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8/18/08 - Kano, Zaria, Kaduna & Abuja, Nigeria; Atlanta & Albuquerque, USA

We experience a Muslim prayer service of grand proportions and make our way back to Western-style living at the Abuja Sheraton, before flying home

We would have like to stay another day and hire the same guide again, but in the morning (Friday), we decided to quickly visit the Mosque in Kano and drive on, in the hopes of making it to Zaria in time for the weekly Friday prayer service (like Sunday for Catholics).  First, we found the Emir's Palace (with more of the same "WHEYA IZ IT?!!!," from Gausil), which we weren't allowed to go into since we had no appointment.  It seemed to be bustling with visitors (we're doubting they all had appointments) and plenty of goats out front - which were everywhere in Kano, including being transported on okadas.  Then it was off to the Mosque.  Again, we were only allowed in the courtyard and not inside the Mosque due to our apparently obviously non-Muslim status.  We did get approached by a group of angry men telling us we were not allowed to be in the courtyard either, but Gausil yelled at them, telling them he was Muslim and we could be there if we wanted.  He claimed we wouldn't have been able to get as close as we did had we not been wearing our African clothes - another great reason for the Nigerian threads!

By the time we hit Zaria, about 90 minutes south of Kano, it was almost 2pm and time for Friday prayers at the Mosque & Emir's Palace compound.  Supposedly a "village," there are about 1 million people living in Zaria, and a good percentage of the men were also heading toward the Mosque.  It was chaos in the streets in this supposedly quiet village.  Gausil found his way there (again, upon yelling repeatedly at various okadas - "Wheya iz dis Emir Palace?!!!" over the whiny, Hausa music blasting from the CD he bought from a street vendor in Kano, and which became the unofficial  soundtrack for our roadtrip) and parked smack in front of the main entrance... center stage, if you will.  We thought we'd just be taking a quick peek and getting out of there, as Gausil seemed to hate being anywhere that there was traffic (he lives in Nigeria, for goodness sake!), but he got swept up in the moment and decided that he needed to go pray with the rest of the men (a good 10,000 of them).  This left us standing alone at center stage, seemingly all 10,000 attendees staring at us.  We slipped back into the car and waited for the prayers to begin.

It was quite a scene to behold, this huge throng of Muslims being led in prayer over the Mosque loudspeakers by the Emir.  The silence between prayers was amazing... just the sound of thousands of men kneeling down and standing up.  The whole experience was so moving to watch, although we're not sure we can explain why. 

After the prayers, lasting only about 10 minutes or so, the Emir was led by his caravan of colorfully dressed palace guards from the Mosque back to his palace.  Since Gausil had made his way back toward us by then and was once again snapping photos with his camera phone and motioning for us to come closer to see the Emir's parade, we decided it was okay for us to take some pictures too.  The two of us walking through the crowd snapping pictures sure attracted a lot of attention - especially from the young boys in the crowd.  We're pretty sure they don't see too many white folk hanging out in their town, and especially not white women showing up to the all-male Friday prayers at the Mosque.  Our celebrity status that we were feeling in front of the paparazzi at the Lagos wedding had returned!

With nothing else of great interest on our agenda for Zaria, we thought we'd head south to Kaduna for the night, especially as we were told by both John and Gausil that we didn't want to stay in Zaria (no good hotels, and at this point we were starting to believe them).  Once in Kaduna, we went straight to the hotel that John had recommended, and found a conference going on and no room at the inn.  After three long days on the road, Caroline was ready to park in one place for a relaxing day prior to our travel day back to the U.S., so we decided to skip our limited agenda in Kaduna and head all the way back to Abuja, another two hours down the road.  Gausil seemed disappointed that we were skipping Kaduna, though we weren't sure if it was because we'd be missing the native dance show at the museum there, or if he was worried about arriving in Abuja before nightfall.

We did make it back down south to Abuja just as it was getting dark, in spite of the accident on the highway.  It was a divided highway with two lanes going in either direction, and there was a(nother) serious turnover accident in the northbound lanes.  Not people to get slowed down by various obstacles in the road, the people approaching the traffic caused by the accident just swerved across the grassy median into our southbound lanes - many without headlights - adding to the excitement of our drive.

It was right to the Sheraton for us, as we had decided to ignore the price tag and go for the best bet in town.  We pressed for a deal, since it was the weekend and we'd be staying  both Friday and Saturday night, and so the front desk clerk relented and gave us 50% off - just $175 per night!  The property was quite nice and completely self-contained, with 3 or 4 bars, at least 5 restaurants, a decent pool area with restaurant...we would spend our final day in Nigeria pretending we weren't in Nigeria.  It was nice getting some R&R before our 5:30am departure for our marathon day of travel on Sunday to get back to the U.S.  We spent some time, in full dress at the pool, under a cabana in the rain and watched the American movie Fun with Dick and Jane back in our room, before heading out for a tasty Italian meal, in the hotel compound, of course.

Gausil dutifully picked us up at the requested early hour at no charge - he insisted on picking us up so that we wouldn't have to use a cab.  We think he really did grow to like us.  Flying from Abuja back to Lagos was a breeze... navigating the madness of check-in at the stiflingly hot & humid Lagos airport was another story.  But we made it, and landed in Atlanta just 12 hours later. Since our connection to Albuquerque was 18 hours later - the next day - our friends Chad and Dawn invited us to stay with them on Sunday night.  Chad picked us up at the Atlanta airport and brought us back to their place where we got to spend too little time trying to catch up prior to sleeping soundly in their dreamy American bed.  The next morning we were chauffeured back to the airport and found ourselves back in Albuquerque early Monday afternoon - with plenty of catching up on real life to do.

All eyes were on us at the end of the prayer service, outside the Mosque in Zaria

Leaving Zaria behind, as we exit the gates that were once part of the old city walls (now deteriorated in most places)

Hanging out by the Sheraton Abuja pool, Scott returns from the restaurant/bar after ordering a pair of $4 Cokes

Scott & Gausil carry our bags to the car as we depart the Prince Hotel - hey, where are the porters at this "swanky" place???

Caroline, dressed in her best imitation of the local style, poses in front of the Emir's Palace in Kano

Entrance to the Mosque courtyard in Kano

A typical street in Zaria...we liked the name of the barber shop

The Emir (in white turban beneath umbrella) returns to the Palace following the prayer service in Zaria

Caroline, having a National Geographic moment, in Zaria

Gausil grudgingly agrees to a photo with the Brookses in the Sheraton Lobby