There are a few things I want to explain before I go on further. The next day or two there aren't any photos. This is because Liberians do no like their photo taken. They are a post-war country and they had so many things taken away from them that many only have control over their image. Some think if you take their photo, you're going to go home and become rich on their image while they don't necessarily have the basic necessities.
Therefore we all decided to take a day or two of exploring Monrovia without our cameras, of getting a feel of the people and the place.
Day 2
Woke up pretty late in the day today. Either 11:30 or 12:30. I showered* and we paid for our rooms. Ken told us to kind of set aside some money we'd spend for the day and then layer it so we're not opening our purse or digging for the money.
[*showers are a little different here. They are only cold water, which doesn't really matter because it's 90 degree every day and humid. There's a four inch lip on the shower that you have to finish washing before it overflows. There are no long showers at this place. I started showering every night to at least be able to sleep clean and every night heat just poured out of my hair. It's definitely something you get used to quickly, the speedy showers, the cold water mixing with your body heat as they run down your back together]
We walked to lunch down the road at Dona Marie's, a place that makes pizzas and ice cream. Jess and I split a medium vegetable pizza. We sat in there trying to refuel a bit before our long walk we were about to take.
Then we just started walking. We walked down the main road which was busy with businesses and people. We traveled by the University of Liberia. We talked to a few students around there. Everyone dresses up when they go to school. I originally thought we were passing a church when we saw all the people dressed up but then I realized it was for school.
We saw the river. We saw lizards. We walked and saw kids that chanted WHITE PEOPLE! as they danced up and down. We smelled various things that will never be able to capture the scene we were in. sometimes we saw signs that said only dogs can peepee here. There are people selling all kind of things here. little girls carrying these giant buckets on their head that contain fruits or water or milk.
I'm telling you all of this because right now, I have not taken any photos of the culture. it's a delicate situation. Right now we are just adjusting to the culture, figuring things out, and seeing what comes of it.
Therefore, I'll have to describe walking down a road and having people stick out their hands and touch us, talk to us, or just stare at us.
As we started walking towards the Atlantic Ocean, we were sort of stopped by a group of drummers and dancers. It was this really cool african music. There was this guy all dressed up head to toe dancing and apparently warding off bad spirits. They were looking to be paid a couple of bucks so ken gave him a few and we tried to walk away but there was this guy who stood in front of us and started putting nails in his nose. Then he opened his mouth and showed us a razor blade and he quickly started hitting his tongue with it and then contracted the muscle in his tongue and it started bleeding. He was sort of playing with that blood and at this point I wanted to get away from him so Jim gave him a buck and we quickly walked out of there. That guy was a creep and he definitely left an impression on me.
At this point we had walked miles in the heat and I was paying for it. My stupid legs weren't used to working this hard in the winter and they had burned and swelled in the heat. I paid for that over the next few days.
We were growing tired so we walked to this ocean hotel to view the ocean and the sun and to eat sushi. The view was gorgeous and we talked about weird things and ate really good sushi.
These are nuts, but they call them dirt peas. One of my favorite names even if I didn't get to enjoy them!
We watched the sun set. Each night that we witnessed this event the sun disappeared before the horizon. Such a beautiful sight.