West Africa Travel

Well, we are back in Liberia! What a trip we had getting here! One person told us the trip from Bo, Sierra Leone to the border would be 3 hours, our driver who makes this drive almost everyday told us 5 hours. We left at 1:00 in the afternoon and hoped to arrive at the Liberian border in time to cross before 6:00 p.m. when it closed. We arrived after 10 P.M.! 9 hours! Crazy road. Rainy season, washed out, rocky terrain, bamboo bridges, darkness, no headlights, multiple brake downs, no starter, bad windshield wipers, worst road yet and my scariest experience thus far. The guest house at the border was decent at the small international one dirt road border town. It does feel good to be in Liberia though. The road on this side was paved the whole way to Monrovia and we had a driver with the UMC waiting for us so we did not need to take public transport AGAIN! The driver had been at the border the day before waiting for us! Danny enjoyed haggling with the driver for a new price since he did not get us to the border crossing in time. It really felt like Africa won yesterday! I was just so thankful to not have spent the night on a muddy bridge trapped in a car with mosquitos and five other people in the African
jungle! The car, let me tell you about the car. It was an old Nissan hatchback station wagon of sorts. Loud at the beginning of the trip and even louder when we ended the trip. The front bumper fell off when the driver Patrick drove into a ditch. We saved it though and hauled it on the roof to put back on later. No lights, anywhere, inside or out. The driver held a dull torch outside the window for fine visibility in the rain for three hours. We ran the heater defroster to stop from over heating. At about 8:30 p.m. we came to a dead stop stalling the car, with not enough power in the battery to start the car, oh and no reverse which is bad when you are stuck in the mud. You get the gist. The final comment is that the last 26 miles took over 4 hours to drive. We realize that Danny runs marathon faster than that. Enough said.

We will keep you posted on our time in Liberia with The United Methodist Church.