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8/13/08 - Abuja & Jos, Nigeria We breakfast with the family and leave Abuja solo, Jos-bound |
(Shutterfly photo album - Nigeria-Lagos, Abuja, Jos) |
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This morning, Wednesday (week one - check!), we had one last breakfast with Trevor, Maria, and her (their) family. We had a good conversation that morning, where we discovered that Caroline dances like an African (perhaps this explains her spraying wins), and Maria and Quincy thought Scott was an Arab (and thus might not stand out too much in the Muslim cities we were heading to). Quincy marveled over the idea that we wanted to travel around and ‘see’ Nigeria and, upon seeing Scott consulting our Lonely Planet West Africa pages we had brought with us, the family all were very intrigued that a guidebook – complete with maps – had been written about their country. We also discussed some of the racism in Africa, how lighter-skinned Africans are seen as superior (and thus fetch bigger dowries) than dark-skinned Africans – explaining the advertisements for skin-lightening soaps and creams that we had seen. This, while white people across America are applying sunless tanning lotions and/or subjecting themselves to harmful UV rays… apparently we all want to be the same, olive-y complexioned peoples. After discussing our touring plans in more detail, we think that Quincy was finally able to understand the type of travel experience we were looking to have. She said something to the effect of, “I’ve heard about people like you, who want to go to a country and see how people live”. Yes, we wanted to see a bit of the “real” Nigeria. This seemed to mystify most of the people we encountered – where traveling is strictly about visiting family for events, or visiting museums and perhaps a bit of shopping. Saying our goodbyes to our generous hosts, we finally were able to set off to see Nigeria by ourselves! (Oh, and with our driver, Gausil, of course). Climbing into the back seat of the black Toyota Corrolla with Gausil at the wheel, leaving our traveling companions of the past week behind, and driving off proved to be yet another surreal experience, after being closely supervised by someone if not a team of people, and traveling in a pack, for an entire week. Caroline actually felt a little unnerved by the whole experience and likened it to how it must feel to free-fall from an airplane (not that she would really know, since she's never done it!) You probably had to be there...The drive to Jos was an uneventful, yet interesting one and the weather was sunny and pleasant (although it was a little chilly in the car with the AC blasting, compliments of Gausil). The scenery was lush and green, dotted with farmland and bodies of water, and we enjoyed passing through the villages and small towns, where the roadside would become clogged with market stalls, selling yams and other produce stacked in neat piles, and people going about there daily business. Gausil stopped in one village and bought us bananas (with our money, of course), as the various vendors selling fruit and peanuts (groundnuts?) descended upon our car, demanding our business. Their bananas are smaller than the ones we get here at home and by 5:30 Scott had already eaten four. Caroline was being conservative in her food and water intake, as their are no roadside rest stops (i.e. toilets) in this part of the world and she wasn't taking any chances. During the 3-hour drive to Jos we passed villages of mud huts with thatched roofs and fields populated with the occasional farmer, using an old-fashioned traditional hoe. These scenes, while primitive, provided a picturesque and quintessentially African backdrop for our journey. Mid-afternoon, we checked into the mediocre Crest Hotel in Jos for about $95/night. Our room came complete with a round bed and leopard print curtains and chair cushions - how could we resist?! Even though it had started raining lightly around the time we rolled into town, we instructed Gausil to take us to the local museum. Eventually, he got us there and we proceeded to walk through a darkened building looking at interesting-enough African art/artifact exhibits. At one point a guide came up and offered me the light from her cell phone so I could read the description, it was so dark! When we had made our way through the building, one of the many guides who hang out in museums in hopes of making a buck, took us on a tour of the full-scale architectural reproductions that were also located on the museum grounds. We especially enjoyed the Sharia (Islamic law) Courthouse and Mosque, with their beautiful interior arches made of smooth, red clay (similar to traditional New Mexican building materials, in fact) criss-crossing the ceilings. After our museum visit, Gausil dropped us at the hotel, so he could find a room for himself at a less costly hotel, and we had an early dinner in the depressing restaurant in the hotel compound. After dinner we returned to our room and watched an unidentifiable American movie on TV, with every utterance of "God" bleeped out, along with other assorted swear words - you don't realize how much they say "God" on TV until you watch TV in Nigeria! We were going to skip Jos, originally, but John thought we would like it, as it is supposedly popular with westerners, due to the cooler weather (being at all of 3,000 feet). We never figured that one out, especially as we did not see one other white face while there, and sensed a rather marked lack of hospitality towards foreigners, namely, us... *Note, please accept our apologies for all the blurry pictures; many of our best photo ops occurred as we were speeding down the highways of Nigeria!
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A
typical yam stand, on the road to Jos
Our "luxurious" facilities at the Crest Hotel - note the
electric water-heater above the tub, a common fixture in
Nigerian hotel rooms
The Nigerian version of "The Last Supper," prominently displayed
in the Crest Hotel restaurant. The Apostles bear a
striking resemblance to the Geico Cavemen... |
