To give a summary of the trip in a sentence, it was totally awesome! I'm planning to tell a bunch of stories, and hoping to have them paint a somewhat coherent picture, and to be in something close to chronological order. With that bit explained, I'll just jump in.
Our plane flight was.......long, interesting for a while, but pretty uncomfortable, and pretty tiring. The layovers were just long enough to be boring, but not long enough for us to leave the airport. When we arrived at the airport in Monrovia, things got interesting.
The air was humid, felt like getting hit in the chest with a wet hand, and smelled indescribable. Smoky, stale, and chemical air. It stung my eyes, and felt heavy in my lungs. By the third day, I had stopped noticing it. Clearing security at the airport was amazingly simple, we gave our passports, got them stamped, and then walked around Customs. Around Customs!! Oscar, the President of Agency for Holistic Evanglisism And Development (AHEAD), told us later that he had sent a letter to Customs ahead of time, and that is why we didn't have any of our bags checked. We then walked outside, where we waited for 45 minutes, or perhaps a hour. I didn't have a watch, or any kind of time-keeping device, so all my times are approximate. Finally the AHEAD van showed up, and we all piled in, fitting 10 in a van that has seats for 7.
The drive to Monrovia, and through Monrovia to the guesthouse was my first look at 3rd world poverty, and it was pretty shocking. The countryside around the airport was amazingly beautiful. Lush, verdant jungle. Huge trees standing up above the bushes, thickly packed bushes, and ant hills on the side of the road. It was so cool to see how close nature is to civilization. Once we hit town, things got a little more stark. The traffic was unlike anything I have seen. People running across the road, cars passing on the right side, people selling things on the sides of the roads from wheelbarrows, blankets, and cardboard boxes. Buildings made out of sticks, buildings made of thatch, and the "nice" buildings made that are made entirely from cinder blocks. Those were the buildings that were under 3 stories tall, almost all the buildings that were over 3 stories tall, particularly the government buildings, were totally shell-scarred, and stripped down to the cement framework. The symbolism was hard to ignore. After about 2 hours of driving we finally arrived at the guesthouse, and that is where I will pick up from next post.
Now, I need to fix dinner.
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