Day Two: Arriving in Abuja

We arrived about 5:30pm on Monday and made it through customs quickly, in fact a man from the government was waiting for us and escorted us through the line. There was a brief moment when he took our stack of passports and walked away, shit everything we were told not to do, give away your passports. He eventually came back, but seemed hesitant to give us back our passports.

Once we got outside the airport we were surprised to see a convoy of military escorts, a long with our guides and representatives from Del York International, the school we are working with here in Nigeria. The convoy was about 3 police cars, a van for our luggage, a van for us, and a military truck full of guards with guns. We were told later that we didn't have all of this because we were in danger but merely as a sign of respect and welcoming, just as an important official would receive coming to visit. Also must not forget that we had a photographer and videographer shooting everything...apparently we will be getting lots of mentions in the local papers...

the guards on the back of their truck in front of our van

The drive to the hotel was about 45min and so we got to see the outskirts of Abuja while it was still light out, but the sun went down and it went down quickly, from what seemed like a bright afternoon light to total darkness in about 15mins. We saw a lot of small villages, and what looked like a crowded market place, there were also a lot of small controlled fires (something I don't know anything about yet, but will have to ask someone next time I see one), and then we drove into the compound that is our hotel...(which I will have to go into more detail about in another post)

the gates of the hilton, taken this morning

Once inside we waited for our rooms, which we are now sharing..hello roommates! But Carolina and I are a good roommate fit, as she, just like myself, needs to have a tv or movie on to fall asleep every night. Anyway....once we got to our rooms we were told to come downstairs in 10min for dinner by our hosts....and all I (and everyone else) really wanted was a shower and a bed. Another photo op began...

Salami, Ola, Alex, Carolina, Nick, Mike, someone, Mike, Ada, Me, Ernie, Joe, someone

We were treated to a very american (Hamburgers & fries) dinner and introduced to my new local favorite beer, Star Beer, and then finally were able to get some sleep. Long day(s).