Andy Still in America: Lagos

Ok, so this will also be a less educational entry like the last and just a bunch of pictures showing what I have been doing. So I was able to get some rest this past week. The end of Ramadan allowed the office to be closed on Monday and Tuesday. Then, luckily, Wednesday was Independence Day (October 1, 1960).

The weekend did not start as I hoped. I was required to be in a meeting most of the day on Saturday. On Sunday, I finally slept most of the day. Finally, on Monday morning, I decided I couldn't waste this valuable time off and flew to Lagos to meet some friends down there. Here is me very happy to be away from Abuja:

On Monday night I was just given a tour around Victoria Island and hung out at a club owned by some famous soccer player I never heard of :)

On Tuesday I spent the whole day at the beach. It was so packed for the holiday:

Of course I partook in some local cuisine. This becomes much easier with the help of beer. This food was actually pretty yummy, even if does not look or sound good. Here we see a giant snail and some bush meat (Ok, this is called grasscutter, described to me as a giant rat).

I had a blast at the beach. There was horse riding and lots of food and drink. The water was rough with huge waves and that was fun to play in. The weather was really hot and I did get a little bit burnt. Here is just a random picture of some traditional healer with a bell on the beach:

On Monday I went to this kickass place for breakfast called Chocolate Royal. I had chocolate capacinnos and other chocolate cakes and candy. After that we went to the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, a small reserve still inside Lagos. It was pretty hilarious. You walk through the forest on a walkway and there are tons of Mona Monkeys in the trees. Right when we entered we saw a snake so of course I was already swearing. Then there were 3 monkeys who kept following us and weren't scared of my yelling at all! I had to run away. Remember, these are tiny monkeys that weight about 10 pounds. There are many funny videos with would take too long to post on this site, but here is a pic with some monkeys in it. Can you see?

So it was a great time and just what I needed. I think the fun will pretty much be over now until Christmas time when I hope travel some more over a longer period of time. So get ready for more work intensive postings to come.