We've arrived in Abuja

Good evening! We have had our first full day in Abuja, Nigeria, having arrived from Detroit / Frankfort / Malabo, Eq. Giunea last evening. For reference, it is 7:30 PM locally, and, I believe, 1:30 PM in Michigan at the moment - 6 hours earlier here. The flights were fine, with no issues other than upset infants, and all were on time. We got into line for customs / passport control, far, far back in the pack, and waited. Shortly, we saw a possibly familiar face - could that be
Turner, my sister Miriam's husband? Yes, coming to "collect" us! We got special guidance through the process, and were on our way quite quickly and comfortably, arriving at my sister's home on the top of a prominent hill in the city, a beautiful spot with mango trees and terraces, lizards and big screened windows - a very nice spot to base ourselves. The evening was pleasant - warmer than home at perhaps 75 deg F, but nice. We slept well.
Got up this morning at 10:30! Mary Ann was up some earlier, and finally came and roused me. We had a pleasant breakfast, met some other family and friends, had some good coffee. Miriam's son Diseye and his wife Ilse had planned an outing for all interested to a local pottery operation. We loaded 15-16 people into four cars w/ drivers, and headed off. It was perhaps a 45 minute ride through several smaller communities, to the Bwari Pottery Village, in Bwari. Stephan Mhya, the director of the operation, gave us a great tour, with thorough explanations and demonstrations of pottery making starting with local clay, using local glazing minerals, and firing the pieces in a wood fired kiln. Really quite amazing, and such beautiful results! Dishware you can use in the oven, full of earthy color. We purchased several pieces, and I'll try to take some pictures to post here. Can't tell what we bought - many are gifts! This was followed by a lovely lunch at the picnic area on the grounds, where a local man prepared suya, the favorite barbeque method of cooking, in our case chicken and beef. I would suppose pork or fish could be cooked similarly, but I'm not sure. Spicy, medium hot, with lots of ground ginger. Very good. Other dishes - pineapple, potato salad, cucumber w/ papaya salad, good bread, raw vegetables with several interesting dips, and all with a bit of local flavour. No one went hungry.
After being entertained by the baby in the crowd, Hella Yenimi - my nephew Diseye is a proud new dad - we drove back to Abuja. The drive was the most interesting part for folks who haven't been here. Small shops along the road which at first glance look pretty baffling - stuff all over - but as you begin to notice detail, you realize you can find anything you might need, all for sale by local people. No Home Depots in sight. Furniture, electronics, even metalworking. Darin, you would appreciate the name of the metalworking shop- "Iron Must Yield Metalworking". Food, motorcycles, cars, car repair, lumber, firewood, stationary, corn on the cob roasted over a fire - you name it, we got it. Just not quite so organized into neat rows with 20 acre parking lots. If you are driving, find a place to park.... It was really amazing. The one situation we all smiled at was a truck hauling cattle. That in itself isn't all that unusual, but we noticed that all the cows were laying down! Our driver said that was normal for short trips; cows would stand for long trips... you figure it out!
If you are interested, you might Google the city of Abuja, the home to about 3 million when the "burbs are included. It didn't exist, in any form, when I was here in 1974, and has been built in that time into a fully functional city, with pretty good infrastructure. Part of the motivation on the part of the Nigerian gov't to do this was to establish a central, literally, government, located geographically in the center, but also to avoid some of the inherant regionalism that existed between the desert north and the coastal south. So they built a new town.
I'm going to close. I'll load some pictures ASAP, and try to keep up on this blog, but I'm fading fast tonight. Besides, Mary Ann is anxious for me to try on my wedding attire! THAT we'll have to get pictures of! Love to all, Jim