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.
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.
