Robertsport and Gorbelee

This past week was the WAEC exam, so there was no school and I took the opportunity to visit some friends living in the coastal parts of the country. The 14th was a holiday, so I left first thing in the morning and took a taxi to Ganta, another to Red Light in Monrovia, another to Dualla in Monrovia, and the final one to Robertsport. The whole trip took about 13 hours so by the time I arrived it was dark out, and I had one nasty sunburn on my right arm from having it out the car window (it didn't fit inside the car, since there were like 8 or 9 of us crammed inside a compact sedan).

I crashed with Raj, the volutneer posted in Robertsport, and the first day I was there I just walked out on the beach and read for a while before going back to get my swim trunks on, hiking out to a less populated beach (Robertsport is a beach/surfing haven in Liberia, and since this was a 3 day weekend there were tons of NGO workers and UN agency employees around the main beach near the camping lodge). I did a ton of swimming, and had a great time. After a day of just hanging out with Raj and seeing the town, Jarrad and Katie met up with us for the next couple of days.

This time was incredible, we even made it out to the annual Ms. Robertsport Beauty Pageant which started at 10pm and ended around 5 in the morning (we left at 4, near the end of the talent portion of the contest). Other highlights include meeting and hanging out with an Australian surfer who had spent the past month travelling through Liberia, Ghana and Ivory Coast checking out the surf spots (he had also been to just about every country in the world, and spoke a good number of languages including French, Spanish, Japanese and some Tagalog). We went out with him and this awesome Liberian named Hessler to a few bars and ended up playing pool at the hotel where they were staying (I'm still undefeated in West Africa, having now played in 3 different countries).

We all caught a ride to Monrovia with assorted NGO workers and spent the night at a former Peace Corps Cameroon Volunteer's apartment in Monrovia after an awesome meal at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant. Early the next morning we caught a ride to Buchanan with some of Jarrad's friends (foreign journalists currently working on a book, and with a local NGO) and then caught a taxi to Gorbelee, Jarrad's site. It was great to see his place, and to get a chance to check out the LAC rubber plantation club house just outside of town (where I had chicken curry one night, and a hamburger the next). I also got to meet the chemistry teacher from the plantation's school, and got some ideas about my revised chemistry experiment guide for Liberia.

Unfortunately there were downsides to the trip as well, I lost my camera in Robertsport (I'm pretty sure it was stolen), so all my pictures from this trip (and the last couple of months) are lost, and no new pictures can be taken. All in all it was a great time though. I didn't get a chance to take surfing lessons, so I think I'll be back in Robertsport in early July to take some of my vacation before I start training the new groups. It'll be a nice chill week of camping on the beach, spending all day surfing and reading for under $15/day including beach-front campsite and surfboard rental. I'm going to miss how affordable stuff is here.