(American Embassy)
(This street called Bill Clinton drive in Abuja;Clinton visited Nigeria when he was President - see, nicely marked streets!)
I am about to get on the plane to go home from Abuja. I didn’t get to see much of Abuja, but is the state capital and the model city. The capital was moved here from Lagos not long ago. It is beautiful and planned.
Now let me tell you about Lagos: All i can say is WILD! Pammy says that Lagos is the Nigerian version of New York City, and maybe she’s right, but not the NYC that I see several times a month! I’ve now been to Beijing, Shanghai,Tokyo,Delhi, Mumbai and New York -some of the largest cities in the world and now Lagos- (some estimates have Lagos at 17 million-Bejiing is now estimated by some to be at 22 million). I have been overwhelmed by all of them, but Lagos really blew my mind. I can’t describe it really and the pictures just won’t do it justice. Not to mention, I was told not to put my camera out the window and on some occasions not to roll the windows down at all. I guess that is one difference between Lagos and those other cities I mentioned. You always have to be careful in any city, but the concern about crime is definitely more in Lagos than in the other big cities that I've been in, well, maybe not in NY- but NY has gotten a lot better in the last few years.
I mean, the place is ALIVE- all day and all night. The volume seems to be turned up; there are always little fires burning. And you see clothes, buckets, fruit, eggs, jugs of gasoline hanging from small make-shift store fronts, on people’s heads, alongside every road. The traffic is crazy, and the drivers are crazier than Indian drivers, it think. Or maybe, it’s a tie. I mean, the overarching strategy for driving in both countries is just to keep it moving- no matter what. Don’t stop unless you are 100 percent sure that there is going to be a collision(although almost every car in Nigeria looks like its been involved in 15 fendbenders); near misses are the norm. Both countries give new meaning to the concept of “merging.”
The issue with Lagos is that some of the roads are so bad that there is a lot of driving off the road, veering wildy back on to the road, around the gigantic crater, through 2 feet of water, crossing 3 lanes to avoid more water, just skimming the huge truck and barely missing the thousands of motorcycles threading the traffic moving in little throngs through all the chaos!! CRAZZY!! Sometimes this is all done with a lot of speed. But we got caught in a traffic jam where no one moved for about 25 minutes, then everyone started maneuvering in a wild fashion where they were inch by inch avoiding collision after collision. It was almost like watching a new art form, and a terrifying one at that. And oh, in Nigeria unlike India, there is screaming and hand gestures, and everyone motioning to other drivers (including pedestrians), about how to advance through the traffic.
Let’s not forget the Nigerian art form of “HUSTLING.” I have never seen it done better. Say you were driving for a while (cause everything takes at least an hour to get to unless you leave at 6 am)and you got a little thirsty, noticed that your mobile need recharge minutes, needed a magazine or newspaper, or you were in the mood for a meat patty. No problem, no need to stop. Who’s going to stop in traffic like that anyway? All you have to do is look outside your window and there are guys with things in their hands, on their heads or carts and they are there staring at you and coming up to your window anyway; they are ready to sell whatever you want to buy. So the traffic slows, you, the passenger or the driver, roll down the window and say to the guy standing in the middle of a 4-"lane" (misnomer) street and say, “You got any Orbit lemon gum? How much?” He tells you the price. The traffic starts to move, your car starts moving cause the traffic picks up. Does the guy say, “0h well,too bad; missed that sale?” No, the guy starts running. Yes, I mean literally running and he transacts business (gives you the gum, takes your money and makes change) all while running with the car in the 4 lanes of traffic with trucks and millions of motor cycles and ditches and rivulets, etc. Now, this is what I call HUSTLING!” I look at all that industry and I think we don’t know nothing about hustling in the U.S.
So that’s one part of Lagos, then there’s the upscale part of Lagos which we saw from afar but really didn’t have much time to explore. Pammy was still working when we got to Lagos. 20 of the students who participated in the leadership program were chosen to go to South Africa for a study tour that she is organizing. So Pammy was trying to get all the letters and visas and do the follow-up to last week’s program. She had to stop by the American Embassy and the House of Assembly in Lagos.
We also went to visit Pammy's friend (her assistant when she was working on another project)and her family who lived in a "suburb" of Lagos (don't think uniform homes and manucured lawns. The kids were so cute. The little girl is named "Pamela" after you know who.
(Our hotel)
So Lagos has fabulous hotels, restaurants, homes, etc. In fact, a woman who I know from law school, Teresa Clarke is running an organization African.com that connects Americans to Africa (culture, finance, travel) sent me a great one day itinerary for Lagos. But unfortunately I didn’t get it in time. See what she suggests at http://www.africa.com/
Lagos is expensive!! We stayed in a nice hotel in Ikeja (one of the islands in Lagos), but Victoria Island is supposed to be hopping as you can see from Teresa’s itinerary. I did get to go shopping at Lekki market. It has lots of great arts and crafts, but I couldn’t carry it all back to the U.S! I settled for a few trinkets for the family.
Pammy and I have decided our next trip: Lagos (including yoga and fancy restaraunts) and then on to Ghana!
Until then,
V.
V.
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