During my national youth service registration, I saw an opportunity to go to the western part of Nigeria, for two reasons; I wanted to see life outside my familiar environment, and secondly, I wanted to go find love. We'll talk about the latter reason for another day, but let's focus on the first reason which is, experiencing a different environment.
The Western part of Nigeria is dominated by the Yorubas, one of the three basic ethnic groups in the country. They're known for their unique culture. I arrived in the Town at noon, welcomed by the ranting of a man who wanted to show his prowess. They don't fight, they mostly just rant and yell, I've known that fact about them even before visiting the land. If you don't like noise, then stay away from the Southwest. I had a lot of that the first week and for a minute I wished I had applied to a different place. For the record, I visited Ekiti state precisely
One other thing about the Yoruba people is that they believe everyone speaks and understands Yoruba. They have one of the highest numbers of professors and educated people but they rarely speak English unless they realize you can't speak, and the town is undeveloped despite the number of educated people in the state.
While in Ekiti, I visited one of the tourist attractions known as the Ikogosi warm and cold spring. It's a nature's blessing to the people of the land who believed the spring has the power to answer prayers when done with your feet inside the water. Even though it made me wonder why the land was still underdeveloped if the river truly answers prayer.
The spring has the warm and cold side that doesn't mix even though they flow from the same fountain. And there are several myths about the river. I traveled there during my stay and it was a wonderful experience to witness a river that has both the warm and cold
The Culture
The Yoruba culture was entirely different from where I came from, the kind of food they eat, the language they speak, their business hours, and their men, a different kind of people from their females who were more welcoming. They love parties and always do it big. Even though I came from Abuja, the federal capital of the country, I noticed the prices of food were more expensive. Ekiti people are security conscious and often close their business early and that made things a bit tough for me, who loves to eat late. Living with them required extra caution and that was the toughest part of it all, thereby making few friends.