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Train journey

When purchasing our train tickets, it seemed a good idea to Kara and I to save a few thousand francs by going with the 4-bed couchette rather than the higher priced 2-bed couchette for the 16-hr trip from Yaoundé to N'Gaoundéré. A few hours before boarding, we realized this may not have been the brightest idea, and as we sweated in the humid, crowded, second-story, first-class waiting room, it occurred this may have been a very unwise choice. To our relief, however, once the train was boarded and began to pull out of the station at 6:10 pm (on time!--to my utter amazement, after warning announcements ["the train's departure is imminent!"]--to my very great surprise), we found ourselves with two Cameroonian ladies as companions for the trip.

The one lady lay down to sleep without further ado and did not interact with us at all for the whole trip. We expected the other lady, attired in the Northern fashion, to do the same, but she entertained men half the night! For hours she was chatting with 3 or 4 men, first in the compartment, seating her guests on the bed on which slept Lady #1; later taking them out to the hallway where she entertained with the door open until 10 pm when she suddenly came in, closed the window (citing danger from bandits as the reason for shutting off the trickle of blessed cool refreshing air), covered herself with her cloth wrapper and went to sleep.

Finally able to relax, I hastily finished my journal entry, then retired, leaving tomorrow's worries til tomorrow's dawn.

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