roasted ram

my roasted ram fam

one remote village we visited last week was about 2.5 hours off the main road, into the bush. we were running very late and trying to leave with enough time to get back to the hotel by our curfew. I turned to my Nigerian colleagues and asked if we could leave. I was reminded that I should thank the village chief, and so we made our way over to him. We were presented with sodas in glass bottles. I knew the deposit on the glass bottles is steep, so taking it in the car was out of the question. Refusing the gift was also impossible, and yet we were already very late. I could pay for the deposit on the bottle,but that seemed strange... luckily our driver appeared behind me and saved the day by explaining that it is fine t o take the sodas quickly. so the top was popped off my Mountain Dew and i opened the hatch. i drank a 12oz bottle in seconds flat for an audience of 100s of village men and children. if someone had caught that on video, i surely would be a YouTube star today, or at least on the Mountain Dew pay roll.

As the Dew was downed, out of the corner of my eye i caught a glimpse of a large amount of roasted meat being chopped and rolled into paper. if i was unsure about the etiquette on the soda, i was completely confused about how i was going to side step this offering--i had seen a lot of meat on tables through the village streets, drying in the sun and attended to by hoards of flies. Now i know and logically understand that the meat is boiled and roasted, and that everything was cooked to death (literally), but i the juxtaposition was just too close in time. Luckily i was saved again, this time by our guide who swooped in and thanked the village chief, and took the bag of chopped meat on my behalf. we hopped in the car and my colleagues were thrilled with the road food, greasy roasted (and delicious smelling) roasted ram.

i was telling my dad this story, and thinking about how I am repeatedly told that i am the first white woman the children have seen, and i have to wonder what they think if this is their single exposure? I'm tromping around freely (most women are restricted in their compounds), wearing pants (completely unheard of), sweating through my clothes, drinking Mountain Dew at the speed of light... an odd snapshot to say the least.