It was already muggy enough to wish clothing was optional.
Yes!!!!
Then again, Steppe has been known to conveniently forget certain wardrobe accoutrements now and again.
That's why we love you.
I arose with high hopes of a nice warm shower, but instead was met with a 10-gallon bucket of cold water,
I have to do that too, from time to time.
I suspect our reasons may differ.
a prayer I’d make it out of the shower area alive. Slippery is one thing; Sierra Leone-tiled-shower slippery is another altogether.
Eep! Day 1. Arrived in Sierra Leone. Day 2. Spent day in hospital with broken leg after falling in shower.... again.
After layering up with leggings, a skirt, and a long-sleeved shirt with an under-cammie, we found that after venturing out it was nothing short of insane.
I will comment on this in a bit...
eggs fried in palm oil, squished white bread, fried lunch meat, and instant coffee.
Interesting about the bread. I wonder why they flatten it?
Neither my coffee nor (brand new) French Press made an appearance after repeated inquiries.
Aren't you so
glad that everything got rearranged?
No?
Looks pretty good.
Is the meat Spam by any chance?
Just curious, since it's such a staple in Hawaii.
While not a meal I’d choose (ever),
No? More of a French toast kinda gal?
when that’s what is offered, one puts on a smile, graciously accepts, and chooses to be thankful.
Yes. Agree completely. Your hosts are trying hard to please you. It's rude to not thank them.
Only problem there is, if you really don't like it... you can't just pop over to McDonalds after.
The plan for the day was to head to the office to sort the (twice-already-sorted, then unsorted) medical supplies we’d traveled with. Because sorting a third time was a perfect use of our time.
Again... aren't you
glad everything was rearranged?
To be fair, we had not done an accurate inventory
Really? I'm a bit surprised by that.
I'd have thought that you'd have everything written down and accounted for.
This also assured we would arrive at the office a bit later and adequately... saturated.
Yes. Keep drinking. Don't want to get dehydrated.
A few things I note from your view.
The palm tree certainly looks familiar. For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting that.
Hillier than I imagined it. For some reason I thought it'd be more flat. Which is stupid considering the loss of life from the mudslide not long ago.
Razor wire surrounding you. I would've thought that the barred windows would be enough.
Pretty! Could you hear it, or was there too much surrounding noise?
There, in the middle of abject squalor, lay this thing of beauty.
And you found it. You've got a good eye for detail.
Sierra Leone has so much potential for eco-tourism and a profound innate splendor, but with an extreme lack of stewardship and care given to the land, I don’t see this becoming a real part of their economy any time soon.
I think it will take a major corporation or a lot of money from some other source to make that happen.
no sooner turned the corner out of our compound that we heard an ominous “POP!” and “pffffffszzz”.
Aw.... crap.
In less than 5 minutes, we’d been rudely made aware of the realities of driving in Sierra Leone.
Well, they just wanted you to feel at home!
I was quickly fomenting a love affair with all things involving carrying things on heads. This is a deep mystery to me as to how it’s done. So, please, brace yourselves. I took an embarrassing amount of photos on this theme that you’ll see in the current and all future chapters.
Okay! You
could restrict yourself... but that's not gonna happen, is it?
Awwww.... cute.
Remind you of yours?
Nice shot!
Like I said, you've got a good eye.
They surrounded your car, making it doubly difficult to proceed, and that was on top of the hundreds of motorbikes and other cars competing for the same one lane of road space.
Wow. I can't even properly picture this. Outside my realm of experience.
A backseat meant for 2, in a pinch 3, was filled with 4, and sometimes 5, people.
Ugh.... I hope you and Bek got the windows at least.
It was already 85 degrees out with the humidity bearing down on us like a pedicure “hot towel”. Suffocating in clean air is bad enough, but throw in the exhaust from a few dozen cars only feet from you, which have never seen an emissions test, the term “I might actually die in here” frequented my thoughts.
This does not sound..... pleasant.
And yet..... I'm kind of envious. It is a totally different experience. The whole trip is, really. Most of us will never be able to say we've done something similar. Or comparable.
I tried very hard to be discreet as I went.
Why?
Love this shot. Love the colour in her dress.
Please note the degree of filth:
You know.... I'm kinda not seeing it. I'm so interested in everything else that I'm.... kinda blind to it.
A gigantic breadfruit tree:
How do you
know that?!?!?!?
This took us several hours of counting, listing (by hand), and then putting into an Excel sheet.
Soooo much fun!
There are our heroes!
someone suggested we be taken out to some fast food that would be somewhat unique to our trip- schwarma and fries.
I don't see schwarma as being all that... exotic.
And yet... I've never had it! Here, their so big, and I'm just not that hungry. Maybe next time I go to a football game I'll get one anyway.
I was also reluctant to eat much knowing hot weather slows down digestion pretty significantly.
Oh? I didn't know that! Huh!
It had only just then occurred to me that today was American Thanksgiving. I quipped to Betty and Bek that it was wholly appropriate that they order poultry and potatoes on this important holiday.
Wait... but
you didn't????
Shame on you!!
That
does look good!
on the way the Main Government Hospital, the medical school, and School of Nursing were pointed out. I found it oddly ironic that the city morgue was directly adjacent.
Convenient, perhaps?
(the cynical side of me screamed, “Just find my French Press.”)
Just run to
Walmart and get another one! Sheesh!
No?
I know this is not the most flattering photo of me, but I included it to show that I was not kidding when I told you I was wet with sweat. 
It is
not an unflattering photo. You both look pretty darn good considering the heat and humidity (not to mention jet lag).
But I did want to come back to your choice of clothing that you'd mentioned earlier.
I do see that Liz has bare legs. So your leggings were not necessary after all.
I guess... it may be that the main religion is Islam, but it's still flippin' hot!
Dusk rolled around, and being near the Equator, it was dark within just a few short minutes.
I remember how shocked I was.
I had gone from Churchill, just south of the Arctic circle, where you could follow the sun's position around the sky all night long, to Hawaii (not much different latitude from Sierra Leone) where the sun simply.... vanished... almost instantly.
Even kids living in slum-like conditions can find fun.
This surprises me not at all.
They probably don't all have smart phones and are glued to them.
Nice! A restaurant... excuse me,
restuarant just outside your office.
Convenient.
And a supermarket too. What more do you need???
While it sounded awesome, you could order: Chicken fried rice or eggdrop soup.
Extensive menu!
Luckily, I like both, but opted for rice. Bekka got the soup and nibbled a bit of my rice as well.
Did you try her soup? Just to taste?
It turns out that Ahmed likes to frequent this place because his brother is engaged to one of the waitresses.
Ah! Well, that would explain it, then.
I took this opportunity to ask about wedding traditions and learned that, as in most Asian and African cultures, the man’s family pays a bride price and “purchases” the girl.
Interesting. Smart of you to ask.
The groom in this case is a Muslim so the ceremony will be at a mosque and the reception will be at a local venue all of which Ahmed paid for.
Very generous of him.
Now… I’ll bet you’re wondering about this “Chinatown”.
Yes!
Its entirety was one building
Wow!
With my rushed attempts at dark photography, please excuse the raw, not-so-great nature of the photos.
Nope. Don't apologize. I'm drinking in each and every photo (and devouring every word you write) of your Africa trip.
Did I mention that on top of the heat, fumes, and lack of personal space was throbbing music? The car headaches were a very real thing.
Ugh... not fun.
I did say this was an adventure, didn't I?
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Okay, that's 2.
Actually, I'm impressed that she can gesture with both hands while maintaining that load on her head. Very impressed.
It was perhaps 11:00 by the time we arrived back home
Whoa. You guys must've been wiped out by then.
And with that, Dear Friends, I will sign off wishing you a fantastic weekend and beyond.
Thanks for the update! Have a good weekend, yourself!
I am not going to play the game because I am just plain lazy. Hope you have a great visit in the midwest.
