Camera phone shot of Nicole after surviving the hotel.
Note: I'm going to insert sanitized portions of my journal, edited for names and so on. If you are not interested in the stories, just keep on scrollin' to the pictures. Also these are Marcus' pictures, so please don't re-use them without his permission.
Loaded up and prayed at the church office and drove to Houston. Waited there a few hours before a 9.5 hour flight to Frankfurt.
We had a 3 hour layover, then a 6.5 hour flight to Nigeria, then a 45 minute layover, then a 75 minute flight to Abuja. The first attempt at landing was aborted because of "clouds." But hey, hearing all the troubles Airbus is having with weather and their computer-controlled planes, I'm ok with that.
No problems so far. Getting to bed at midnight though. Pretty skanky hotel, but hey its gotta be cheap b/c the Anglican church runs it. We had dinner at 11:30 PM – some very spicy and tasty food
After a 7 hour drive, we arrived to the care center – it took 3 days to get here!. Met the precious kids. Orientation. Slept down the road at the new guest house.
Camera phone shot of Nicole after surviving the hotel.
Marcus is ready for action.
Check out the dump truck about to collide there.
Lots of people waiting on rides and carrying things on their head.
The most popular vehicle is the 100cc single-cylinder motorcycle. It is affordable. It fits a work crew, or a family.
Pit stop
Bush Attack!
A lot of vehicles are not all that clean here.
There is not much signage or advertising on the roads in Nigeria. But this is a mechanics shop. You know because of the pile of tyres out front, and the compressor.
The soil in Nigeria is not that great for crops. This soil is very bright red b/c of high iron or aluminum content I think.
You see a lot of this stuff - burned out and stripped out wrecked cars.
You also see a lot of this - military set up on the highway stopping cars to check for suspicious/illegal stuff.
Nigerians do a LOT more walking then we are used to.
A three-count!
There are SEVEN cows in the back of this truck, AND 6 people
lane markers are not real common, so overtaking is as you see fit. Sure, a truck with seven cows with long horns should definately pass a tanker! We saw them just grab the horns when they were honery...
It was also common to see people ride on top of the Lorries.
Goats seem to like hanging out on the side of the road.
Nigerians have a term for making do - they say "we manage." And it is very true. They manage with things we'd NEVER put up with.
