I saw the President!

1) I’m catching up on a few posts, sorry about the delay! Yesterday the President of Equatorial Guinea came to Moka to speak, what an interesting cultural experience. The current President is Obiang. Moka was preparing days in advance for his arrival. He just finished the construction of a new palace near there, one of many, as well as a new road, so he was going to speak to Moka because he had never done that. New prepare, the townsfolk cut down the bushes, small tree, and brush along the sides of the road for about 2 miles leading into town, supposedly for security reasons so no one could hide in the bushes, but they only cut five feet from the road about. Apparently they thought it looked good like that and the President would like to see it, but it looked very messy to us. They cut down living trees, then planted palm leave stalks in the ground, tying them to stakes, to look like trees, and decorating them with flowers that were very wilted by the time the President arrived. The center of Moka is about 500 feet from the research center. We walked there at 11:30 because no one knew when the President would arrive. Many people came pouring into the center, including two troops of dancers. The President didn’t arrive until about 3:30, along with a 30 car entourage, tons of security, and the President of the Ivory Coast as his guest. The President of the Ivory Coast shook my hand as he walked down the side of the street lined with Ecuatoguineans, smiling. Obiang walked in the center of the street, straight-faced, passing within 5 feet of me. I can’t talk straight-out in this blog about what we, the American students, talked about after that event in comparing Obama and the way he is elected to that of Obiang, but it’s interesting.

: ) Isys