Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New year everyone. Hope everyone had a great holiday. Well it is January now and this is the hottest part of the year in Tiko. It hasn’t rained in some time. But I prefer it cause the roads have no puddles and I can enjoy the outdoors.

My Christmas holidays were very busy. First I had IST (In-Service-Training) in Bamenda which is in the Northwest province of Cameroon. I stayed in a nice hotel which had hot water and satellite television. I took my first hot shower in six months. The weather there is cool because of the high altitude. Afterwards the training we hiked Mount Bamenda which is about 8000 feet. It was a good warm up for what was to come.

Then I went back to Tiko. On Christmas Five volunteers and I went hiking up Mount Cameroon the largest mountain in West Africa. It was a five day hike and easily was the hardest thing I have ever done. Day one we hiked around 7 hours, Day two – 6 hour hike, Day three we made it to the summit and and back down to the camp site 11 hour hike, Day 4 – 12 hours (Was gruesome because everyone was extremely sore from the three days before. Then Day five was a solid six hours downhill with blistered feet and extrememely sore leg muscles. It was well worth it though. I have attached pictures of the trip.

After hiking we hit the beach and I had seven volunteers staying at my place. It was crazy. Now I am back to school and trying to get the students back in the groove again. I appreciate all the packages and wish everyone a good new year. Please write me and let me know how all of you are doing.