Travelling in the countryside

Abroad, when white people buy homes in the countryside, it is a big deal. This is because they are rare, posh and very expensive. But back in Nigeria it is easy peasy, you can just move to your local government headquarters for next to nothing. Food is cheap, life is simple and there is fresh air. But it is not for the bourgeoisie.

Here you are considered low level if you live in the countryside, what is considered living in the village. Going to the countryside for me is very therapeutic. Food in all their royal colours encouraging you and satiating your appetite. I love mangoes. Fleshy, yellow and semi-firm. All along the countryside you can get fresh fruits for a lot less than you get in the cities and a lot fresher. I also collect Onions now, quite expensive nationwide and I get my yams and garri. Garri with groundnut has always been my thing on a hot day. Salted Nigerian groundnuts. A sprinkle of sugar… Heaven.

Nigeria’s countryside is beautiful. Travelling there is an experience. Look at the trees. Visiting is amazing

Nigerian countryside not only presents fresh fruits and food but the clean air devoid of pollution. I sit lazily under a thatched roofed open gazebo in our family compound eating roast yam and red oil peppered sauce. Between mouthfuls of roast yam, you drink water from the earthenware pot. The water tastes earthy but cool and fully satisfying. A goat approaches me eyes droopy, drunk on guinea corn gruel left in a wide bowl for the animals in the compound. The chicken charges at a small bird flying low over the corn stash. The sun is just coming through in the mid-morning and the local market across the road is just coming alive. I am in my simple Bobou wearing a simple pair of bathroom slippers. I wear no makeup because there is no need for it. No one really cares about your cat eye makeup or your false eye lashes. The low cast wind kisses my face. The sun is rising but the weather is cool.

I am already sleepy end and sucking on sweet tangerines, I am preparing to return to my bed. I am at the countryside, I really am here to sleep a lot, sleep well and do nothing for at least two days. The greetings are warm and fuzzy. The mask appropriate hugs are giddy and familial. I am chuffed. I am not being judged. I am one with the earth in the countryside. The smell of the earth rises to meet my nostrils as a neighbour sprinkles water on the red earthy ground. It smells like rain and the smell is heady. It is time to go inside, lie on a couch and doze off. From my half sleep, I hear a knock on the door. My aunty arrives at the door. Food flasks on a fancy tray.

She has delivered smoked fish in fresh okro soup with a yam flour meal. My favourite. I eat heartily as we chat. More sleep. The countryside beckons. City life is getting stressful.

Nigeria’s countryside is beautiful. Travelling there is an experience. Look at the trees. Visiting is amazing. Ask Stevie wonder who is going to relocate to Ghana. He understands the countryside.