Election day and Snake Junction!

Finally, the first set of voting in Nigeria took place this weekend! This weekend, the vote will decide who will be in the House of Reps and the Senate. There were a few bombings around the country, along with some shootings but overall the elections had a positive atmosphere. We set off around 6 am to get out into the very rural areas by 8, which is when the voting is supposed to begin. We took a track through a very mountainous part of the state and observed voting in just about 20 villages. In almost every village, voting was on time and running smoothly. This was a huge change from last weekends attempt at voting. Everybody was very welcoming and it seemed that our presence there gave them a bit more confidence that this election might actually be free and fair. In some reports from the 2007 elections, the ballot boxes would show up to the villages with ballots already in them. This year, the ballot boxes are clear and I have not witnessed any sort of rigging thus far. It has been a great experience and I am excited for the Nigerian people.

The process begins! 

The crew!

Fulani Children

*Side note--Fulani people are usually herders and tend not to expose themselves.  Their way of life hasn't changed for half a century.

School Bell

Clear ballot boxes being sorted out in front of the people to ensure fair results.

At one point during our trek across the state, we ran into SNAKE JUNCTION, named by my father for the snake holes all throughout the dirt walls. A few locals told us that there was a road around the area that would take us to the same village but that it was impossible for us to continue on this road in our cruisers…. We decided to give it a try anyways. Thanks to some good ol’ fashioned teamwork and our talented drivers, we were able to conquer this beast. We traveled this road for about 9 out of the 12 hours and loved every minute of it. It was quite the adventure although paved roads have never felt quite so luxurious.

Snake Junction!

Amos!

Salisu!

The Snake Walls!

9 hours of this!

Hmmm...

The next day we went with some of our German friends, Steffi, Jan, and their boy Noah, to do some off roading and visit a pottery village. It was great to test our Land Cruiser. We started off by driving out past the city limits until we reached this large rock face, which, to my surprise, we immediately just started to drive up. At the very top of this rock we set up a picnic and had some lunch. The kids went exploring and found some fairy caves while I gave the local beer, STAR, a chance. It seems most internationals are cautious of it because of the chemicals they use to treat it but I found it a necessary experience for my stay here. Not bad, I might add. Later on, we drove to a pottery village where we were given a full tour by the owner and offered some lessons for the future. I hope to go back soon and give it a shot, its not often you get these kinds of opportunities.

Dragonflies

Base Camp