Miango

Lollie and I had a child free night away in a place called Miango. We stayed in a little cottage for missionaries to have a rest. It was almost as if we were removed from Africa because inside was just so lovely. 

 To get there was a 40 minute drive, but it felt like 4 minutes because the drive was just heavenly. The scenery was incredible and my camera could do it no justice. We passed volcanic mountains, covered green with flora, endless fields of corn and cows being herded by men with sticks into bigger fields. Advertising slogans are painted with thick white paint on the brown rocks along the main roads. They are more common in the city area, but we saw a few on our journey. Apart from the beautiful scenery, there were the world's biggest potholes we had to dodge on the red dirt roads. The way Lollie was steering the wheel and the swerving we were doing was almost as if we were part of a video game. There are no speed limits on the roads and if there are any road lines, they are used as a guide only. We mainly stick to the right hand side of the road but we ended up oh the far left hand side a few times to avoid pot holes (and other cars driving directly at us!). Lollie offered me a "turn" at driving, but as it was an auto car, I thought I might drive it into a ditch by accident if I got a hold of the wheel. After all, I am not much good at steering in computer games (sorry Shaneo) so I declined but enjoyed the bumpy ride from the passenger seat with Lollie behind the wheel. 

Once we arrived at the rest home, we weaved our way through a quaint garden and found our cottage. Not long after we unpacked the car, it started raining fairly heavily. It felt like a strong encouragement to just relax and do as little as possible. So we did! Puzzle books, colouring in, watching a movie, snacking on chocolate, reading our novels and lying in bed, snuggling up on the couch and chatting with bouts of big laughter. We struggled to think of a different time when Lollie and I had a sleepover, just the two of us. It was so lovely, peaceful, rejuvenating and relaxing. 

We slept in (a little bit on purpose) until about 9am and missed breakfast in the dining hall, so we ate some banana bread that was left for us in the cottage. 

For lunch before we departed, Lollie and I both chose a Nigerian dish with goat and bitter leaf in a stew, served with powdered yams, which was a sticky, starchy, white consistency and tasted a bit like mashed rice. The goat was not pleasant... And I think that's rather putting it nicely so we snuck out of the dining hall and hurried back to our cottage to nibble on the brownies that were left for us. Much more satisfying. After lunch we completed a 300 piece puzzle in record timing and went for a stroll around the gardens and getting in some beautiful views of the land. 

While we were on our walk, it started to rain so we took that as our cue to leave. The drive home to Jos was just as beautiful as the journey to Miango. With the windows down, the loud wind spoke in our voices' place as we travelled back to Niger Creek compound.