I joined Excel on a visit to Bamenda, a town about 5 hours north of Douala in a hilly area with an elevation of just over 1,000 meters - it is the area where he grew up and where his father now lives. I was warned that it would be cold, and it was cooler but definitely not cold, just closer to comfortable.

Excel's sister is engaged to be married, the purpose of the visit was for the two families to meet and share a meal together and talk about the marriage, and perhaps even stop the marriage. The future groom brought his parents and older sister and typical food from his village, the future bride also made food from her village and the food was served together to symbolize the joining of the families. We had palm wine which starts as a white liquid that is drained from a palm tree, but fermentation begins naturally and immediately so the liquid becomes alcoholic with some sourness and acidity to it, and after one day it is fully alcoholic. It tastes ok but it definitely won't become my favorite drink. I'm seen guys by the side of the street with a bunch of water bottles on the ground in front of them with froth coming out of the top as it ferments.

We took a small bus (a large passenger van) where they usually seat 5 people in a row meant for 4. We picked seats in the only row that on the seating plan like it would have only 4 people, but at the last minute they squeezed a fifth person in. Oh well…

We visited a handicraft shop that is a cooperative that sells handicrafts made by many local artists, which had a very good selection of carvings, masks, baskets, etc.

We also visited the Fon (chief) of Bafut. We were not able to actually meet the Fon, but one of the queens gave us a very good tour of the compound and the museum. The Bafut have a rich cultural heritage that is preserved in their museum, with carvings and handiwork and photos. They were colonized by the Germans in the 1890s after 10 years of fighting, with the Germans using rifles, the Bafut with bows and arrows, the surprising thing is that the battle lasted 10 years. The Bafut believe in ancestor worship, so the Fon enters a lodge that only he is allowed to enter where he commutes with the ancestors to make decisions. They use drums to pass messages, so a specific rhythm is sounded, and the next tribe passes it on until the entire tribe of almost 100,000 people has the news.

Before colonization by the Germans, they sacrificed a male and female virgin each year as part of the celebration of the end of the year of ancestor worship. A member of the council of elders was told he had to provide one of his children - he could choose which one as long as they were a virgin, once he had provided one child, he wouldn't be chosen again. Now after colonization they use logs and sacrifice animals.

Before colonization anyone caught committing adultery was tied to a large stone and body parts were removed piece by piece then if they were still alive after 7 days they were killed with boiling water. Now they are exiled from the tribe.

Before colonization the Fon could and would take many wives, now… he can still take many wives. The current Fon, who is 63, has 39 wives, some looked to be in their 30s including the queen who gave us our tour.

We also stopped by the Saddle Hill Range, which is a high-end hotel and conference center that is being built out in the country near Bamenda. It was very nice with a conference room looking out over the valley and a swimming pool, but the prices are high end too, similar to North American rates.

We came back on the night bus (left at 10:30pm and arrived at 5am) but this time on a big bus more like a greyhound where we actually got our own seat all to ourselves!