Up the Creek Without A...

...Paddle, Boat, Clue. What a time in Nigeria. I can't really begin to describe the time I had there. It was a good experience - no doubt - but I can't see myself rushing back to visit again. The children are amazing but the adults are not so great. Geographically it's a stunning country, but the big cities tend to spoil it with their overcrowding and pollution. It'll be interesting to see what comes of it. Hopefully the oil companies who have set themselves up in the south will begin to invest some money back into the economy. I hope these pics give you a glimpse of what my time was like there...

This is Aso Rock in Abuja. This is what the
landscape is like in Jos where Ben Onono's
family is from.

This is our driver Ado. He didn't wear deoderant and I was reminded of the fact everytime I opened the door to his minivan. Ewww!


This is Alex and I in Jos. The Onono's home town.

The name of this statue is the Statue of the Big Woman - very inventive. They're really into statues of women breastfeeding for some reason.

From Jos we made our way to a game reserve about 2 1/2 hrs. north. We arranged for a driver to take us there who were were told had a very reliable car. These are some kids we met on the side of the road selling fruit.

This is us on the side of the road after our driver with the very reliable car broke down. That's me on the right with wet naps going to do a woodsie.

So we had to hail down a bush taxi to take us to the game reserve. As it opened it's doors to us this boy's chickens flew out and he spent a few minutes rounding them up before we could continue on the journey.

In the game reserve we experienced another road trouble in that an 18 wheeler was blocking the path so the locals, instead of trying to move the 18 wheeler, just cut down the trees on one side so we could go around. There's a baboon, that we saw. It didn't wipe it's bottom and it was really gross.

This was the entrance to the warm springs.

That's me in the warm springs looking tired b/c our 2 1/2 hr journey took 4 1/2 and we only had 45 minutes there b/c we couldn't travel at night.

After Jos we flew to Lagos. Near Lagos is a town called Badagry that was a huge port for slave trade. The people of this village had to pass through something called the Point of No Return. From there they would be shipped to the US or Europe. 1 in 5 surived the journey. After hearing the horrors of this I was greeted by my favorite baby in Nigeria relaxing under a table with some puppies. How fat is that baby?!?!

These are some more kids from Badagry. They loved my digital camera.

This is a boat we rented in Lagos. We took it to Tarkwa Bay where Alex was greeted by the Equator Sun and turned a bright shade of lobster.

This is the infamous Lagos 'go slow' - their version of a traffic jam. NUTS!!! People go in between lanes and sell you all kinds of things from ironing boards to the ever important toilet seat.

That's it! What a trip! How exhausting/interesting...we'll see where's next to conquer.
Lots of love,
Court