Road Trip Day 1

          We got out of school at 11:30 am on Thursday, March 28 for a 10-day spring break.  Our principal’s wife made all the arrangements for our vacation trip to the Drill Monkey Ranch and the Obudu Mountain Resort.  Because we are expats in Nigeria and also because we work for Her Excellency, the Governor’s wife we had to make most of our arrangements through the Cross River State government.  We also had to have two armed guards with us. Expat safety is a real concern here although Cross River State is one of the safer areas in Nigeria.

We were scheduled to leave on Monday morning and return on Friday afternoon.  Our transportation was 7 hours late picking us up.  We were told the van needed new brakes.  We were very glad they decided to do this but not sure why they waited to the last minute to take care of it.  When the driver arrived he told us we had to pay the equivalent of $200 for gasoline.  This was never part of the arrangements.  We all agreed to pitch in and cover it so we could still go but it changed our spending plans for the trip.

This is where we broke down.  It was many miles either way with nothing but thick jungle on both sides of the road.

Just 3 hours into the drive the van broke down in the middle of the jungle as the sun was setting and the rain began to fall.  We were not in cell phone range.  We paid two drivers who stopped to help take us to the next town.  It was completely dark and raining hard as we pulled into a town called Pineapple.  We were almost immediately surrounded by people.  We attract a lot of attention because of our skin color even in the dark of night.  I suppose we also were the evening’s entertainment for the small town. 

Our guards said we had to get to a police station to protect us while we wait for a new vehicle to take us to the Drill Monkey Ranch.  We had reservations to stay there for the first night.  We again paid the two drivers to take us about 20 miles further to the next small town where the Police substation was located.  One of the drivers who helped us took our driver back to Calabar and the van was towed to Pineapple.  One of the guards rode on back of a motorcycle up the hill farther to get within cell tower range to call the Drill Ranch to tell them we were stranded.

We ended up staying at the police station 24 hours. We sat on boards on the front porch until midnight waiting for the Drill Ranch to pick us up.  We were still an hour from there but they sent someone to get us but they never found us.  We ate snacks we had brought for dinner and enjoyed the stars and a few flashes of lightening in the distance.  The police chief took us to a cashew tree using flashlights.  Since we thought we would be gone by morning we wanted to make sure we saw it. The next day I took pictures of it.

Clint said the fruit tasted like a bitter orange crossed with a mango.  The guards ate a lot of them.  The cashew nut is stuck to the bottom of the fruit.

It was hard resigning to the fact we were staying the night there.  We had a tour of the place and picked where we were all going to sleep.  The two inmate cells did not have anything in them.  No cot and no windows.  There was no plumbing in the building so there was no sink or toilet.  We all took turns taking care of our business behind the building.  The girls slept on the concrete floor of the in processing room with just a grass mat and no blankets. There was not much in there and no glass in the window frames and the corner of the room had been struck by a truck or something because there was a big hole with rocks piled in front of the hole on the inside. 

The Girls Slumber Party

Luckily, Clint and I and the principal and his wife had brought our pillows for the trip and I loaned my pink neck rest pillow to the first grade teacher.  I slept under one of the windows next to the rocks and the first grade teacher slept next to me and the principal’s wife was against the wall.  I put my coat on and grabbed my towel to use as a blanket but I was sweating.  It just wanted to keep my skin as covered as possible after already contracting malaria.  We giggled for awhile as we tried not to think about our situation by enjoying our girl’s slumber party together.  We agreed it was quite an adventure we were on.  Clint slept on the floor in the police chief’s office and the principal slept on the wood bench in the same room.  The first grade teacher’s friend slept on a bench next to the reception desk.  I think the two guards slept on the boards on the porch.  There were no prisoner’s in custody so I think the police chief went home which was a building behind the station.  There was one woman who never spoke a word to us also in the room with us girls.  She came and went the next day but we never learned what her role was at the station. 

This is the little room where Clint and the principal slept.  They found a smoke grenade on the desk between them when they woke up the next morning.  They had glass on one of their windows.

We all received multiple bug bites during the night even though we had put our insect repellent on. I heard mice scurrying all around us but there was nothing I could do. It was cloudy so there was no light at all in the room during the night. In the morning we saw the spiders and mouse droppings all around where we were laying. I am so glad we did not see them when we laid down to sleep.  I know I slept some but I was so glad when morning finally broke.  It was the worst night of my life I think.  

Our driver had told us he would be back with a new van by 9 AM.  He thought we were going to be at the Drill Ranch.  We never saw that driver again.  Finally about 10:30 AM a representative from the Cross River State government tourism board arrived on the back of a motorcycle from a town an hour back towards Calabar.  He heard from the Drill Ranch that we were stranded at the Police Station.  He told us the chief of staff for the Cross River State was aware of our situation and he was deeply sorry and we would be getting a new van very soon.  

By afternoon we were getting stir crazy so we walked down the hill to the village and purchased some bananas and to see the church.  We heard the bell ring earlier in the day.  The people there had already heard about us and we had several people drop by the Police Station to see us.  The afternoon passed by and it was almost dark again before our ride arrived.  We had sent one guard to call twice and each time he came back saying the new vehicle was getting close.

The Church - It had a drum set and an electronic keyboard inside.

This is how pineapples grow.  It was attached at the base.

These are some friends I made.

The village just below the Police Station.

These boards on the porch are where we sat for most of the 24 hours.

Two white Ford King Cab Rangers pulled up the hill.  They looked like white stallions coming to save us.  I jumped right in and let the guards and drivers load our stuff.  We were all exhausted, starving, dirty and sweaty but we didn’t care.  We were finally on the road again.  It was too late to go by the Drill Ranch to see it so we headed straight for the Obudu Mountain Resort and decided to stop there on Friday on the way back.  One of the guards told us after we were on the road that he had a bad feeling about staying another night at the Police Station.  He did not elaborate but my imagination filled in what he didn’t say.  People here always think white skin equals money.  When you have people in extreme poverty to the point of desperation to provide for their family they can be driven to do unthinkable things.