The streets

The streets. Have I mentioned the streets yet?  We’ve been here for 2 weeks now, and I still can’t get over them. Just the fact that we are in such a developed area, yet can they build a street??  One thing I should mention is that the area we live in, “Lekki Phases 1” is “reclaimed” land. To the best of my knowledge that means that, once, there was no land here, only sea. Now, they have somehow used topsoil and sand to ‘reclaim’ it.

The streets. The main roads are cobbled. These cobbled roads are often in better condition. Apart from where the sand has given way under the road, causing massive potholes. 

Every other road is dirt. Here, the potholes are even bigger. Yesterday, Caleb got out of our car to help push a car out of one of them… it’s exhaust had so filled with water that they couldn’t get the car going. Luckily my superior navigating skills means I know the right places to drive to keep it shallow (cross fingers!).  

Therefore, driving is slow, running is a total lesson in how to avoid sprained ankles, and even walking takes intense concentration.  The main roads have drains running down the side of them, which guys dig out, and by the time they are 50cm down, the drains are filled with water. You have to jump across the drains when crossing the road. That is, if you aren’t already walking on the road, because you never know when the pavement is going to cave in….(the sand foundation on which the pavement is built gets washed out into the drains).  And aren’t drains supposed to, oh I don’t know, drain??? Not here. It’s just holes. There’s an empty section we walked past today, for sale. It’s a pond, complete with lily plants and frogs. In the middle of town. I love it. The one across the road was also pond… but somehow they have built the concrete foundation. I guess they must be waiting for dry season to finish it… as swimming across that pond to work wouldn’t be that appealing!