First night and first impressions

                After a total of 3 connecting flights, we arrived at the airport in Malabo (the capital city of EG, located on Bioko Island), where we then had to go through customs. It was fine until they went through our bags. They were hung up on the fact that I had binoculars because they are convinced they are going to be used for spying in a coup attempt. The people are pretty paranoid about this. They simply do not understand the concept of people coming to their country in order to conduct scientific research, even though this program (Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, or BBPP) has been going on for 15 years now. I was eventually allowed to keep them and got my bag back. Even though it was slightly frustrating, we were told that it used to be much worse. The airport had been renovated recently in preparation for EG to host an African summit – a conference where all of the African presidents were to meet. The customs area used to just be a mass of people and bag checkers in a giant swarm instead of (semi) organized lines as it is now. There is not a real uniform, set protocol in place at the airport which is interesting considering the degree of strictness of the laws in the US (and most other countries).
                The main road from the airport to the house was actually very nice and well-developed (also for the summit). EG has come into some money to do projects such as these due to the fact that it is a country rich in oil. In fact, over 90% of the country’s income is from oil. When we got to the house our resident director, Andrew, made us some food. We sat down to eat rice & beans and fried plantains (yum) which will likely be staples of our diet for the duration of our stay. Andrew explained to us the common food items available for purchase in supermarkets, which includes bananas, plantains, land snails, and frozen specialty food items imported from France and Spain. There is, of course, other food and produce available, but they are kind of pricy due to the fact that Bioko is an island and has to import most things (produce mostly from Cameroon). Milk and dairy products are also not widely available and are not really part of the culture. They don’t really have the space or resources for it, such as equipment to pasteurize and process the milk.
                After dinner Andrew took us on a quick little tour of Malabo. I’d say Malabo is just about as clean as Philly (in the part where I'm staying, at least, which is right by the presidential palace) – and it doesn’t reek of urine like the subways tend to. After seeing two men with huge guns on the street we were informed that they were military personnel. It was pretty intimidating, but Andrew explained that they won’t really bother you, and when they do they just want to get bribes out of you. It’s the same with the police here – they will give you a hard time for silly reasons in order to try and get money from you, mostly for beer. Apparently the police are usually barely sober enough to walk a straight line. This is also obviously in stark contrast to the police force and laws in the US. As long as you hold your ground and don’t take their bullshit, you can finagle your way out of the situation and get away without giving them any money. I’m personally hoping I won’t have to deal with such a scenario.
                Andrew also told us that since the government is so scared of coup attempts, no one in the country has guns other than the military personnel, which was reassuring. That actually makes it a safer place than West Philly, where I receive alerts about armed robberies blocks from my apartment on a regular basis. The only thing that is unnerving is that if something were to happen, there isn’t really a uniform law system here, as with the airport, so anything could really go down.
                As few as 4 years ago, Malabo did not have any traffic lights or things of that nature, but due to the incoming oil money they have been able to develop at a pretty quick pace.  Another thing I noticed about the city is that there are pictures of the president everywhere – some still wishing him a happy new year, or a happy birthday which happened back in June. Even though there is a president, it’s not really a free society. There are 99 members of his party in the house of representatives, and only one of the oppositions’. Apparently he is sometimes followed by undercover police…  Definitely would not want to be that guy. The president also has six wives (there is no legal limit to the amount of wives men can have here) and a son with a Ferrari. Our house is actually right next to the presidential palace, making it in a good area of the city.