Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The sights

For this post, I thought I should just post some random pictures of life here in Nigeria. I've been told to take lots of pictures when I first arrive in a country because pretty soon you get so used to everything around you that you don't take pictures anymore. So, here's the sights that have struck us the past couple months.

I don't even know what to say about this, but this sight is more common than you can imagine!

If you're squeamish, don't look too closely... I like to tell people here that I prefer not to know where my meat comes from. Going to the market here can make one consider going vegetarian!

Do you recognize the seed hanging off the end of that fruit?? It's a cashew! When I first saw this, I realized why cashews are so expensive, one nut for each piece of fruit. I haven't actually tried the fruit (Uche loves them), and when Uche bought these the smell filled our whole house. It's a really sweet smell, very distinct, and it didn't appeal to me... maybe next time!


We see people carrying things on their heads all the time. This woman is selling yams. She walks around hoping someone will call her and buy some yam for dinner. I once saw a woman carrying a baby on her back, a tray of bananas on her head and knitting while she walked around town. Now that's some serious talent!

If you look closely in the center of the picture you can see an armored vehicle. The military has had a very strong and visible presence in the city to keep violence from breaking out. They recently began to pull back and again violence flared, so I guess they're gonna have to be around for a while.

Who is that African woman??


This gorgeous tree is called a flame tree. Right now during dry season the flowers are out in full bloom. I wish you could all see them in person, pictures can't do it justice!


Here's a closeup on the flame tree. Underneath the tree are the fallen petals, so walking underneath one is like walking on red carpet.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

we have this in the Philippines, or at least in Gensan. We call them "fire tree". our wedding colors in the Philippines were inspired by the flower of that tree. ^^

-jeni