Today I was returning from a trip to the American Embassy when I stopped on the side of the road at a respectable-looking nursery. I wanted some plants for the backyard. I had stopped last week and found some plants you couldn't get in other places. Martin said he was not surprised due to the "caliber of the owners.'' I didn't know what he was talking about until today when I stopped again and met the owner, Mrs. Mohammed.
Mrs. Mohammed was a beautiful older woman in traditional African dress who politely and knowledgeably introduced me to her park where she grew natinve and non-native plants for sale and for show. Her business is basically a large lawn with a winding path that leads through many different gardens. The park features a greenhouse, a rockery, and a little bridge that spans a tiny pond. She had built this nursery (the only one in Lagos I have seen with a fence around the perimeter) as a park of the "Greenbelt Commission" which was trying to improve the quality life in Lekki with more green spaces. The Lekki Penninsula, where we live, was once nothing but mangrove swamp. But now after years of dredging and lanfill, it is a booming suburb of Lagos. It is not beautiful at all. But maybe with a few green spaces it could better.
I spent an hour with Mrs. Mohammed and was impressed by her knowledge. I bought about $100 worth of plants, and though I suppose I could have bartered with her for a cheaper price, I didn't care. I got more than I came for. When I left I wanted to grow a garden of palms and fruits like Mrs. Mohammed had in her park.
As we left, I mentioned to Martin what a delight Mrs. Mohammed was to meet. He said that Mrs. Mohammed was a great woman. He told me that Mrs. Mohammed was the wife of Murtala Mohammed, former Head of State of Nigeria slain in office in 1976 by a military coup. Considered the greatest leader free Nigeria ever had and the same person that the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos is named for. I can't believe I spent an hour discussing Oleander and Chestnut trees with her in a park that used to be a swamp on the side of the road.
I spent a couple of hours this morning driving around trying to buy a juicer and a hair curling iron. I ended up with a bottle of Irish kids shampoo.
My driver, Martin, is a Nigerian Christian and listens to Christian Reggae tapes in the car. He would turn them off if I asked, but I think of the car as his, not mine. We passed a beach where white-clad Nigerian women were getting out of a van to pray. We tried both the "Cash 'n Carry" and the "Park 'n Shop", but had no luck and headed to the Mega Mall to look for the elusive curling iron. The closest thing was a air-blowing brush that cost $56.00. I passed.
To get to these places, you have to drive through busy pot-holed streets filled with beggar children and street vendors. The vendors sell anyting from toilet paper to ice. They carry it on their heads and then have their hands free to take your money. The shop parking lots are small and heavily guarded.
I told Martin I heard that in Lagos there was only one working stop light. I expected him to laugh and say it was not true. Instead he told me where it was and mentioned that many were installed, but they were vadalized or broken and not working. "We don't have a maintenance culture here." he said.
We have arrived!
Hello from Nigeria. Our four-day stopover in London was great and we enjoyed running ourselves ragged. We got over our jetlag pretty quickly and spent lots of time with the aunties. We are all healthy - we began taking our anti-malaria drugs last Thursday and no one seems to be suffering any ill effects. The Nigerians are friendly people and we are already set-upn with a maid and cook.
Stacey and I went shopping yesterday. First, we went to Lebonese-owned deli where if you can stand paying six dollars for Palestinian cream cheese, then you can stand to live here. All fresh vegetables and fruits are bought at open-air markets. But this is not as charming as it may sound. The place literally stinks from the open drainage ditch that runs along the front of the market. The main sales technique is to grag you and shove stuff into your hands then ask for money. Whites are regularly charged 5 - 10 times the market price. There are lots of good looking vegetables and the selection of potatoes and tomoatos is vast.
The pool is nice, the kids have instant friends and it is nice to have a home. Soon our Costco boat shipment will come in and life will improve, but that is probably still a month off. School starts on Thursday for Ben and Simone.
I am having trouble with connecting to the internet from home, so these reports will be infrequest until we get them fixed.
We are at Heathrow Airport waiting for our 11:55 am flight to Lagos. Our trip was great fun and it was wonderful to spend time with the aunties. Will post photos when we get all technical glitches sorted out at Lekki.
Yesterday, the kids and I drove from Slidell to Houston in about six hours. We did very well. No screaming. No fist fights. I was grateful to Stacey's Mom for making sandwiches to bring so we did not have to stop and eat. After trying to count cows and finding the alphabet, we gave up playing games due to lack of interest. What really worked, and I recommend this to any travelling family, was to pay each of them a dollar for every half-hour they slept.That made the trip enjoyable and it only cost six dollars.
This is our last full day in the US of A. We are in the Sheraton Suites near the Galleria Mall in Houston, Tx. The kids and I went to the Houston Natural Science Museum and saw dinosaurs and a show at the Planetarium. We ate hamburgers and chicken nuggets for lunch at McDonald's - which was the only food in the museum! I told the kids that this was the last McDonald's they would have for a year. I don't think any of them believed me or they didn't care. Then drove around for an hour looking for a good milkshake.