Buchanan Trip

Last weekend, a group of us set out for an overnight relax-on-the-beach-birthday-celebrating trip to Buchanan. Buchanan is a port city and is the third largest city in Liberia. The 70 mile drive, southeast of Monrovia along the coast, is on some of the worst 'paved' roads in Liberia--at some points, you feel like your teeth are going to rattle out of your mouth. But, thanks to the Chinese, the highlight of the 3 hour drive is the 15km of brand new "corta" about half way between Buchanan and home. The 15km of brand spankin' new asphalt doesn't last long enough, but it's the nicest stretch of road in Liberia!

Even though it was cloudy (which was probably for the best, so we all didn't fry), I spent the day in my hammock among the coconut trees; reading, napping, reading, taking a walk down the beach and repeating. We went to a cook shop in town for dinner and then returned to our secluded spot on the beach to set up camp for the night. Some people opted to sleep under the tarp that was stretched between the two jeeps, while others had tents or hammocks. Elena, Deb and I opted to just spread a sheet out on the sand and lay under the thousands of stars! The stargazing lasted until the storms rolled in, but thankfully the rain stayed out over the ocean all night. The lightning show was awesome! I woke up at one point freezing to death! I already had on a hoodie, but I was in shorts. Thankfully someone threw me a hoodie to cover my legs...and I was still freezing! If you've ever tried to sleep on the sand, you know that even though it sounds adventurous or luxurious....well, you just don't get much sleep! I'm accustomed to sleepless nights on the sand in Buchanan, so I knew that little sleep would occur. I got a few hours of sleep off and on, and was awake before sunrise. The sunrise was incredible and well worth the miserable night of sleep! We packed up and were ready to leave when we got word that the bridge we needed to cross was out. I'm sure we all just laughed, since usually something ridiculous happens on trips like these, and set off towards the bridge, ready to make repairs. After some investigating, moving a few planks, a few prayers and everyone holding their breath as both vehicles went over the bridge, we were safely on our way back to Monrovia. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

[Our secluded beach, view from my hammock]

[My hammock with a pretty sweet view!]

[View of the ocean from the rocks]

[Only in Liberia will you have a beach this beautiful to yourself]

[The awesome sunrise!]

[Some minor civil engineering on the way out of town. One of the support beams was totally shot. Thank God both vehicles made it across!]