Days 1-3

After spending the weekend in the air or in the car, we have finally arrived at our first destination of interest, Christian Happi’s lab at the College of Medicine, Irrua University. We have been staying at guesthouses operated by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, which on the whole has treated us very well.

On our way to Ibadan we experienced one of the many pleasures of domestic road travel. At an instant, our north-bound highway lane turned southbound. We joined in the mass reversal, turning around in the middle of the highway to find ourselves sandwiched between traffic going in every possible direction. In the end we took smaller dirt village roads. The detour ended up carving a 4-car wide swatch of belching automobiles where an hour earlier kids had been playing and goats resting.

Christian was kind enough to welcome us into his home, where we spent a good deal of time playing with his adorable daughter, dining on Nigerian delicacies, and planning the week.

Our current home at the IITA campus is at odds with the local environment. Outside of the gates are poverty, congestion and environmental wreckage, while just inside is a campus that feels plucked out of Florida or California. Some of us are having trouble reconciling the contrast.

This morning I had the unfortunate pleasure of becoming sick, and introducing myself to a Nigerian street market as I hurled myself out of Christian’s car just in time to avoid ‘being sick’ in his back seat. I can say now that I have partaken in the Nigerian Health care system; my doctor said it was the food, gave me a handful of medicines, and instructions to rest. He used a really nifty little thermometer strip made by 3M which turns dots colors to identify body temperature.

On our way to bring me home to rest we took a detour and were summarily harassed by the police carrying multicolored rifles who kept us roadside for 30 minutes, coming up with every reason Christian should hand him a ‘dash’ (bribe). The situation finally ended when the big boss came and a larger financial opportunity presented itself!

I have recovered now and look forward to getting into the lab where Kristian and Shari have been learning about our samples. I’d like to get started with an inventory tonight so that no time has been wasted, and tomorrow we can start processing some specimens.

All in all a good time so far, many lessons learned, and only anticipation for tomorrow.