Day at the Beach

These saturdays are probably one of my favorite days here in Lagos. This was the 2nd beach trip we've gone on since I have been here. All of the expats (americans) in our ward get together and go out to the beach. I seriously love every single one of them! We are soo lucky to have soo many of them in our ward. Almost all of them were here before I was and they took me in and are constantly checking up on us and making sure everything is ok. I truly consider them my family here.
Even though we live right beside the ocean you can't just walk out and enjoy the beach every day. Around Lagos the beaches are covered in garbage. The sewer runs directly into the ocean so you can only imagine the smell and the color of the water. I dont think I would dare walk bare foot on that toxic beach. So when we go to the beach we have to take a 30min boat ride out of lagos where the water and beaches are a lot cleaner. Luckily we have friends that work for ExxonMobile that have a beach house out there where we all can go to once in a while!








The leader of our crew is always sure to ask the village vendors to leave us alone for a while beforehand so they aren't all over us all day. So we gave them 1:30 for thier selling time, when they all came swarming. They bring table cloths, wood carvings, paintings, anything really - I was priveledged to meet the "african picasso" this time. I made the mistake of laughing at this joke and he followed me around for at least 10 mins trying to convince me that his panitings were the best in africa. He told me the only differnce between him and picasso is the price of their paintings.....But for the price he was quoting me I almost doubt that was true either. Vendors here seriously eat the expats right up. A hefty oyinbo (white man) price for everything! Unfortunately my bargaining skills weren't so good this time around and I didn't buy anything. Sometimes their selling tactics are entertaining enough for me!!


I promise by the time I am living back home my goal is to be able to carry a package this big on my head!! It's absoutely AMAZING how much weight people carry on their head! Serious neck muscles I tell ya!!!



I love seeing all the little village kids. They usually are just staring at us all walk by. I couldn't help but snap a picture! African kids are seriously THE cutest!!


The villagers are always waiting on the docks when our boat pulls up and grabbing for any basket or bag they can carry. Of course all carried on their heads. They hike it all into the beach house for us and back to the boats at the end of the day - for a small price of course.


This was AMAZING to me....on the boat ride home we saw all these boats. I had no clue what they were but jeff told me these boats are filled with sand to sell. They hire a few men dive to the bottom and scoop a bucket of sand, swim it to the top, dump it into the boat, then do it all over again. Bucket by bucket!! Basically a local sand dredging operation by hand - CRAZY!!!


Unfortunatly on the way back our boat got clogged up with garbage again. Not uncommon in water that is seriously full of waste! Luckily our boat driver knew what he was doing and got it all unplugged and running in no time!