Windy Day in Niamey

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February 20, 2008

Windy
Woke up to hearing the wind howling around the building. It was so dusty this morning with the strong winds. The sun was extremely dim in the sky, looking more like a moon. The sand literally swirled on the street in front of us as we drove to our meeting. It looked the fine snow that can swirl around on top of a road in winter, such a neat site. It actually felt a little cool this morning, by lunch, it was quite warm . After the meeting, we came back for a few hours of work and it has been productive. Between the morning and afternoon, managed to complete more maps for one of the projects for Amadou today.

Another meeting at 1:00 with another company and some of its consultants. This led to a fun lunch out at the Lebanese restaurant. A total of 9 of us attended, with most of these other fellows originating from Australia. Nice to speak mainly English for a couple of hours. We walked to the restaurant, which was just about across the street from their office (about 150m walk), and most of the route was sandy. Very interesting to walk through as I was still in my opened toed high heeled shoes, and a dress, from our morning meeting - not the best attire for walking across a windy sandy route. We sat down at the restaurant around 2:00 and finished around 3:30, a very relaxed meal. On the return drive to the office, saw another camel right beside the truck. Chris had only seen two camels at a distance the last trip he was here, so it has been quite a surprise to see so many in the last few days.

Mosquitos

According to Chris, there are not many mosquitos here. However, I beg to differ. There could be two mosquitos in the whole countryside, and they will find me!! In the last couple of days, I have had about 5 mosquito bites on my arms (frustrating, as I have been wearing this repellant purchased here, which I don't think is very strong - think I may have mentioned mine was missing when my missing bag was returned - good thing I am on my anti-malarials). The bites are small red spots about the size of a nickel and it probably doesn't look good to anyone not used to seeing them, especially if I forget and start to scratch - they show up even more. I was paranoid that they looked bad I ended up putting makeup coverup base on the spots so it wouldn't be the first thing people saw as I approached today.

Had a great dinner at an Italian Restaurant tonight. Very fancy - long red tableclothes that were floor length, with smaller white tableclothes overtop. The food was amazing, I had the ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli and it was very tasty. Driving around in the evening, it looks like it is foggy, but it is just the sand and dust in the air. Such a neat experience.

Well, it has been another full day and I am tired. Off to bed for me as tomorrow we leave to visit the first of two of our projects. Should take about 3 hours to get there and it is an overnight trip. Will hopefully post again in a couple of days.

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Photos

Camel Closeup
Drove right beside this guy. This one is hardly loaded compared to the others I have seen today.

The Office
The office and 'home sweet home' in Niamey Niger. This house is a great setup and very comfortable. Our room is attached to the terrace.

"Conjoncture" Beer
This beer has a bit of a story. Apparently the locals call it Conjoncture Beer as Conjoncture is a term that was used when Uranium prices dropped quite along time ago (Uranium production is very important in Niger). Well, this beer started off as 60cl and dropped in size to its current 48cl, hence the term "Conjoncture" Beer.