starting off on the wrong feet (but still kicking)
Hello, long overdue for a post, but it’s been a busy few days! This is a little long, as I pretty much hit the ground running and haven’t stopped. I’ll update by day.
Wednesday: after an hour delay in London, got into Lagos at around 6:30. Got through immigration painlessly, waited for ages for luggage, then had the uncomfortable experience of having the pre-arranged hotel driver NOT show up. Happily, an airport official helped set me up with a reputable taxi. After a long, slow drive into town, followed by a half hour of cruising Victoria Island because the driver didn’t know the hotel and didn’t want my suggestions on directions, I finally arrived. I’ll post later about Nigerian hotels; suffice it to say, it was a bed and AC and internet, and that’s about the best you can hope for, though you’re paying through the nose.
Thursday: wanting to get the heck out of Lagos ASAP, I decided to immediately head to the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA), to see if I could do research there. On the way, had one of my initial Bad Ideas: choosing footwear that looked professional, but was not sufficiently broken in to deal with humidity-swollen feet. Oww… Looks like I may be conducting interviews in Chacos from now on.
However, maybe the footwear made the right impression, as the NIIA staff looked me over, shrugged, showed me to a table and delivered a stack of books. Later, I checked out the press library and met someone on the research staff, who gave me my first interview! Good Idea: bringing the digital recorder with me on Day 1.
That afternoon, I tried to look around downtown Lagos for less expensive hotels and research travel necessities, like a SIM card and a local surge protector. Succeeded on one and a half: got the surge protector, got a SIM card, which was great in Lagos but turned out not to work out of town! and batted zero on hotels, as none of the taxi drivers had heard of the one I was looking for and no others outside of the luxury category seemed to exist.
Good Friday: Bad Idea: when scheduling my trip, it didn’t occur to me that Easter would be after April 7. So, faced with the NIIA being closed Friday through Monday. I decided not to spend the 4 days alone in expensive Lagos, and to instead go northwest, to the city of Ile-Ife, where the one researcher I’d been successful in contacting before arrival lives. He had written me the Letter of Introduction I needed for my visa. The trip to Ife involved a taxi to one motor park, a mini-bus to another motor park, a LONG wait at that motor park as buses don’t go until they’re full, and a 3 hour drive in another minibus. About 6 hours total, to go…100 miles?
Of course, arriving at the university gate, I discover that K., the professor, was no longer there, as I got in so much later than expected. It is at this point that I discover my phone doesn’t work in Ife. I manage to borrow someone else’s, get through to K., who picked me up and helped me sort out a hotel. Bad Idea (on his part): assuming I would have enough money for the swank visiting faculty accommodations. Bad Idea (on my part): not making alternative arrangements, just in case. Because all affordable rooms were full for the Easter weekend! After over an hour of circling, we returned to the university guest house, where I’ll stay for 2 nights, then switch to cheaper digs. I get to the room and collapse. Yet still cannot sleep properly until Nyquil-ing myself unconscious at 1 a.m.
Up until this point, everything has been pretty… well, terrible. I’ve been in a constant state of worry, either about being mugged (trip from the airport), spending obscene amounts of money (lodging), victim of theft (first time traveling with a laptop, and with cash as you cannot use credit cards in Nigeria), of car accident (developing world drivers), or malaria. All of which my guidebook seems to suggest are regular events in Nigeria. Plus, my feet still hurt and I can’t wear my nice shoes.
And I’m doing all this for interviews and information I’m not entirely sure I’ll get. Thus the tortured sleep.
Am I getting old? Or is Nigeria that tough? Is my guidebook just really alarmist (likely, since it declines to state the relative FREQUENCY of said disasters)? Or could this be the potential “paranoia” side effect of my anti-malarial pills kicking in? Happily, on Saturday, things started to look up and I’m now feeling quite a bit more hopeful. Sort of appropriate for Easter, right? I’ll talk about the good news in the next post, which will appear shortly!
Wednesday: after an hour delay in London, got into Lagos at around 6:30. Got through immigration painlessly, waited for ages for luggage, then had the uncomfortable experience of having the pre-arranged hotel driver NOT show up. Happily, an airport official helped set me up with a reputable taxi. After a long, slow drive into town, followed by a half hour of cruising Victoria Island because the driver didn’t know the hotel and didn’t want my suggestions on directions, I finally arrived. I’ll post later about Nigerian hotels; suffice it to say, it was a bed and AC and internet, and that’s about the best you can hope for, though you’re paying through the nose.
Thursday: wanting to get the heck out of Lagos ASAP, I decided to immediately head to the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA), to see if I could do research there. On the way, had one of my initial Bad Ideas: choosing footwear that looked professional, but was not sufficiently broken in to deal with humidity-swollen feet. Oww… Looks like I may be conducting interviews in Chacos from now on.
However, maybe the footwear made the right impression, as the NIIA staff looked me over, shrugged, showed me to a table and delivered a stack of books. Later, I checked out the press library and met someone on the research staff, who gave me my first interview! Good Idea: bringing the digital recorder with me on Day 1.
That afternoon, I tried to look around downtown Lagos for less expensive hotels and research travel necessities, like a SIM card and a local surge protector. Succeeded on one and a half: got the surge protector, got a SIM card, which was great in Lagos but turned out not to work out of town! and batted zero on hotels, as none of the taxi drivers had heard of the one I was looking for and no others outside of the luxury category seemed to exist.
Good Friday: Bad Idea: when scheduling my trip, it didn’t occur to me that Easter would be after April 7. So, faced with the NIIA being closed Friday through Monday. I decided not to spend the 4 days alone in expensive Lagos, and to instead go northwest, to the city of Ile-Ife, where the one researcher I’d been successful in contacting before arrival lives. He had written me the Letter of Introduction I needed for my visa. The trip to Ife involved a taxi to one motor park, a mini-bus to another motor park, a LONG wait at that motor park as buses don’t go until they’re full, and a 3 hour drive in another minibus. About 6 hours total, to go…100 miles?
Of course, arriving at the university gate, I discover that K., the professor, was no longer there, as I got in so much later than expected. It is at this point that I discover my phone doesn’t work in Ife. I manage to borrow someone else’s, get through to K., who picked me up and helped me sort out a hotel. Bad Idea (on his part): assuming I would have enough money for the swank visiting faculty accommodations. Bad Idea (on my part): not making alternative arrangements, just in case. Because all affordable rooms were full for the Easter weekend! After over an hour of circling, we returned to the university guest house, where I’ll stay for 2 nights, then switch to cheaper digs. I get to the room and collapse. Yet still cannot sleep properly until Nyquil-ing myself unconscious at 1 a.m.
Up until this point, everything has been pretty… well, terrible. I’ve been in a constant state of worry, either about being mugged (trip from the airport), spending obscene amounts of money (lodging), victim of theft (first time traveling with a laptop, and with cash as you cannot use credit cards in Nigeria), of car accident (developing world drivers), or malaria. All of which my guidebook seems to suggest are regular events in Nigeria. Plus, my feet still hurt and I can’t wear my nice shoes.
And I’m doing all this for interviews and information I’m not entirely sure I’ll get. Thus the tortured sleep.
Am I getting old? Or is Nigeria that tough? Is my guidebook just really alarmist (likely, since it declines to state the relative FREQUENCY of said disasters)? Or could this be the potential “paranoia” side effect of my anti-malarial pills kicking in? Happily, on Saturday, things started to look up and I’m now feeling quite a bit more hopeful. Sort of appropriate for Easter, right? I’ll talk about the good news in the next post, which will appear shortly!
posted by Emily at 11:33 AM
2 Comments:
I think Nigeria sounds tough! Hang in there girl and trust your instincts. My bro in law had crazy side effects from his malaria meds (madagascar) so that could be a factor, but some paranoia is healthy I say. I learned the shoe lesson early when in the countryside. Now that I'm back in the states for a wee bit I'm going to invest in something from Naturalizer or the equivalent at the mall. Good luck! I'm looking forward to reading more posts and will be sending productive interview vibes your way...xoxo
Hey Emily,
Am happy to hear you made it there safely! Sounds like a hard and steep learning curve, but am happy to hear you are in a safe place right now with a contact who is helping you learn about the area (great to hear you found a place for research already).
Will be tuning in to the blog and thinking of you out there.
You rock,
Jen
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