Nigeria--1st post!

WOW!!!! I’m finally here! It’s good to be back in Africa! The land that has become my home over the last 6 years…
Strangely enough, this is the country where I experienced Africa for the first time in my life at the age of 19. Many of the major experiences of Africa that I still consider “unique” to my whole time here in Africa, happened here in Nigeria—Not all, but many (this partly due to the fact that I was experiencing Africa for the first time, so each event stood was more outstanding)
...Like assisting an eye-surgeon to remove cataracts from about 20 or 30 patients at a medical camp deep in the jungle of Cross-River state(pull out your maps of Nigeria)--This was also, uniquely, where I had my 20th birthday)
...Like experiencing dense humidity & tropical heat for the first time since I lived in India as a child (besides the time I went to New Orleans in the summer.--Next to the Mississippi, humidity like you wouldn’t believe blowing up from the gulf of Mexico—wow. That was even worse than Mombasa (pull out your Africa map again))
...And yes..., like getting 2 consecutive visits from armed robbers two weeks apart from each other, 10 days after I first arrived in Africa. These were to be my first experiences of Nigeria & of Africa in general. Let’s see what it holds for me this time.
The funniest thing & what’s does strike me as odd in one way, but is also a pleasant surprise in another way, is the fact that things that made me feel like I had just landed on an ALIEN PLANET 6 years ago, now--after living this whole time in Africa--seem perfectly normal to me! I was bracing myself to have the same reaction to things that I did back then & upon arriving here, was like, “oh yeah…that’s right...I’m in Africa” & it’s all like “DUH!!" "Of course this is the way things are!” “Of course”, there are potholes all over most of the main roads! “Of course” there are cripples & blind & beggars lining certain streets going begging between the cars! "Of course you need a 4-wheel drive to get most places comfortably here, without wrecking your car engine, your spinal cord & your head...
The same Lekki (a section of Lagos) that looked like Mars to me then, now looks like Dar-Es-Salaam (again--pull out your map of Africa) & the waving “heat” that struck me when I was 19, now seems “the ideal temperature”.
Granted, things have changed in Nigeria in 6 years & VI has developed considerably, with security being more efficient, new buildings & roads thrown up & the whole of the area getting a general “face-lift.” It has experienced tons of improvement—which is good. But at the same time, it’s funny comparing the differences in my outlook/first impressions on Africa, with what is now a whole world that I’ve grown completely accustomed to & feels basically like…..well, home!!!


The pic's not clear, but they're starting to build roads this way...laying bricks, as opposed to asphalt...it stands the rainy season a lot better...


Not a true big blob without traffic....this is nothing compared to how it gets...