Monrovia

I've been so bad about keeping this blog updated. I think by now I've lost all my readers (my mom and Zach's mom). I should really make more of an effort to post immediately when I return from a trip, otherwise I lose steam. Case in point: did you ever see my post about Nuremburg or Dachau? No? That's because I never got around to writing them! But, if you depend on my blog for links to my pictures, you can look at the rest of my Germany pictures here. There are some descriptive captions in there.

Anyhoo, Liberia. I've decided that I really like SN Brussels business class, if only because they give you a little box of really awesome chocolate truffels. I ate my whole box in one sitting while waiting at our stopover on the runway in Sierra Leone. I felt like that was a good time to throw away any weight loss I'd achieved in the previous month. I liked that the entrance to the Freetown airport says "Coca-Cola welcomes you to Freetown", like it's a country gas station!

When we arrived at the airport in Monrovia, we had to wait to de-plane because it was pouring. Evidently it does that a lot during the rainy season. I've heard there's only one covered jetway in Africa--in Abdijan. My luggage arrived unmolested. I had outstanding luck with my baggage on this trip--nothing was stolen and all my bags showed up when they were supposed to. I think the key to not losing your luggage in Africa (and thus the things inside your luggage--see my previous post) is to arrange your flights so your luggage never changes planes in Africa. Do your connections in Europe, or some dude in Ghana will be wearing your clothes and using your toothbrush.

My first impression of Monrovia was that it was really dark. Since I arrived after nightfall, I know that sounds really obvious, but I'm referring to the lack of electricity. On the drive between the airport and the city center I was surprised by the total darkness. Sometimes the shanties on the side of the road would have a light or two, but generally it was just blackness. I saw my favorite sign of the whole trip just outside the aiport. It said in big letters, "DO NOT URINATE HERE OK!!!" I hate that I didn't have my camera ready! The ride from the airport took an hour and a half, thanks to potholes and no streetlights to illuminate said potholes. I would say it was the bumpiest ride of my life up to that point (the actual bumpiest ride came the next day). If there was a decent road, I bet the travel time could be cut in half. The trip was in armored vehicles. Kinda cool.

Monrovia was even more depressing in daylight. Everything was destroyed by the civil war that ended in 2005. Even the government buildings are in ruins, as everything that was removable was removed by looters. We held meetings with public officials in buildings that were open to the elements, because the windows had been removed (although our meetings were always in rooms of those buildings that had been finished/fixed). I think the public works building used to be a prison.

I got mildly sick from unsanitary conditions, despite my near-obsessive Purel(TM) use and strict adherence to the unsafe food rules. You can only take so many precautions, and then it's just out of your hands. Fortunately I had packed a self-treatment course of Cipro. It appears the struggle between good and evil in my abdomen has abated, so that's nice. Good times, good times. That's what's awesome about my job--I have the opportunity to get intestinal parasites in places many people have never even heard of!

You can look at my pictures here. Many are bad--keep in mind that I had to take most from a moving vehicle. Crime is pretty bad, so we weren't allowed to just wander around outside.