One of the biggest changes I noticed when arriving this time was that Mittal Steel, the company that currently owns the iron concession that includes Mount Nimba had put up new check points and gates. The security guards were all very friendly and helpful. We had to go from the check point, to the security office, to the main office to finally get permission from a gentleman named Mark Wynn to camp on the mountain. It was a bit of a hassle, but better that they knew we were up there and that they wouldn’t come kick us out. Plus there’s a gate and guard post on the road up the mountain so we needed their help.

We set up camp late Friday afternoon and the best part of it all was that it got cold. Like so cold that I had to wear a jacket. Not just that, I’m sweating in Monrovia, so lets turn the AC down and pretend to be cold, cold that expats some times think they feel, but like real 50 degree cold. I didn’t really have a thermometer, but it felt around high 50s or low 60s. It was awesome.

When we woke up the next morning we were in the clouds. It wasn’t just fog, but at 4000+ feet we had hit the clouds and had about 50 yards worth of visibility. Not to mention 15mph winds and some rain. All this further kept the temperature down. It was so nice to hike in Liberia and not sweat.

After waiting till 10am we headed out despite the lack of visibility. We were hoping to summit the nearest peak we could see from our camp, and to also hike along the mountain ridge. But with visibility so short we just blindly followed the road until it ended, and then just kept climbing up slippery slopes, holding onto rocks and vegetation, until we reached the top of the closest peak. Going up was easier than following the ridge we found.

At one point the clouds cleared and we saw how far up we were. This was awesome. We could also see some mining equipment and a large lake left behind from previous mining efforts in Yekepa.

Around noon we found our way to the top of the peak. The clouds finally lifted and we could see camp a little over a kilometer away.

After lunch Carrie and I took a lower road that we saw from the first peak and followed along the ridge. We didn’t leave till 2pm, so we turned around at 4pm so we could make it back before dark, but it seems that this would lead along the base of the ridge. If you look at the Google Earth file of our hike this

route is in red. I checked our route on Google Earth and it seems that were were just two and a half miles from the intersection of the Liberian, Guinean, and Ivorian borders. I’d love to go back and reach that point.

We spent that night on the mountain and then headed back to Monrovia the next day. We stopped for lunch in Gbanga at some Bangladeshi restaurant.  Unlike the Bangladeshi restaurant in Monrovia, B-First, 13th Street, Sinkor, Which is awesome, this place sucked. It took them an hour to serve our order and even then the chicken was still raw. So don’t eat there.

Road condition were good on the trip. Ellen will be heading up country for the July 26th celebration and so they’ve begun fixing the road from Kakata to Gbanga. And the road from Ganta to Yekepa was great. It seemed to be newly grated. No need for 4×4.

We set out from downtown Monrovia towards Bushrod Island. We weren’t exactly sure how to get there. We crossed over the St. Paul River and turned down the first road. After going for a little while we stopped and asked for directions, and were told we were on the wrong road. We double backed and then continued west on the Bomi Highway to the next major intersection where there’s a yellow church. We turned right (north) here and continued on. We were told to go to Arthington. Unfortunately, the auto tracking feature of my GPS was turned off on this trip, so I don’t have a track to share. But it was pretty easy to find we pretty much kept going straight. Every few miles we’d stop and ask if we were on the right track.

Once we got to Arthington (N06.50402, W010.67418) we found two old churches that were really pretty. We hopped out and took some pictures. We even found a plaque dedicating the remodeling of one of the churches, commissioned by Mr. Charles Taylor. Both churches were obviously super nice back in their day, so it was cool to see a reminder of how nice Liberia once was. Even with out their roofs, the churches were still being used by the faithful.

We also ran into some other expats who were mountain biking on the roads. It made me wish I had my mountain bike here. While we weren’t on paved roads the roads were pretty good and we never needed 4×4. The roads did seem to be pretty good for some casual mountain biking.

The mountain bikers confirmed that we were on the right road to the dam and so we pressed on. As I remember we took a right in Arthington, and then kept going straight. To get to the dam we had to cut across a football field at one point. After another 15 minutes we made it to the dam (N06.51046, W10.65098).  Again, it was another run down monument to what Liberia once was. All the dynos, transformers, and other electrical equipment had been looted, but the spill ways and the dam itself were all still intact. About half of the spill ways were closed and half open, making some rapids in an otherwise calm St. Paul River. We saw a fishrman with a net standing in a pocket of still water between an open and closed spill way.  He climbed down there from the dam. I don’t think it was an OSHA approved work environment.

There were a few Liberians on the dam and we talked to them for a minute. They told that there is a road from Caldwell to the dam, but a bridge had gone out and that it was no longer passable.

Both the dam and the churches were really cool to see and made for a great day trip. A strong recommendation for a “touristy, get out of Monrovia” activity.

For this particular trip I recruited Carrie Stanley(right) as my Co-pilot and in vehicle DJ. She also did a wonderful job coordinating logistics for the trip. We flew into Little Rock on Tuesday April 13th. One of Adam’s co-workers picked us up at the airport and took us to Big Red. We gassed-up, cleaned the windows, and hit the road.

We first stopped for lunch where we had fried fish, shrimp, and sweet ice tea at the Flying Fish in Little Rock along the river front. It was delicious. I love fried seafood and sweet tea. It felt good to be back in the south. If you’re ever in Little Rock I highly recommend the place. We had decided to avoid interstates when possible and enjoy back roads, so we took off on high way 10 heading West.

We ended up stopping in Fort Smith, AR where we stayed at the Beland Manor bed and breakfast (right). The place was super nice. The room was comfortable, we had our own TV and DVD player and shower. I suppose this sounds a bit trite, but to me, it was heaven. Beland is run by Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith let me have one of his home brewed IPAs while his wife cooked an amazing breakfast. Then Mr. Smith gave us the run down of all our options for getting to Denver and things to do a long the way. He informed me of salt flats in OK. I asked if we could drive on them, and he said yes, so I was there.

We hit the interstate for a while to make good time. We had some wonderful hot dogs at Jim’s Coney Island in Tulsa, Mr. and Mrs. Smith both recommended it. While on the interstate in OK we stopped at a gas station poorly named Kum ‘n Go. Where we found this assortment of t-shirts on sale. I was particularly found of the Facebook rip off. This was another, “Ahh, I’m back in America,” moment. I had also just bought the book Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff. In the book he mentions Christians’ propensity for trademark infringement.

Around 4pm on Wednesday we made it to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. It was awesome. You could just bend down and taste the saltiness. I was super excited to drive on the salt flats, and may have even lost static friction on my rear tires. I was a bit disappointed that, unlike the Bonnavile flats, I couldn’t achieve any land world speed records. But it was till way cool.

After that we drove on to Dodge City, KS. Dodge was a nice little town. We went all out and stayed at the nicest hotel in town… the Best Western. I know. We did have two rooms each with 30″ flat screens. I thought it was cool. Other than that there wasn’t much to see in Dodge, so we got out.

Then we were in CO, where the landscape quickly changed and became really pretty. It was so nice to drive through all these small high ways and roads. While in Colorado we visited Great Sand Dunes National Park. This place was super cool as well. It was like we walked out of the mountains and into the Sahara. The picture at the top of Big Red was taken here. We walked around for a bit, but the wind was super intense and cold. We weren’t prepared for the cold, and being sand blasted, so after walking around for a bit and then left. I’d like to come back some day and camp up there. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

Another highlight of this trip was the people. We went through a lot of small towns and met some wonderful people. When traveling on this road we stopped and helped a lady change a flat tire. A few hours later we drove by ADX Florence. In OK we met some lovely ladies that ran a small restaurant. When I jokingly asked if I could have my milk shake with pineapple, coconut and a shot of rum, the grandmother of the two looked and me and with a straight face said, “No, I drank it all last night.” In CO we were in another small restaurant and asked how many people lived in the town, “I don’t know… 80. There are more cows than people in this town.” was the response. All in all a great trip.

Harper was one of the original cities founded by freed American slaves and has a lot of lovely southern United States influenced architecture. That along with some lovely beaches, and a point or two makes Harper a wonderful destination for a few in-country tourists. We were hoping to just relax in the city, and hopefully discover some new surf spots.

The road to Harper is notorious for being a huge muddy mess. It often becomes completely impassible in the rainy season. But we thought we’d come in the middle of dry season and miss all of that. Boy we’re we wrong.

The problem is a lack of drainage. A puddle of mud forms on the road and then a big 20 ton transport truck drives over it and pushes it down. This makes a little rut. Then another and another. Then after a while the little mud spot is now 6 feet deep “rutt” and even more water and mud have collected in the bottom of it. Then it gets so bad that someone cuts a bypass around that, but then the same thing happens, and the bypass turns into mud and water. As you can see from the picture on the right. These ruts got pretty deep. Here we’re digging out my 4Runner, code named Midnight. The tire ruts were so deep that my suspension was scraping the middle of the “road” and with the low traction I wasn’t able to move forward.

Things started off pretty easy. At first we just encountered low spots in the road with lots of water. Hear on the right you can see Andrew navigating his Xterra, code named Lorma Girl, through a small puddle. However things quickly escalated to 100 yard long ruts full of mud the consistency of oatmeal. On the left is Lorma Girl stuck in a massive rut. On this rut, I had opted to take the incredibly steep bypass to get around it. I’m still kicking myself for not taking a picture of my car scrambling up a 60 degree incline. Andrew opted for the slightly more traditional route and we eventually pushed and pulled him out.

All was well for us until we got about 40 miles south of Kanweaken That’s when we encountered this transport truck stuck in the mud. The truck had been stuck there for over 2 days. What’s more mind numbing is that this vehicle had succeeded in blocking all other traffic on the road. As we pulled up 3 transport trucks and a pick-up were waiting to continue south, and another pick-up was waiting to head north. As we walked up the drivers and passengers in the other vehicles told us to “get out your mats” and take a nap, because it would be a while. The pick-up truck heading north, had been stuck behind the transport truck for a day and a half. A day and a half! Thankfully we were North Americans (Andrew and Elena are Canadian) with a “if it’s not the way you want it, change it” attitude. So we changed it.

We surveyed the situation, decided that the West side of the road was best for a bypass and set to work filling in the mud with dirt, rocks, and bamboo we had cut down. This inspired the captain of the north bound pick-up, who sent his men over to help us dig. Then this inspired the other crews to start building their own road on the other side. After and hour or so of digging and chopping, armed only with two shovels, 3 machetes, and a pick axe, we were across. That was it, that’s all it took, unbelievable. These people had just been sitting there for a day and half. We worked for an hour.

At the risk of being ever so slightly politically incorrect, I’d like to say that this little incident perfectly illustrates what’s wrong with Africa. A problem arises and everyone stops, pulls out their mats and takes a nap. Then some white people show up. These good intentioned, underfunded folks fix the problem just enough to last for them to use it twice, and then leave. Meanwhile, an equally underfunded and unsustainable effort is underway, completely duplicating the other project. I’m not saying why it is this way, or how it got to be such a problem, I’m just saying, that’s the problem. I suppose for this to be a completely accurate analogy I’d have to work in a corruption angle. Anyway…

After that things only got worse and worse. We went through several unbelievably long and muddy ruts. You can see from this picture at the left how deep some of them were. This picture was taken as I stood on the side of the road.  I could literally just walk straight across the top of the car to the other side.

For me the worst part came when after 6 hours of plowing through mud we came to a spot we would later dub “The Triple Header” since it was three amazingly muddy sections all in a row. On the 2nd section Matt Cramer, who scouted out the sections and then relayed his findings back to the drivers via walkie talkies, informed me that I needed to back-up and shoot for the middle entrance to the section. It was pitch black, my windows and mirrors were all covered in mud. I knew Andrew was behind me so I backed up keeping an eye on him over my right shoulder, then BAM. I didn’t even know what I had hit. It was dark and I thought there was just road behind me. Turns out it was a abandoned transport truck. Thankfully, I did no damage to it at all. Sadly, I did total deform the rear drivers side of Midnight, and I busted out two of her windows. It did put a damper on things after that.

Minus smashing up my car, the driving was a lot of fun. The progression went from, “Awesome, some mud.” To, “seriously, the road is still getting worse.” And finally, “Bring it on!” By the end of it I had my technique down. 4 low, cause there’s no point in given it less than all you’ve got and getting stuck in 4 high. Gently, yet quickly, depress the gas peddle till the engine soars to 4000RPMs, then your off. Pretty much keep the wheels pointed in the direction of the rut, when you start to slide steer in the direction of the slide, but then back off when you start to straighten out. When you have to jump from one rut to another over steer into it and then quickly correct. Perhaps one of the best compliments I received on the trip was from an elderly Liberian gentlemen we had picked up outside of Fishtown. After I took the high revving, mud slinging, car bouncing, inaugural drive through our newly constructed road he came up to me with a huge smile on his face and said, “Ahh, you good driver.”

We arrived in Harper, 12 hours after departing, tired, very dirty, but safe, and happy. The good people at the Carter Center were kind enough to let us stay at their incredibly accommodating compound in Harper. I hope Laurie, their Harper office manager, is enjoying the bottle of Champagne we left for her in the fridge. We spent a lot of time, sleeping, reading, and relaxing in hammocks on the back porch. It was a great place to just hang out and enjoy having nothing to do.

Like I said we, or at least Matt and I, were hoping to find some new waves to surf. Unfortunately, the waves just weren’t there. We found some wonderful looking spots, but the swell just wasn’t happening. However, we did find some unbelievably lovely beaches. Like Fish Town beach, shown on the left. This is the first beach I’ve been to in Liberia where the water was calm and shallow 100′ out. Usually in Liberia you take 3 steps in and the water is up to your neck. The beaches are normally very steep, but this was anything but. It was also very pristine, as far as you could see there were no buildings, villages, clearings, anything, just water, sand, and palm trees.

Also at Fish Town was Skeleton Island. A few hundred feet from the beach is a small little island, maybe an acre or so big, where they put their dead. But they just leave the coffins above ground on the island. This makes for some rather macabre sites when you arrive on shore. Someone told me that they used to put the bodies there during the war, but I’m not sure why they still do it, and what really started it.

We also took advantage of being so close to Cote D’ Ivoire and popped over on market day. We didn’t have visas but decided to give it a try. The Liberian immigration officer was very nice to us. He asked us what we wanted to do, looked us over, and told us, “sure, just leave the cars.” He even let us park the cars close to his office so they’d be safe. Which was good since I was missing a couple of windows. So we hired a canoe and paddled across the river. Then the Ivorian immigration guys cared even less. He seemed totally uninterested in us white people. Which is strange, usually boarder crossings are a pain, and we didn’t even have the right papers. Anyway. We hung out for a while. The market wasn’t much but we did drink some Ivorian beer which was a nice change of pace. Cramer, met some nice Liberian ladies who were also there for market day and quickly made friends.

The trip back was pretty good. We took the advice of some locals and took the Karloken to Kanweaken bypass. We still had to go through the Triple Header again, but after that we missed a lot of nastiness, and the road was even a little shorter. Don’t ask why we didn’t do this the first time. Here is a little video montage of our 4WD exploits with some cometary.

I’d also like to take this time to talk about what worked and what didn’t work on the trip. Consider this a little product review of must haves, and must leave behinds for intense off-roading, on roads in developing countries. What broke: My expensive off roading Old Man Emu shock absorber. The bolt on the top where the shock attaches to the frame totally sheared off. This made for a very bouncy ride home. I had to be gentle with Midnight over those bumpy roads or else her back end would just swing out. Also we had a fair bit of over heating. Here Matt and I are pouring more water into the radiator. It seemed that caked on mud had a lot to do with it, but the problem persisted even after a few good cleanings. The 4WD system on the 4Runner. I got stuck in a really small bit of mud coming back from Fish Town and realized my front wheels weren’t spinning. After some Googling on my phone using Lonestar’s GPRS service we figured that the 4Runner had a pneumatically actuated front differential that engaged the front wheels and that, that was the problem.  But Googling on my phone wasn’t super fast or fun, so I called my dad in the states who Googled around some more and then based on his research suggested we switch the suction lines on the pneumatic actuator. Much to my surprise this worked. We just left 4×4 engaged from Harper to Zwedru. No point in taking chances. The brakes also took some intense wear. It seems the 4Runner has a metal plate around the front disc brakes to protect them, instead this just trapped rocks and mud in there and tore up the brake pads. Midnight is currently at No Lemon. Right now I’m just hoping the bill is under a thousand, cause I still have to pay for the body work.

We had 4 Midland GXT1050 walkie talkies with us. They were great for inter car communication, and coordinating our assaults on the rutts, but the chargers didn’t seem to hold the walkie talks tight enough for charging while on the road. I had a pair of Hela spot lights mounted to the front bumper, they were donated by Nick Conway, a friend back in the states. They were absolutely great for the night driving that we shouldn’t have done, but had no choice to do. I was also impressed with my Asolo boots. They were totally covered in mud, but my feet and socks were dry and clean. Also the wicking north face pants, and REI shirt I had were great. Depsite the heat, I recommend long pants for such trips, you’re gonna get dirty. Also the generic tow rope, shovels, machetes, bottles of water, and 2.5 million candle power flashlight were must haves. Andrew had a Wern winch that was super handy for pulling out other people, though we never needed it on our own cars.

And that’s about it,

John.

Yekepa is a mining town. Back before the war it was run by the Liberian American Swedish Mining Company (LAMCO) , so Yekepa’s infrastructure is very nice, paved roads, street lights, and such. The sorts of luxuries you just don’t see in many other parts of the country. Now Yekepa is run by Arcelor Mittal. This was evident by all the private security guards we met, and the total lack of any Liberian National Police officers in the town. Thanks to LAMCO the road to Mount Nimba is paved to all but the very top. Which was a little anti-climatic. But the last quarter mile or so required a little four wheeling so that was fun.

None of us could get over how beautiful Mount Nimba was. It didn’t really feel like Liberia.  Not that Liberia isn’t beautiful, it is, but Mount Nimba was so different. The air was cool and dry, and the vegetation was different. granted Yekepa is about 2000 feet above sea level and Mount Nimba is nearly 5000 feet up so that’s kinda what you’d expect. It’s kinda hard to explain, and I imagine part of it is that I’ve been in Monrovia for so long that to see something new is super cool. I like how Meredith put it when we were driving up. As we came out of the jungle into some grassy areas she noted that it was like  Scottish highlands and then as we came to the top and saw the stepped sides of Mount Nimba she said you get a bit of “Machu Picchu action.” Just check out the picture on the right. As you can see there were some pretty incredible vistas and somehow we were lucky enough to have absolutely perfect weather. Not too bad. The guys we met in Yekepa said it snows some times in January. I’ll be back up to check out that claim. Also here’s a short video showing our drive down from Mount Nimba.

Finally I wanted to end with another antidote about driving around Liberia. I was coming back from Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount county with a few friends in the car when I was stopped at a check point. The Liberian National Police officer that stopped me, just looked plain mean. He had a scowl on his face, and appeared a bit rough around the edges. Everyone in the car saw it coming. I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his cap, badge, or ID card. I had just that week been told by a US Embassy person that my tax dollars paid for these items. So I decided that the moment he gave me a hard time I’d tear into him about his sorry state of dress and demand to see his superior.

He walked up, I said “Hi”, he said “Hello”, and as his eyes scanned the car I saw him stop at the front passenger seat. His lips slowly moved and he spoke under his breath, “Don’t bribe a police.” He was reading my Carter Center sticker that I had just put on the dash board. He looked up and waved me on. Didn’t say a word. As soon as we pulled away the car erupted in laughter and we called the Carter Center country director to thank him. Apparently to stop corruption we just need more stickers.

Guthrie had been to the falls before and had been to the first and second falls, and had heard of a 3rd set of falls, but wasn’t sure how far they were. So we packed as though we’d be on a 6 hour hike, but it ended up being much shorter than that. I think it took us just under an hour to reach the third and final falls, which weren’t that impressive. The picture at the right is the 2nd set of falls. And the picture up top is the 1st set of falls.

The parking area is right at the foot of the first set of falls and is fenced in and well groomed. We arrived really early so there was no one there when we set out, but when we returned there were a few locals standing guard. They charged us few Liberian Dollars per person for security and upkeep of the park. They even gave us a receipt. It was all very professional. We ended up having a lot of fun swimming around the falls. A couple kids from a nearby village showed us which rocks you could jump off of and not break your neck, so it was a lot of fun. The picture to the left  is the parking lot, and the one on the right is looking down from the top of the falls. On the way home we made this short little film.

In other news Flag Day was August 24th and I celebrated by decking out the car with this Liberian flag. Someone had the good business sense to get a bunch of these flags in time for the Liberian Independence (Independence from what?) day and Flag Day. I don’t know who it is, but it’s a great idea. Tons of cars had them and it’s nice to see some patriotism in Liberia.

Running off the success of the “Don’t Raze Me Broh” shirts, which you can see our lovely spokesmodels wearing here, we’ve made a 2nd run of “Trying Small” Obama shirts. We’ve even started to experiment with white ink. If you want one, act quickly, they’re flying off the shelf.

Finally, I wanted to thank the Carter Center Liberia for making the best bumper sticker of all time. So far I haven’t been pulled over. Check out the use of that article.

Towards the end of our stay in Prague we discovered the areas around the castle where the moat and the gardens are.  I really liked this area. Mainly because it wasn’t super toursity. There were hardly any people there. I think it’s because I live in Liberia, but touristy stuff just doesn’t appeal to me. A hundred all shops selling “Prague Drinking Team” shirts seems so repulsive. But the gardens were way cool and moat was slick too.

So after Prague we headed back to Germany. Our first stop was Dresden. I really like Dresden. Apparently Dresden was bombed back into the stone age by American bombers in WWII. We sure are big fans of air strikes aren’t we? So the whole city has been completely rebuilt this century. This was evident by the wide streets, side walks, and plenty of parking. But they still kept the European aesthetic. So it was the best of both worlds. Car and pedestrian friendly, but with old world charm. We visited this old church that had just finished being rebuilt a couple years ago. That was awesome. The church was really pretty, and it was also kinda cool seeing that style of building looking so new. I felt like the interior wasn’t real since I’m used to old cathedrials with their drewry colors. This place was all bright and very pastel. Felt a little like a Precious Moments church or something.

From Dresden we went to Wittenberg to visit the church that Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to.  Wittenberg was a fairly quite and small town. The church is part of a college and was built into some other education buildings, so it didn’t like like your typical church. The door that the thesis was nailed to burned down a long time ago, and since then they have replaced it with two iron doors that have the 95 thesis on them. Adam and I are both Protestant believers, so it was neat to be at place where such a defining moment occurred in the history of our faith.

The next day we head to Düsseldorf, Germany where we met up with Dana Rosen. Dana used to live with me in Monrovia back in 2008. Dana and her parents were kind enough to let us stay with them for two nights. They had a really nice apartment in the Düsseldorf suburbs. In Düsseldorf Adam and I were on a mission to drive really fast on the famed German Autobahns. We had wanted to rent a BMW 330 or BMW 6, but when we called around to the local car rental agencies we were only able to find a 318d. I know, a diesel, not what we had in mind. None the less, we didn’t let this stop us. We were able to hit 220kmph, or 130mph. I know this isn’t that fast, and someone is going tell me how they did 150 in  Porche across TX, but A. this was done totally legally, and B. I was going that fast on cruise control. I do love cruise control. While in Düsseldorf we ate at a great steak place and then the next night hit up a Thai restaurant. For me this was huge. I so miss Thai food. Adam and I also made this stop motion video of our driving in Germany.

Dana’s father works for Siemens doing power generation, so we asked him about the huge windmills we’d seen all over the country. He said the area covered by the wing span of the blades is equal to a soccer field. And that each one generates 3 mega watts. Coming from a country that is powered solely a bunch of 1-200 kilo watt generators this was just amazing. I mean all you’d need is 2 or 3 of these and you’d have more than enough power for all of Monrovia. Granted Monrovia doesn’t have enough wind, but still. The really crazy part is that we probably saw a couple hundred windmills in Germany and they only make up 3% of German’s power.

After our two day sojourn in Düsseldorf we drove to Amsterdam. The first day we got there we just found this sweet little English style pub and watched the French open, played darts, and hung out. It was really cool. Every time someone walked in everyone at the bar would turn and be like, “Hey Charley.” It was like being at Cheers or something. It was way cool. The next day we walked around and checked stuff out. Amsterdam was another terribly touristy city, so I just wasn’t terrible impressed. We walked through the red light district and it just felt trashy.

So later that day Adam and I parted ways. Adam stayed the night in Amsterdam and flew back to the states while I drove back to Brussels, dropped off the car and then flew out the next day. All in all an awesome trip.

We got to Nzerekore and spent the night in the Hotel Bakoly. Jeff and I went to the market and bought some vegetables and then the nice lady at the hotel whipped up an amazing salad. We all ate it and felt great. I also discovered a crack in the frame of the cargo rack of my bike. So we took it to the local welding shop where they stuck a piece of rebar into the hallow tube frame and welded it all back together, stronger then over.

On the way out of Guinea we had some of the most amazing driving ever. The road was windy, up and down, no gravel, and best of all, there were no villages along the way to make you slow down. It was awesome. I crouched down low, and gassed it. I was flying around corners as fast as I could. Then, I got passed by a Guinean cyclist. I tried to keep up, but couldn’t. Then, 10 minutes later, I got passed again, and this time, by a guy who had a passenger. So much for my awesome driving skills.

Right at 5 we pull into Liberia. We got stopped by immigration because I didn’t have my yellow fever card. I’ve been in and out of countries in Africa 7 or so times and have never been asked for it, now the one time I forgot it, I’m asked for it. We told the immigration officer that we wouldn’t have residency permits if we didn’t have yellow fever vaccines and after a while they let us pass.

We spent the night in Ganta and had dinner at the legendary restaurant, Abudja. As usual it was delicious. We then spent the night in some guest house that had DSTV. We watched a wonderful National Geographic show on poisonous animals and talked about how we’d be screwed if we got bit by a snake in Liberia. I’m told that all the anti-venom in the country is in some hospital in Sinoe or Maryland, and we weren’t driving near those counties.

The next day we headed to Buchanan along the rail road from Yekepah. It started off as a wonderful drive, but got more and more… what’s the word… developed. Wide roads, they got smooth, traffic even. It was just lame. The upshot is that we went through 3 counties in Liberia and only stopped at one check point. Compare this to my European vacation where we drove through 5 countries and were stopped at, well, there were no check points.

In Buchanan we visited DJ Bob who had just moved the world famous club “Black and White” form Harper to Buchanan. As always the place was looking good and Bob’s remixes were the delight of the evening. We even got a tour of the place by Mrs. Bob. Which included their stash of 90’s arcade games. I was very excited to see that shooter game “Maximum Force”. I love that game.

The next morning we easily crused into Monrovia. Both tires on my bike were terribly out of round and I needed an oil change, but life was good, and we were alive. Next I’ll finish the European road trip, but first I need to finish uploading all the pictures, and now that I’m back in Liberia, that’ll take the rest of the week and then some.

Friday, day 7, we did touristy stuff. Adam and I walked around and saw the Prague Castle. The castle complex seemed cool, we walked around it a bit, but Adam and I didn’t go inside anything since you have to pay for tours. Something about super touristy stuff like that just doesn’t appeal to me. I think it stems from my living abroad in a country where there is no tourism, that a prepackaged walk through of some old building seems like a silly way to get to know a place. Like I’d rather walk around in a super market to get a feel from Prague than take a tour. I’m probably a bit of an elitist too, but like after walking my self around bombed out buildings and rain forest in Liberia it just seems less cool to have someone else do it for you with 30 other tourist and souvenir shops everywhere. The day there’s guided tour of Liberia’s shot up downtown will probably be the day I move on.  But anyway…

Speaking of war, we saw this really cool mural of the never ending cycle of war and development. Coming from Liberia I can really identify with it. We don’t have any idea who painted this or why. If you can’t make it out from the thumbnail it’s mobius strip with alternating tanks and bulldozers/backhoes/front end loaders on it. To round out our Friday we saw a string quartet perform some classical greatest hits including the Spring and Summer from the four seasona and Cannon in D. They played at an old church right by the river. We were a little weary of how touristy this may be, and it was touristy, but they played very well and I enjoyed it.

Saturday, day 8, we went to Cesky Raj. This translates to Czech Paradise. It’s the country’s oldest national park and is very pretty. We only saw a part of it where the forest is met by some very impressive sand stone pillars. We did a 3km hike that had lots of off shoot trails that led to some amzing views. And as always just seeing the countryside was amazing as always. We took a bus out to Cesky Raj so it was nice to just sit and watch the country side roll by and then fall asleep.