Sofitel hotel … fluffy bed (maybe a little too much – bad back in the morning) … concrete wall shuts out the outside world … impossible wi-fi (how on earth do these people blog?) … amazingly weak orange juice … large in-room safe … power goes out (unbelievably inadequate power grid, thanks to corruption of previous regime – everyone’s on generators) … locals along the road balancing stuff on their head like nobody’s business … a client who wants to change the course of an abused nation … nighttime visit to funky boutique hotel/arts colony, wondering, should we stay here on the next visit? visiting Exxon consultants recommend it … sharing of gigantic Star beer (favored here but from Ghana) … chatting about local culture and challenges with the literati, including Kiszo, a Nollywood film producer (their version of Hollywood, or Bollywood, and apparently, huge) who has just returned from time in L.A. and Atlanta … we meet a local musician, who claims to be an inventor of a unique model of square bongos as well as the reincarnation of my colleague Mario … picked up daily and driven to work by client’s drivers, served lunch and picked-up-after by his man-servants – he calls them “stewards” – I’m thinking I need someone like this at home (Erich’s reading this, thinking, “been there, done that”) … dinner companion tells an exotic tale of juju (voodoo), a politician’s naked wife and a severed head on the kitchen floor … afternoon driving tour of the three islands, viewing structures that once were obviously proud and at least middle class, driven to ruin by political anarchy … nice long swim in the hotel pool which is quite nice, like bathwater … we visit the office of the prospective editor, and view a terrific collection of work by a local artist … a nice contrast to some of the scenery on the way there …  fantastic, elegant cocktail party held by our clients, with eclectic mix of piano players, singers, movers and shakers from Lagos and beyond …

(Watch this space for later observations on Lagos, as several visits are scheduled in the coming months …)