Day 2 in Lagos - February 2007

Finally I am back to continue telling you about your trip to Lagos in February. Bob and I have been extremely busy getting ready for our international move, prepping our house to be rented and stocking up on supplies.

Day 2 Wednesday
We ate breakfast in the hotel, met our driver at 7AM and then started the 45 minute sssslllloooowwww drive into the office. I ate lunch in the cafeteria with some coworkers. Food in the cafeteria is free to all employees and there is a variety of dishes to choose from. There are continental options (rice/potatoes and chicken), national options (some sort of pork of beef dish and pounded yam), and sandwiches. I went for the chicken and rice dish and it was pretty good. I don't think the food preparation is very low calorie so I am going to have to be careful over here! Bob had a meeting that included lunch and he enjoyed the food.

We left the office early (~2PM) to check out some of our housing options with one of the employees who works in the housing group (the man with the keys) and Tina, the wife of a coworker. There are two locations where the employees without kids live, both are apartments, but one is brand new and the other was built in the 1970's (I think).

The first place we looked at was the older complex, which is on a decent size of property with tennis courts, a gym and a pool. The apartments are about 2300 sq.ft (larger than our home in Houston) with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms and are well furnished with basic furnishings. Here are some pictures of one of the vacant apartments.

Pictures coming soon once I resolve my picture posting problem!

We definitely liked the new apartment complex better but the best apartments have already taken and while it is much newer (nice stained wood accents, granite countertops in an upscaled kitchen) the remaining rooms are near the ground floor and have bars the windows. The new apartment complex in on a much smaller piece of property (also has a pool) so we would prefer to live higher up in the building so that we have a view of the surrounding area and don't feel so cramped behind the walls of the compound.

Here are some pictures of the new apartment complex. While they are not the best
pictures of the place, they will give you an idea of what the place is like.

Pictures coming soon once I resolve my picture posting problem!

Both apartments had plumbing problems. I don’t meant to be negative about the work done there but they need to set some higher plumbing standards. There was at least one wall in each place (old and new) that will require some upkeep due to some leaky pipes behind the wall.

After home hunting we were planning on going to la Pizza for dinner with Tina, Kelvin (Tina’s husband), and Bob (another co-worker) and his boys. We were a little sweaty after looking at the apartments, many of which did not have the AC on, and we were ready to go back tot the hotel. Unfortunately that did not happen. We heard tha the traffic was terrible and we should head straight over to the restaurant. It was about 5:30PM when we left the apartments and we got to dinner about 7:30PM and Kelvin made it there a little bit later. Bob and his kids never made it as they turned around after getting fed up in the traffic. The pizza was great and so was the local Star beer (brewed in Nigeria but owned by Heineken). The meal was a bit pricy, about $25 a person (including the pizza for Tina and Kelvin’s driver who had been waiting outside the entire time we were eating), but it was worth it.

Pictures coming soon once I resolve my picture posting problem!

It took us about 15 minutes to get to hotel, the same drive that took us about 2 hours a little earlier I the evening. Near the restaurant was one of the movie theaters, where Blood Diamonds was showing. Tina mentioned that there is a nice bookstore there and I plan on checking it out soon. I will let you know how it is!