Road Trip to Abia!

After spending 3 months here in Jalingo, I had become stir crazy. I was so excited that I was able to obtain permission from approximately 8 different people to prepare to go to Abia State with my friend Laura for her convocation. Thankfully, the journey proved to be uneventful for the typical Nigerian, but it contained oodles of interesting experiences for me!

At 6am Laura came with her friend on motorbike to pick me up with my luggage to go to the motor park. This meant 3 people and 2 large bags on one motorbike, excellent! We found the appropriate van that would be traveling to Abia state and along with 12 other people and sundry atypical (lots of yams) luggage boarded for the long journey. We left at 9 am, not because that was the scheduled departure time because that was the time when we reached capacity and then proceeded across the street to wait in line for fuel and THEN departed!

As we were driving along, there were different crops that had been harvested drying along the shoulders of the road. There is no speed limit, but potholes instead dictate maximum speed. Cars are meant to drive on the right side of the road, as in the US, but again, potholes are more instrumental in dictating this than anything else. As we went along passing village after village, I realized that the thatched roof hut has become such an iconic symbol of Africa because it’s so ubiquitous!

Now I had come with a few snacks for the road because I know that Nigerians are notorious for the ability to go obscene numbers of hours without food or bathroom. I have adapted to the lack of bathroom but not the lack of food. I needn’t have worried. Every time we stopped, people were swarming our van trying to sell us the local produce of that village: date palms, figs, bananas, groundnuts. Multiple places had delicious oranges. I was able to get 4 for about 20 cents…total! I also had the delight of eating fresh cashews for the first time and learning that there is such a thing as a cashew fruit!

After 11 hours of driving, 4 different vehicles, and countless stops we arrived to Laura’s sister’s home to be royally greeted by her sister, brother-in-law and their three children. This road trip has begun!