The Nightlife

So Ehi goes out a lot, and Thursday’s are no exception. I had just gotten back from dinner at the Guest Quarters (a little haven for US citizens), and was looking forward to a good read and sleep when Ehi calls. After some slight peer pressure I decide to go out as long as it’s not too late. Not too late ended up getting me home till 2:30AM, but it was worth it. We went and picked up one of his friends from her home, and man this place was nice. Her family had a compound and guards just like my hotel, and they were just one family. Ehi of course insisted that her house was not that big, it was only average for a military officer. So the young lady, Pauline, comes out and we hit the town. We end up going to a few clubs and meeting up with other groups of people throughout the night, and I realized for the first time that I really was going to like this place. The music at these places were good, the people were nice and classy, and they know how to have fun. Throughout the night I kept saying I had to be home by midnight… then 1AM… then who cares, because I figured that if Ehi and Pauline can stay up and go out, so could I! On the way home though, Pauline explains that she was heading to Ghana tomorrow and Ehi said he does not go in to work till 10 on Fridays. They thought it was pretty funny that I had to be up and ready for work at 7. Good times nonetheless.

Friday night was a bit different. When I got home I went straight to sleep. Mostly because I was exhausted from my previous night’s lack of sleep, but also because I was invited out again. This time it was not Ehi, but a black American (as we are called) who was taking me out. We ended up going to this nightclub at about 12:20 and it was completely empty, but by 1:30 it was packed. We were in the VIP section and even that was crazy packed. At around 3:30 our crew was burnt out and we decided to head home. Getting out of the club was much more difficult than getting in, because I did not know the proper dash policy. Dash is another word for bribe, and evidently, you are supposed to dash the bouncers as you leave. It seemed like I passed 15 bouncers on the way home, each gripping my hand and then giving me a perplexed look when there was nothing in it. I ended up dashing the bouncer that was letting me in the VIP section, but the only bills I had were 1000 Naira notes, so I gave him that. He was happy, but then the other bouncers wanted some. But my generosity had passed. We finally made it out of the club and got home.

Saturday was an even busier night than Friday, which was bad because I was without my nap. I went out with Ehi’s crew again (they know much better spots than the Americans) and we ended up staying out till 4 and bounced around to 5 clubs. A testament to how popular Ehi and his crew are: we went to one club that was turning everyone away because they were past capacity and as we were turning around to leave, one of the promoters basically forced to let in Ehi and everyone else with him. The ironic thing was that we ended up leaving because it was too crowded in there. Nothing too eventful happened the rest of the night, but I think it’s safe to say I have been introduced to the nightlife of Lagos.