After a long transfer in the Netherlands, I finally arrived in Lagos, with a suitcase full of GEANCO t-shirts (thanks, Chess!) and flash drives (thanks, Dad!) to give as presents to my hosts and hopefully my interviewees as well.
No surprise I was the only Asian person on the plane, but I didn't mind my conspicuousness. People on the plane would ask me about my shirt, and I got a chance to publicize GEANCO.
I arrived in Lagos at night, and as soon as I stepped out of the airport, I was greeted by a throng of taxi drivers, each trying to convince me to take their taxi. I soon realized the impossibility of trying to pick out Mr. Oduche Azih (my host in Lagos) from the crowd, especially since I had no idea what he looked like at the time. Luckily, Mr. Azih was smarter than I was. He found me and asked me if I was a graduate of Caltech, a question I knew nobody else would have asked me.
The drive to Mr. Azih's house from the Murtala Mohammed Aiport was really something else. The city was suffering a blackout, but the darkness accentuated the brightness from the headlights of numerous cars and motorcycles that were all over the road. Before going home, we stopped by a gas station to pick up some diesel for the generator at Mr. Azih's house. More on the power situation later.
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