The craziest belay spot ever!

This has to be my favorite photo yet.....it was SO hot....around noon...baking in the African sun on the side of this HUGE cliff (maybe 300 feet) I felt like we were standing in a frying pan

Me and our German friend Michael....getting ready to be lowered down to the lake (which you can't swim in because of some parasite that gets under your skin....no good really)
So....check out our "belay ledge".....hmm....secure?  lets just say, we are not going ot make a habit out of climbing at this location.  We were all tied in to an anchor about 60 feet above us, but unnerving none-the less!
Getting lowered...only 150 more feet to go!
me belaying Chris....he looks way to comfortable doesn't he?
So what we didn't get pictures of was the swarming children that arrived about 15 minutes later.  10 Hausa children from the nearby village were surrounding us.  Chris was teaching them all about climbing equipment and gear and what-not...they were asking to carry our stuff and were totally amused by our adventures....it did get to be a little concerning in terms of safety though, so we took off....

what a day!

more pictures from Jos

Here is Chris showing out friend Jide (who is a veterinarian in Jos) about bouldering...he is climbing in these beat up converse sneakers....SO STRONG!

Heres me climbing...making a lovely face as usual!
These are the houses that we parked next to on the way out to the rocks
Finally....a nice picture of what the veggie markets look like....and this one was SUPER cheap...we bought a whole bunch...

Weekend in Jos

This past weekend we traveled to Jos in Nigeria's Plateau State to visit with some Nigerian friends we had met at a party and do some hiking and climbing.  Aside from a very not-fun police roadblock, it was a beautiful weekend!  Jos is quite a but higher than the rest of Nigeria so it is cooler and the landscape is BEAUTIFUL.. Plus there are about 4 million huge boulders, so Chris and I were happy as can be!

So word to the wise: if you are ever driving in Nigeria (outside of Abuja that is), note that you may run into what are called "nail-boys"....young men who carry 2x4's studded with nails....they throw them in front of your car so you stop and then try to get you to give them money.  They are not dangerous at all...particularly for us "expats" with white skin....but it was quite an experience.  Definitely one to write home about!  

Here are some pictures of the fun, beautiful part of our trip:

Hiking down off the rocks: Jide, Lauren, Chris, and Dusty
Lauren and Dusty (pictures are all by Gordon, Dusty's husband)
carrying something in the buckets...you see this EVERYWHERE....and those are clothes drying on the cactus in the background
This is a Fulani man (they are a nomadic herding people who live all over the north of Nigeria.  This is his hut.  Underneath the sleeping area is a cooking area that also serves as a heat source at night...very ingenious and quite sturdy actually

Weekend Fun

Greetings everyone!  Sorry to have kept you waiting for more posts.  We are almost done with our second week of school, which has kept us VERY busy.  They students are on the whole quite fantastic and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves (although we are also working pretty hard for what we are used to).  Last weekend we were invited on an overnight trip back to the Dam and were able to go to a new part.  And....lo and behold...there was a giant cliff right next to where we were staying...complete with goats roaming around, and apparently there are monkeys that hang out there at night.  Pretty fantastic on the whole.  We went with our Venezuelan friends who work for the German construction company in town (which means they have better food, houses, etc.... ) and our friends Dusty and Gordon....check out the pics...

Chris doing his tricks.....some things are the same in every country I suppose!

This is Chris and our new friend Gordon....we were missing them for quite some time...turns out they were having a photo shoot without us!

Gordon took this shot from right in front of where we stayed in the morning.  I was just sitting there drinking more instant coffee (yum!...) and he was fishing in front of us....basically the most remarkable balance I have every seen!

stay tuned for more pics...hopefully when I have a better internet connection!

Usuma Dam

We were fortunate enough to have our friend Roman take us out of the city to this remarkable Dam.  Such a beautiful landscape.  We were able to scramble over many giant rocks and boulders which made us both very happy to be here.

Local fisherman...we were very far away, but the new camera lets us take pictures without being intrusive.
Chris, Roman on the left, and our new friend Dave on the right.  Later Roman and Dave took us out for Nigerian food.  Chris had these giant snails (about the size of your fist, same consistency as calamari) and I had Egusi soup.  Both meals were served with Garri which is one of the many starches that you can get with food here.  It is mostly tasteless, and you are intended to pinch some off, make a pocket with it, and scoop out your main dish.  Chris really likes the snails, although I have to admit that I struggled a little with my food.  It was very fishy and salty and had many tiny bones in it.  I will keep working though.

Fish fry anyone?

yes I am really going to eat this fish....
headfirst of course
oh.....now I can see inside...
mmmm....delectable!

First days in Abuja

Hello everyone....

for those we have not emailed yet...my apologies, we have to wait until someone with internet invites us over, and then we have to find out if it is secure, and then the power goes out, and then the internet goes down etc....it is all about patience here in Nigeria.  We have been slowly acclimating to everything.  After about five days of jet lag, we are sleeping much better and are waking up earlier which helps tremendously.  Last night we ate some chicken from the grocery store and even Chris was nervous (he said his spider senses were tingling) but of course we were fine!  

I promise there will be more pictures later but I am nervous to take my cameras out and be even more conspicuous than we already are..

before I sign off...here was a taste of our Tuesday adventure:

So we had to get passport photos, and this is how you do it.....hopefully someone you know drives you to this REALLY chaotic street where everyone is trying to run everyone else off the road (because this is how you drive in Abuja), we slowed down where there was about 50 Nigerians yelling at us and everyone else asking them if they want passport photos.  about 5-8 people swarmed our car, so we ask a random guy how much and then we had to negotiate a price (you have to negotiate EVERYTHING)....so we settle, get out of the car, run over to some random building that has white walls for him to take a digital photo of us...then he runs behind the building and up the stairs into some random door to process the photos.  In the meantime, Chris and I have a great chat with two of the many other people standing around.  they tell us all about Nigeria and the climate and the surrounding areas and are generally great guys....of course, one of them had seen us earlier in the day (we are of course VERY conspicuous....especially because we look like lost puppies)...so we finish our transaction, get our pictures and pop back into the car.  

our friend who is driving us had bought some corn on the cob...4 steamed ears fro 60 Naira (which is about 60 cents)...I of course am totally paranoid, but eat the corn and it is great...and I don't get sick...so I think I might let the people at dartmouth know that their scare tactics are slightly crazy....you can actually eat lots of things here!

one final note:  it took me literally 24 hours to do a load of laundry yesterday (thats JUST washing)!  i am not joking.   this is because the water flow in the city is REALLY slow.  but .....it is the rainy season right now, so I will have to keep you posted on how long it takes in the dry season when they apparently turn the city water off...

well...we are off to explore the surrounding areas, and try to go hiking...hopefully Chris will not come back looking like a boiled lobster!

love to everyone!