to go to California with us and so on. We went to our cars, with the intention on going back to camp, but he'd climbed at the back of our car and didn't want to climb down. We've tried speaking to him nicely, persuading him with arguments and kind words - it didn't work. Than we started shouting and yelling - didn't work. People were passing-by and were laughing at us cos they probably knew the guy and saw that he was giving us his usual "treatment". If we'd tried to physically remove him out of our car, he could have said that we molested him, beat him or something similar. We decided to drive one circle around the town in the other car, hoping he'd leave when we're not around - didn't work. Finally, we got in our car and went back to our camp. On a military road-block we've asked those persons to help us out and they forced the looney out of our car.  

All in all, an unusual day.

A dam

In the current week we haven't worked much - Tuesday was a president's birthday and Thursday's some religious holiday. We've used these days-off to relax, cook and drive around the country.


On Tuesday we cooked - a beef under the bell (govedina ispod sača). Improvised the whole thing to perfection. Spent the whole day outside, on the terrace, enjoying the sun and a music. Afterwards a movie and my battery was full. 

Colorful

I wanted to to do something different on Thursday, wanted to see something else. That day was my friend's birthday and he wanted to celebrate it on a field in a nearby village. He wanted to go out of the camp, to escape all those unwanted guests, so he invited just a few of us for a beer, a bbq and a cooked beans. I announced my arrival in the afternoon. 

For the morning I organized a little trip to a nearby river and a dam. It's about 70km from our camp so my Spanish friend and I had breakfast (specialty from El Salvador - fried platana and frijoles, his wife made it) and left the camp around 9am. We didn't have a map, only a story of a friend who was there 6 months ago - and six months here is a long period of time keeping in mind that the whole country in constantly building and the roads are changing all the time, so an adventure was ahead of us. 

After an hour drive we've reached a river. On the left-hand side was a wooden bridge and the mountains from which the river was coming. The river was so fast and the rocks looked sharp that if you fell in, you'd hardly survive. We've walked across the bridge, took a few photos and returned to our car from the other side of the bridge. 

Wooden bridge

On the right-hand side, some 500m from the spot where we parked the car, was a kind of a hydroelectric power plant. There were signs in Chinese and a workshop in that area. When we asked a guy who was exiting from there is that the dam, he said no. Given that not all Guineanos speak Spanish, and this guy looked like one of them, we decided to drive around and see for ourselves. And it was a small dam, really small. What a contrast it was - a still stream vs a wild river.

We've decided to take a stroll and see where the two connects. Oh, what a sight it was - on the left a raging cascades, a small waterfall, water splashing wildly and creating a mist and a foam, and on the right a steady stream of water coming from the dam.

It was spectacular. The power of nature always amaze me. We've enjoyed the view for a while but the hunger forced us to head back to the birthday celebration. An unpleasant surprise awaited - a battery of the car was dead, we couldn't start a car. But we were lucky, some Chinese workers were just returning from their job and one of them, who speaks Spanish, helped us get the cables and start our car. 


The rest of the day we've spent on one field, catching frisbee, preparing food and relaxing. 

Food tasting

This Saturday I went to Mongomo with my Spanish-Salvador friends. (These guys are a fantastic couple that work for a supervising company at our camp. They are my age and we spend a lot of time together - watching movies, jogging, preparing food. My Spanish benefits a lot from this friendship.) We wanted to visit a local markets.


The first one was oriented mostly on food. There's a variety of vegetables and fruits available at reasonable prices. You can also buy different types of dresses and other garments and jewelry for women. The atmosphere at the market is typical for this part of the world - loud African music, strong odors, people talking loud, bargaining...I love it.


On the other market is a wider selection of clothes, shoes, CD's. This one is not as live as the first one.


After finishing our market tour, we've decided to try some of the Guinean cuisine. Finally I've found a person crazy enough to do this with me. My Serbian friends here don't like to experiment with food - they stick with a traditional Serbian/USA food. We've found a restaurant ran by our friend's mom - couldn't just eat at a random place, cos we had to be sure we won't end up with a food poisoning. The menu was, hm, lets say interesting. We could choose from a mountain cat, a turtle, a pangolin (scaly anteater) and one type of fish. The first item on the menu seemed a bit too much for the first time and the fish was to "mainstream", so the two of us (the female part of a couple didn't want to participate in our feast) decided to share a portion of a turtle and a pangolin. 

  


The first dish was the pangolin. It looks strange, maybe frightening as you can still see dents where the scales were. You only live once - I took a first bite and it tasted good. It reassembles a rooster meat but more gamy. The meat was in a spicy, hot sauce, typical for Guinea as they love their food very spicy. The only past of the pangolin that I didn't like was it's skin - it's just too gummy. The story here is that the meat of pangolin is some sort of aphrodisiac, but I didn't notice the effect :)

Pangolin

The second course of the day, the turtle, was surprisingly good. The look of the plate was, of course, discouraging (feet still had claws on them and all that), but the taste surprised me in a positive way. It was more or less like a chicken - tender and dry, but good. In both dishes meat consists only of muscles and bones, no fat, so it's healthy.

Turtle

In the end, we've agreed that the turtle wins and that we'll return here some other day to try something else, maybe a crocodile or a snake.


A part of me feels like Bear Grylls.

Bata, Rio Campo and beaches

After more than a month, I've spent a weekend outside the camp. Even though the trip was exhausting,  it was a "mental relief" seeing other people and places, doing something different.


A journey started on Saturday morning. I had to drive three workers to Bata, as they were going on a vacation. It was my first time driving to Bata, a bit of a challenge given I'm not an experienced driver and driving here is especially dangerous as other drive fast, do not follow the rules and have crappy cars. You have to be 100% concentrated all the time and always expect some foolish maneuver out of them. Fortunately, the trip went well, even the weather was on our side - didn't rain till Bata. 


I left my stuff at a friends flat and we decided to go to a beach after lunch. Then the weather changed in a matter of minutes - a shower that lasted half an hour. We decided to take a bit of rest and played a video game. 


Later that day we persuaded a friend to take us to his construction site and to see some buildings that are being build in a new residential part of town. Then he remembered that one of his workers told him there's a football game that afternoon at a nearby stadium. We've decided to give it a go. The stadium is newly-built, with one stand that can take up to 500 spectators. We arrived at the halftime and were told that the first half was scoreless. The game was between team San Pablo from Bata and others (few people we asked who the other team was didn't give us the answer). It would be a waste of words talking about the quality of football seen - two players were a bit better than the rest who were just punching a ball in the air. The interesting thing was that a first referee was a woman (female football is more popular here and the national team is current African champion). There were maybe one hundred spectators (we were, of course, the only ones not Africans).

After the game we went to a Spanish cultural center - there was a concert of young R&B singers. It was nice being in a place of culture, for a change, but the concert sucked so we haven't stayed long. Instead, we've grabbed a beer and watched some kids dancing on a boardwalk. Then we took a stroll down it, sat at one hotel for a refill (drank a draft beer after more than seven months - that day was exactly seven months since my arrival) and in the end, just after the midnight, we were to tired to go in one of the clubs, so headed back home.


The next day started early, around 6:30am. I had to pick up some spare parts from a warehouse and to wait a phone call from a friend so we can organize a trip to some secluded beaches.


We got together at his Argentino friend's house (I was the only one out of eight of us who's first language is not Spanish :D) and headed to Rio Campo. It's a small village lying on a mouth of a river into the Atlantic ocean. On the other riverbank is Cameroon. There's no beaches there, so we've returned a few kilometers back. The first beach that we've visited was more or less acceptable - the water was clear, it had a few easy chairs and sunbeds around and a table so we could even eat around it, but there was a lot of garbage around so we've decided to take a look at the other one.

Along the way, we've encountered a plane crashed by the road - who knows why and when it landed there. 

                


The other beach was much cleaner, so we've changed to our swim suits and enjoyed the water. But that didn't lasted very long, maybe half an hour. The waves were getting bigger and bigger and we could see a storm approaching from the sea. In a matter of ten minutes the storm started. We've found a shelter under a tent and stayed there until the rain stopped, more than an hour. 

  


When the shower was finally over, we've changed our clothes and decided it's time to go back to our camp. On our way back, we've visited an abandoned lighthouse dating from the period of Spanish colonization (I reckon it hadn't been used ever since). Couldn't climb up cos the grass around it was very high and who knows what's in it. 

   


The journey back was exhausting - I was alone it the car, that day we've covered more than 350km and it was pouring rain till we reached the camp.


All in all, I'm glad I've discovered another part of the country. 


The next time it's northeast and the boarder of Gabon, EG and Cameroon. 

Dark thoughts

Last month I haven't been anywhere on a weekends. We've celebrated two Easters, 1st of May and drank some more without a special cause. 


Nobody wanted to go out, visit something. I find the amusement in talking and hanging out with a Spanish-Salvador couple. They are my age, so we can relate pretty good (and hanging out with them benefits my Spanish greatly).


This lack of mobility affects my thoughts. They're all mixed up, a great confusion. When the Sundays over and working days start, I feel a kind of emptiness that I've never felt before. I've tried to fill my free time with certain activities (film, Spanish,   running and I even started learning to play a guitar), but nothing seems to satisfy me anymore. I'm constantly counting days till my vacation. People told me that this kind of crisis would struck me in 7-8th month, and it sure did. The good thing in all this is that my health is still serving me well.


Just wanna fast forward the time...

Mbini

When I "grow up", I wanna own a house on an island, or at least close to a seaside. I just wanna spent my days soaking up the sun, listening to the waves, not worrying about a single problem. Whoever lived on an island knows what kind of lifestyle I'm talking about.


.
.
.
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The previous weekend I went to Mbini, a little ocean-side place 80km south of Bata. It's a long journey from the camp - 250km/4h drive (parts of a road are under construction, thus it takes a long time). Once you get there you realize it was worth the effort. I love the smell of an ocean and to breathe that air. Everything is much more relaxed close to the sea. Oh, how much would I love to live there just so I can take a dip in the ocean after work. And their kitchen/mess is located on the seaside...




Spend the night at the discotheque and the next day by/in the pool.


It's hard to return to the jungle...

Bugs and plants

Centipede about 25cm long

Coconut

Coconut tree

This is where the pineapples grow

From dusk till dawn part 2

Sequel is almost never as good as the original, but still this one is worth mentioning.


It was the first time I went out on Saturday night in Mongomeyen, a village near our camp.


That night, after a football tournament, two guys were having a farewell party - just a bunch of drunken guys listening to a folk music. The booze is free but I don't like the atmosphere. So, after a few beers I proposed to a friend that we should go to some bar. As I mentioned, I've never been to any of them before and people told me that it's boring, not a lot of people (read:girls) to see and places to go. Me, curious as always, wanted to see it for myself. 


We'd headed to an only discotheque, but it was closed. Other bars in that (only) street were almost empty even though it was only 11pm. The driver told us that only one bar is somewhat full, so we went there. A few guys from the camp were already there, so we sat with them outside, on an unpaved porch. People were sitting at two more tables outside and around 30 more were inside, some standing at the bar, others dancing. 


That phenomena of a "village/country" DJ, as I like to call it, which is present in every small place in Serbia has apparently spread all the way here. The phenomena is that a DJ first plays popular, usually house, music followed by the transition to  Serbian pop/soft rock and climaxed with turbo-folk hits. When I heard Serbian music in a bar in Guinea, I almost puked. I was disgusted. Some wise guy wasn't lazy and had burned a CD so he could poison these people, too. Luckily for me, they played only 3-4 songs. The rest of the music that night I would describe as a mixture of MTV pop from 2008, Spanish pop and African hits. African music, the commercialized one, is full of beat which suits their mentality and the way they dance. 


And I couldn't get enough of the way they dance. The movements they're making are surreal. They are really enjoying themselves, having fun but at the same time trying to look at their best. The bar's got a huge mirror on one of the walls and the biggest crowd is in front of it, constantly checking out the way they look while dancing. One particular guy caught my attention. He was dressed similarly to a hipster (and had a red Chuck Taylors, same as me), looked like he's 14 (but told me he's 19, and told me that he wants me to find him a job in our company) and danced like crazy. He want to the dance-floor, danced for about a minute of two and than went out of the bar - and he repeated it at least 10 times. It looked to me that he only came to the dance-floor to show the rest of the people how good he is and than left them to practice. Apart from this "show-off" dancing, you always have that seductive one and they can move their bodies, yes they can. 


The atmosphere in the bar was hot as always, a blend of the weather, a lack of A/C and human sweat, a lot of alcohol and sex crave. Some told me that it used to be better, but most of the girls now go to Bata on weekends. Howsoever, I stayed there till 3:30, danced my ass of and my legs were weary the next day. 


Overall, it was an interesting night.      


       

A wooden bridge and a baptism

Interesting things only happen on Sundays (occasionally Saturday night).


I finally got my ID (well, it's not actually ID, just a paper saying the ID is in the process of making, but that's enough), so I can travel without a hassle on road blocks during the day. 


This is a small country and there's not much to see - two places on the seaside, one national park, a dam and a few villages (but they're all the same). Nevertheless, going out of the camp fills you with so much energy that it doesn't matter where you go, you just wanna breathe different air and see different part of the same jungle.


So this Sunday we decided to go to one wooden bridge nearby. The place is about 20km far from the camp. You go on the highway that our company's building than enter the part of the highway of another company, exit on the dirt track and you are there. You would never notice a bridge is there, except the fact the water runs under it. It is just a dirt-road. Probably some guys who went fishing discovered it. When you go through bushes and down a slippery path to the bank of a river, you realize how amazing the bridge actually is. It's built entirely of huge logs. They put'em in water, build it in height and than connected two banks. Chinese built it, what a smart nation.

While we were there, three hand built canoes went by and we've seen them later near our car - the people riding canoes, not canoes itself ;). We decided to make a picnic one time at this place.


Afterwards we went to see Oyala. It's the next presidential town. They are building it from scraps. I expected it to be a bit bigger, at least 2000 inhabitants, but there's only a maximum of 50 houses (out of which 15 are bars). When you go through Oyala you see the work-sites, highways and avenues being build, portions of land reserved for residential area etc. It's close to the same river we were earlier that day and tree bridges are being build over it.

Road through a rock

We've returned to Oyala for a drink in one of the bars. It was surprisingly live, given it was Sunday noon. The music was loud, disco ball was on and some 15 people were inside. This place was sure the place to be on Saturday night :). We've agreed to give it a go once.






Later that day some of us were invited to a baptism of a child of one of our worker. She was in a relationship with one Serbian guy, but it's not his kid, it's of some German dude. Anyway, we got there and it was really hot, the temperature was at it's high. Older women were chanting traditional songs inside the house and all the rest were under two tents. Unfortunately, we've missed all the ceremonies. The good thing was that I've tried a local food. It wasn't that different (fried chicken, something like russian salad and a tomato/lettuce/avocado salad). The exception was some spicy dip. They've warned me but it was stronger than me - I had to try it. And it was really hot, but I didn't embarrass myself and they were amazed that a Serbian can eat their spicy food - WIN.


Afterwards, the music started and the people danced. They are really born to dance. From the smallest child to the oldest granny, they all have incredible moves. That was definitely the highlight of the fiesta, as far as I'm concerned. 

My batteries have charged for another working week.   

From dusk till dawn

I've spent the last weekend in Bata. The purpose of going was the football tournament - they were hosts for the first time. The company allowed the building of the football court in their residential area, so they decided to organize the tournament and host all the camps. It was great, as far as I'm concerned, as we've won the trophy without conceding a goal. Afterwards, we've enjoyed the delicious food and a few beers.


The feast was over around 22:30 and the night had just started...


I took a shower and then we went to a friend's flat, drank more beer and called a ride at around 00:30. That was quite late beginning of a night-out, even for Serbian standards, but it's not the case here. 


The first stop was, Mamayta, a bar/club. It's got two parts - outdoor and indoor area. The music is not so loud outside, so you can communicate normally, and you can breathe, even though the humidity and the temperature is high, despite the fact that it's well over midnight. We went inside and it was like in the Tarantino's movies - abnormal temperature, smoky atmosphere, loud music. Whole club was filled with people dancing, rubbing their bodies on one another moving in the rhythm of the music. The atmosphere was on the verge of erupting any second. One guy was dancing facing the mirror that covers the whole wall and he was constantly smiling like crazy. People were switching their dance partners constantly, everybody was dancing with everybody. The dance moves varied from "shaking your ass like a pro" to "a middle aged white guy who's stiff as a board". I believe that one can't depict a place like that so it correlate with the things seen (or at least I can't, since I'm not so good with words), but you can just try to imagine the above mentioned movie, locate it in the heart of Africa, add more money and more poverty to the equation (what a paradox) and you're on the right track.


The was mainly mainstream - I haven't recognized a single song, but they were in English and Spanish and resembled the MTV type of songs so I assume that most of them are popular songs in Europe's clubs as well.
In this club, the ratio of Africans vs People from other continents (mostly Lebanese and Serbians, with few Cubans and Spaniards) was 60-40, African guys vs African girls 20-80 and Guys vs Girls from other continents 98-2.


We were standing in one corner, close to the bar, facing our back to one of the booths. My friends told me that I should "beware" of the girls, cos they have the "instinct" of recognizing the new guys in town. Some 45 minutes after we've arrived the power aggregate went out, so we found ourselves in pitch dark. Right there and then, a girl grabbed my ass, twice - she was sitting in the booth behind us, giggling with her friends and shouting something. They've told me that they know her as she's been with some guys from the company in the past. I was, once again,  surprised with their direct approach and the lack of shame.
We went outside to finish our beer and have witnessed another strange thing. The power was back on but we decided not to come in again so just stood and talked in front of the entrance. Then a commotion started. The girl that grabbed my ass and her friends were yelling and trying to get back inside but the bouncers wouldn't let them in. (My friend told me that the Africans pay entrance fee of around 8 euros, cos most girls go to a places like this to get guys and "earn some easy money", they don't order anything so the club wants to profit on them somehow. Nobody charged us for entering since they know we would drink that amount several times. You can also take a girl in without her paying for the same reason - they know that you're gonna buy her drinks the whole night). The girls then started beating the bouncers, forcing they way in on several occasions, but the guys were stronger so they gave up and sat there, took of their high-heels and waited for Godknowswhat. It was very strange to see chicks in mini skirts, top shirts and high heels fighting. Even if we wanted, we couldn't interfere as we, as a strangers, can't get in a conflict with the locals as law is firmly not on our side. These girls were, too, expatriates, coming here from the surrounding countries Gabon and Cameroon.


We've decided that it was time to change our location before something worse happens so went to a discotheque. It's interior was similar to European ones, but with a lot of African wooden masks and cool drawings on the walls. It's a pretty large one and was half empty when we arrived. As it was 2am I assumed that the closing hour was approaching and that it was the reason for not so many people inside. But I was mistaken once more. As the time went by, it was getting fuller and fuller. The music was the same as in the previous club and the people were, too - they've just changed the scenery. At one point, a song started and the mass around me erupted - they've formed the circle and, one after another, started going in the middle of it and showed their best moves. It was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. That lasted for at least 15 minutes, than a DJ switched to another type of music. It was definitely the highlight of the evening. The ratio of Girls vs Guys was well on the side of the guys when we arrived, but it leveled throughout the night. And the girls were tireless - they were "attacking" us, shaking their booties and dancing provocatively. Four girls have asked me for my phone number - the situation here is completely different from the one in the rest of the places I've been before. Even though it was flattering in a way, although I know that they only wanted my money (it sounds so harsh), the health must be always in the first place as there's a high risk of various sexually transmitted diseases. We've stayed there until 6am - I haven't stayed that late since coming here and it was time to wrap it up for the night.


Slept for three hours, then went for a walk with some friends, afterwards to the beach and around 3pm headed back to the camp.


Weekend succeeded ;)

The day after

After we woke up, we went on a walk along the coast of the ocean. The promenade is one of the longest I've ever seen. We only walked a small part of it as some friends were waiting for us in a newly built hotel at the beginning of the promenade. 

The kid was riding a bicycle without tires on it's wheels :)

On our way back to the hotel, we've seen the head coach of Zambian football team, jogging with his assistants. Catch up with our friends, and after finishing our coffees and juices we went to have some lunch and then to the beach. By the way, the service at the hotel was horrible (waited for 20 min to be served and that it took her 3 turns to bring everything as she kept forgetting things). 


The road to the beach is a bit bumpy but once you get there, it's all worth the effort. The part we went on is called the American beach, cos it's near the American military base. There's one restaurant with a terrace plus a few tables in the sand and some sunbeds. The sand is almost white and the water is pretty clear. The temperature of the water is phenomenal, it's like the Caribbeans. I so love salty water. Minor drawback is that the water is shallow so you have to walk a 100m if you want to swim and I didn't want to take that risk as in this time of the year there's a lot of jellyfish around. Someone said to me that in January and February the water is the hottest here. 

I enjoyed the salt in my hair and the sand in my pants, but unfortunately we could stay there only for two hour, as we needed to return to our beloved jungle. So we packed up, refreshed a bit and headed back to the camp. Didn't have problems with any of the roadblocks, none of the guards were drunk enough to molest us ;)


I'm already looking forward to the next weekend in Bata (just hope I won't have to wait another four months for that)  

CAN 2012

In the past month I had a lot of work, since my colleague have been on a vacation. Didn't go anywhere, spent my free time relaxing, watching movies.

Equatorial Guinea, together with Gabon, is a host of this year's Cup of African Nations (CAN). When I read that information in Novi Sad, I set my mind on going to at least one match - it is, after all, once in a lifetime opportunity. I did not know how difficult it would be to put my plan into action...

CAN started on the 21st of January. The matches in Bata, the only place where I could see a match, were to be held on five occasions, one of witch was the opening clash between EG and Lybia. I still haven't received my permanent residence, so the risk of going out of camp is still high (it's not that something horrible is going to happen to me, but they can lock me up and make me pay a lot of money). In addition to that, we worked till 6 PM the day of the opening, so I couldn't go to this one.

Several days before the beginning of the CAN everybody was talking about it. These guys really don't have a respectable team, they have never qualified for the championship before and were the lowest ranked team who played in the final stage, so we didn't believe they would pose a threat to any team. But the folks were optimistic, they've had fate and trusted their team. The opening match showed us poor football, a lack of organized plays and a surprising victory of Nzalang (that's the nickname of the national football team of Equatorial Guinea, meaning thunder). The people were ecstatic. Everybody was retelling the story of the fantastic match in the days that followed. 

The next match in Bata was Nzalang against Senegal, firm favorites in that group. It was in mid-week, so it was out of bounds for me. The rain postponed the matches for almost two hours. Incredible last minute victory qualified Nzalang for quarterfinals and put the idea of wining the trophy in heads of all Guineanos. The third match in Bata was on Sunday, 29th and it was Senegal-Lybia - missed this one too. Nzalag played their last match in capital Malabo, lost, so ended second in the group and were to play Ivory Coast in Malabo, too. Unfortunately for me, that meant I wouldn't be able to watch them play. Only two games left to be played in Bata - and I had a chance only to watch the quarterfinals (it was on Saturday and I worked till noon). The problem was that, despite sending positive thoughts, my my ID still hasn't arrived. I was in despair. Another "great" thing was that the board of the directors banned economists to go to Bata on weekends, except with the written permission of the director of the camp and the approval of the board (so I'm officially in a prison from that day). After a few days of going through pros and cons of me leaving for Bata, I decided to give it a try - you only live once and who know if the chance like that would ever again arise. 

Found the car, found the company, got the permission and  organized the tickets and a place to stay - it was all set. We had to go through at least five police road blocks in each direction, plus the random raids in Bata. I was the only one without the valid documents, so I equipped ourselves with Fanta, water and a small bills in case someone ask for IDs. The trip to Bata went pretty smoothly, only one guy asked us for a refreshment ;), so we got there and were really hipped. The feeling of being in the city, doing something different, something you wanted soooo much was amazing. 

We left our stuff and headed to the stadium. Some fifteen people from the company came to the game. We all knew that the attendance was going to be low, but I didn't mind. I just knew that I'm gonna watch the CAN match live and everything else was irrelevant. The stadium itself was a newly-built complex, completed for this purpose and a lot of European club can look at in with envy. 

As expected, less than 3000 spectators (my observation) showed up so the stadium was empty. The game was Zambia vs. Sudan. The prior were favorites and had about 20 supporters on the stands. The later had a larger group of supporter, 150, and were located on the south stand where they hanged their flags. When the game started, they weren't there, but later on they organized and started beating the drums and chanting song in their native language. A small group of Marocans  near me also supported Sudan, I joined them.

Zambia fans

Sudan fans

At the half-time, we changed the stand in hope of the TV camera catching us (don't know if the plan succeeded). Despite seeing three goals in Sudan's net, the game was not so interesting. But the experience of watching them celebrate goals, fans chanting and dancing and the atmosphere in general was priceless. I'm sure gonna remember that day and retell the story for the rest of my life.

Serbians

After the match, we went to eat something - first fast-food since coming here ;), and then watched Nzalag game (they lost as expected, despite the help from the sorcerer who was supposed to summon the rain). That was the end of the dream for the hosts of CAN.

     

   

The thing that fascinated me over and over again is that I was again in the city during the night - I saw street lights, I heard traffic, it was amazing I kept smiling the whole time. People need to learn to appreciate the little things in life. On our way back to the flat, the police stopped us in the street raid. I was prepared to give a large sum of money, just not to spend a night in jail. Luckily, we were all surprised by the kindness of the officer - he saw that I recently got here and said I should carry my passport (not the copy) and let us go. I was incredibly lucky that night. 
I felt asleep with the sound of the cars coming from the street next to the building (yes, the building, oh what a joy...kill me for being a city kid).



The next day was awesome, too.

Just a few thoughts

Nothing special happened these days. We've celebrated New Years Eve and Christmas. Drink some - rest some... For the whole month of January, I'm working alone in the office, since my co-worker's on vacation as well as the director of the camp. A lot of work, but I don't wanna bore anyone with this.


I just wanted to say that the locals are extremely hard to communicate with. You can only talk with them about the work, to be exact - they only wanna complain to you. I've tried to talk about their life, their customs (since I'm very interested in learning a bit more about their way of life), but they just don't wanna open up a bit. In a way, I completely understand them, cos they probably see us as a bad guys who only wanna exploit them and force them to work. The truth is that they do work for the salaries, and a pretty good ones (compared to Serbian standards).


I'm still gonna try to talk with all people, in hope of learning something new about their fascinating culture.