We did it!!!! We climbed Mbingo Hill!

Hello everyone!!

We did it! We climbed Mbingo Hill!! It was amazing! It was a goal from the first day we arrived in Mbingo! I could never have climbed it back in November!!! But since we walk everywhere here and I lost a little weight, we decided it was time to try it!! It was crazy hard but so worth it! The view from the top was amazing! Everyone went even little Gretchen! She did so good! She was climbing like crazy! The way up is very tiring and pretty much straight up, but coming down was scary!! On the way up you leaned into the hill but on the way down I was so scared I would tumble forward!! A couple of times I sat and scooted down on my butt!

Here we are at the top!!!

Starting out on our journey we had to go through a small village at the bottom of Mbingo hill.

Houses in the village

A gate that is held open by an engine block!

Gretchen leading the way!!

At the base ready to go up!!

 

Starting our climb!

About half way up we took a little break! 

Picture of the hospital at about half way!

Picture of the hospital from the top!!! Market is on the right side of the road and the hospital is on the left! 

 

Fields on the side of the hill! Mbingo is all hills and mountains so they must farm on the side of the hills and mountains!! I went with Nancy to visit some ladies working in a field! They were on the side of a hill turning the soil over getting it ready to plant! I could barely stand on the hill, but the ladies were digging with their shovels and hoes like it was nothing! They call them hills! I call them cliffs or drop offs!!!

The view from the top was beautiful!! God is good!!

Here we are coming back down!! This shows how steep it really was!! This was one of the many times I got stuck and Jen had to tell me where to put my feet or which path to take!!! I am way up the hill and Jen and Elliott are waiting for me!!!

Elliott waiting in his chair!! The whole side of the hill was like this! It was like climbing a rock wall. You would but your foot on a patch of dirt and grass and look for the next sturdy patch to place your next foot or to pull your self up!

On the road back to Mbingo!! Which actually was the dangerous part of our trip!!! Cars and Motos everywhere!!!! Cameroon is not like the United States where the pedestrian has the right away!! If you don't get out of the way or even off the road they will run you down!! There is no slowing down either!! Notice how we are hugging the side of the road!!! Also the Motos (motorcycles) here turn off there engines as they travel down hills and coast so they can save gas!!! So now you can't hear them coming to get you!!!!

Gretchen is so funny! When we go for walks she is always looking out for Motos! She will yell "Watch out! Here comes Moto guys!!" I think one of the scariest things I see on our way to Bamenda is the children walking along these roads! We drive on a road that is so twisty turny and people go so fast! The motos weave in and out of traffic while kids that are Gretchen's age (she is 3) are walking along the road by themselves! The children must walk to school and they have to walk along the roads!! There have been a couple of times when I have held my breath and cringed because I thought I was going to witness one of them getting hit!!! We all just look at each other and hold our kids a little tighter! It is their way of life here! They start school when they are 3 and that is how they get to school! They don't have a big yellow school bus that stops to pick them up!!! I should say that most of the really little ones have siblings that walk with them! But most of the siblings are only a few years older! It would be like Elliott and Gretchen walking to school on I-99!!! I know this road is not a 4 lane highway but people drive like it is and go just as fast!

Okay sorry back to our hike!

 

 On our way back these boys wanted their picture taken! They saw our camera and kept turning around and posing! I finally said can I take a snap! They laughed and posed again!! If you want to take a picture you should ask first and they say snap instead of picture!

Here are some close up pictures of our market! 

Well it was a fun and busy week! We didn't hear anything about our visa extensions yet! Maybe by the end of this week we will know something! We just ask for continued prayers! Prayers for safe travels for our friends that are going to Kribi tomorrow! Prayers for Lindsay and Cathen as they travel back to the states for a little vacation! We will miss them! Gretchen wanted to go on the airplane with Cathen!! I told her very soon we will be on the big plane!! Prayers for Elliott who is having all kinds of emotions this week! One minute he is very homesick and missing all his family and friends, but then the next minute he is sad to leave Africa, Mbingo, and the friends and family we have made here!!! I think we are all feeling this!!! We really miss our family and friends (and I can not wait to hug my mom!!) but we have enjoyed our time here so much we do not want to see it end!!!! 

Jen is going to post the next blog! She is going to give everyone a glimpse into what she has been doing at the hospital!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.  Psalm 136:1