Roaming - and Hint of a Big Trip

15 December I963

I have just last evening returned from a rather long (for here) journey. I first went to Enugu to teach the new batch of PCV arrivals how to operate and maintain motorbikes. That gave me three days of free bed and board, tho not the best quality. The new (Peace Corps) kids are alright. None is stationed very near me. 

I bought a tape recorder while there for $95. It is a very good Phillips, battery operated, and very portable. It has a remote control cable so it can be turned on or off during recording or playback. This will be very handy, as I can put the machine in my pack, the mike in my shirt pocket, and record dances and conversations without people getting upset, etc. I spent two hours in the Onitsha market finding the plugs necessary for transferring music from phonograph to tape. I made two selections using the mike and speaker, and it sounds pretty good that way. 

After Enugu I went to Nsukka to the University of Nigeria, where we have 11 PCVs from my group and two from the new group. I fixed a guy's motorcycle for a bed and breakfast. We had dinner with a couple of girls there—one PCV, one VSO. Then we made the rounds of all the the other Peace Corps on campus, Wednesday night I was at Achi at a three year-old bush school. The next day the wind blew hard and I didn’t think I would leave, but left late for Onitsha, visiting two PC stations on the way and two in town. I planned to stay in Onitsha, but the kids there had not returned from Enugu, so I went south to Nnewi, but the volunteer there had terminated so I went back to Oba, but PCV had not returned from his vacation, so I returned to Onitsha and stayed the night with an American who flunked out of training (PC) and came on his own.  

Friday I went to Orlu, a village which is quite civilized, and stayed with one of my group. Another volunteer came that afternoon after I had serviced a motorbike, and we rode over to visit a couple of new arrivals in the same village. I decided to stay another day, and so made the rounds, having meals at the several houses of volunteers. Two of the kids from Orlu came to see me today and stayed in Arochuku for supper. I gave them three boxes of settling-in equipment to take back in their VW, for the various new people in Orlu. This was stuff left by the past volunteers in Arolchuku.

Sunday I went to Aboh for lunch and on to Ife for two nights with some kids who had stayed here while on a caving expedition. On the morning of Tuesday, we stopped on the way out of the bush, in a native carver’s house to see his wares and I bought a juju carving for the outrageous price of $14. He is well-known, so his prices are high, but his work is good. I had him record the story of this juju, but the recording was no good (mike was vibrated by the machine). One of the local chiefs says there are several good carvers in that region, but most are not well known.

School has been put off for a week, and I still have some vacation coming, so I will go back to Enugu for a meeting about Nigerian music. Ibadan University claims to have recorded all the native songs and dances, but I have my doubts. There is also the job of sorting all this out, transcribing onto paper, and trying to develop a higher music form from the folk music. All we need is Bach.

I have moved the eating table into the ‘kitchen’. Now I have much more room in my living room, and a work table for all my projects. That means I will have to get a blanket to hang on the blank wall in front of the table, as that room is strictly functional so far.

We now have to get our own visas, (Peace Corps did it for us before) so I will have to plan my vacations long in advance. I think next time I will go to the West and North regions, stopping in Lagos long enough to get visas for the August vacation period. I would like to travel overland thru Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Congo to Stanleyville, then maybe on to the mountains of Uganda and back by steamer down the Congo River to the coast, where I would wait for steamer passage back to Nigeria. I reckon it will take most of a month, allowing for the usual delays. The big problem is that the roads will be impassible, so I will probably have to wait for December vacation. I will have to find out about lodging and food, as bananas are not too good a steady diet, and hotels are way too expensive.

Doctor said my illness was a fever like Dengue fever, spread by sand flies (from the flat tire episode). There were no parasites in my blood sample. I did not stay in the hospital, but at home. Much more pleasant. I was only down for two days.

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