At the end of the last post, we were flying over the Atlantic. As I write this now, we are in Liberia. Here are a few highlights of the travel from then to now.
By the time we placed our feet on Liberian soil LouElla had logged 40 hours of travel time starting in Portland on Sunday night. Whew! She was a trooper every step of the way.
We had a short stop in Sierra Leone, stayed on the plane. While we waited, one of the attendants asked Lou if she'd like to get off the plane and stand in Sierra Leone. She did.
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| On the runway in Sierra Leone, Tim is at the top of the stairs. |
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| Opposite view. If you look closely you can see the airport name on the building |
Included among the passengers of our flights were six men traveling together with an unusual purpose: deportation. A pair of men from New Jersey was being taken back to that country by four burly immigration agents, two agents assigned to each one. On Sunday these two Sierra Leoneans discovered their bank accounts empty and immigrant officers knocking their doors. Today they're back in West Africa.
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| Funga mkanda wakati umeketi! |
Another highlight was the backwardness of the Liberian airport. They had to have had good reasons for each of these things. We stepped off the plane, descended the stairs, and were met on the runway at the bottom of the stairs with six to eight airport agents checking boarding passes. And when we were walking out of the terminal we were required to run our bags through security.
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| Liberia welcomes you! |
We were picked up by Jay (rendezvous #3) then headed for stop number one, Jay's house, then onto the RLJ Hotel. The three of us — Tim, Lou, me — are staying at the hotel for three days. Lou and I will stay in Jay's house from the fourth day on. We were going to stay at Jay's the entire trip but he has family in town for his grandmother's funeral.
The drive from the airport to Jay's house was refreshing. After spending hours and hours traveling in planes it was nice to have the windows open and winds and earthy smells blasting in your face. For much of this drive, Lou stuck her head out of the sunroof and wondered at everything she saw, smiling the entire way. She told me after she even cried a few times. The beauty of the people and land really touched her. She cut quite a figure with her full head of hair blowing in the wind. She caused many to stop and stare.
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| LouElla and her view from the sunroof |
We made it Jay's house and got a tour of the entire property. Last time I was here in 2016 he was constructing a second house. This time around he is in the middle of making a third house in his compound. He has also added a water tower. Naturally, Lou climbed to the top of water tower ladder straight away. There are also puppies all over his grounds. Lou fell in love.
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| Lou atop the water tower. |
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| Gate to Jay's compound |
That's all for now.
See you next time.
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