Chamaeleo cristatus

I had always wanted to see a chameleon. We just happened to come across this one along the forest trail one afternoon. It was trying very hard not to be noticed at first (as if!) while crawling agonizingly slowly towards some vegetation, hoping to escape our attention. We stayed with it for about half an hour taking photos until we felt we had stressed it too much already. By then it was turning into aggressive colors, probably very scared of small shiny silver things clicking away at a very short distance. I have video clips too, but anyone interested will have to wait for me to come home. Talk about Animal Planet live!

football

They say Nigerians are the happiest people on earth. I don’t think so, but definitely they’re up there in the list. The other night I found myself at a fully-packed Mr. Biggs (the local Jolibee here) with about 40 Nigerian men all there for the African football cup on TV. When Nigeria scored against Senegal, the player did double back flips on the field. Of course everyone at the restaurant went crazy, and I felt my first shred of Nigerian pride. My only entertainment in the village, really, sort of a reminder that it is actually connected somehow to the real world, is when the boys play football late in the afternoons. Rainforest trees set the backdrop for the field, and the brilliant African sunset punctuates the afternoon’s game. In a place as desolate and wretched as this, I find beauty where I can.

how`s nigeria?

Can 2 years undo 28? Gadz, I certainly hope not! Please kill me if in two years I…

• stink horribly
• have perpetually orange hands (from palm oil)
• don’t shave anymore (yuks my legs are so pale now!)
• have a terrible sense of color coordination (they like very loud prints and mix them all together)
• speak very bad English (Pidgin)
• say things very directly, tactlessly, even rudely (otherwise they simply won’t get it)
• don’t trust anybody anymore

this list might keep growing, but i really should keep a parallel list of the nice things... sometime. When Nigerians used to ask me how I find their country, I would rack my brains (very hard) for something nice to say. After two months, I didn’t bother anymore. I just say ask me in one year, or when necessary, twitch the corners of my mouth and say “fine.” When I’m in a better mood, I say “oh, it’s everything they said it would be!”. Nakakatawa pag yung mga kasama kong mga puti sobrang sarcastic yung sagot pero nakangiti, di rin naman nila naiintindihan. Sa totoo lang, di ako makapaniwala meron pang ganitong bansa sa panahon ngayon.

Write! Write!!

Thanks for all the snail mail! Thanks to Vera, Laura, Mica, Kat, Kat, Kat and Ral. I will reply to you via snail mail except Laura, you didn’t give me a return address, and Mica, where in the world are you? Once again, letters are really appreciated on this side of the world.

HAPPY 2006!

For New Year i got together with some VSOs to celebrate in Opobo in rivers state, where 3 of the volunteers are based. I overestimated travel time so i ended up waiting for more than 4 hours for the rest to arrive at this riverside hotel (some from the capital Lagos and the others, our hosts, from Cameroon where i was also planning to spend Christmas but they couldn‘t get re-entry visas in time for those of us who had just arrived in the country). I had my own countdown too when it was midnight in the Philippines (we‘re 7 hours late here) and tried to call everyone but of course the network here was useless. If it can‘t be relied on during ordinary days, how much more over the holidays? But anyway i had a wonderful time just looking at the water (it‘s a very wide river going out to sea) and actually seeing and hearing boats. I didn’t think i would miss the water so much and it‘s just been a few months!

The greatest thing, I think, was actually getting to ride a boat, even if it was just about 30minutes, to get to Opobo. The place is actually a historic town complete with a king, and we got to meet him too! The town looked like no other place I’ve been to in Nigeria (well I haven’t gotten around much yet, but as far as i have…), and I was told it‘s like a ghost town the rest of the year, with the rich residents living either in Port Harcourt (the oil capital) or even in London.

And it was probably the first time there were 12 foreigners in that island all at the same time! We had a countdown and toasted each other at midnight (locally, they don‘t celebrate it like that), and even sang auld lang syne. The main reason we chose to celebrate there is that there is like an ati-atihan (mardi gras) in that village that time of the year. Some groups dress up and go around town and when they approach you you have to give them money (we were forewarned to hang on to all our smallest bills for this occasion).

They also re-enact the story of King Jaja at the square (ja, matutuwa ka; your name‘s all over town haha). On New Year‘s day we crossed to another smaller island where our hosts have a project. It was a very muddy landing (labno, actually) from the boat but it was nice to see, and we had a nice trek traversing the island and going through tiny villages. Anyhow, though I missed the traditional Altavas costume party and champagne popping by the round table, I had a great holiday.

wanted: blogmaster

Who’s bored and has a lot of onscreen and online hours? Anyone care to maintain this blog for me? It would be nice to just pass my stories and photos to just one person and s/he can take care of the layout and updates. Especially now that there‘s something wrong with my keyboard and it takes me 3x the normal time to type. Anyone?