Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Off to the Beach

Ahhh, visitng friends at their sites and going to the beach. What a great way to spend the weekend. After the swear-in ceremony on Friday, 4 of us headed down south to Kimmi's site in Buchanan. It was a much needed mini-vacation from Zwedru and Monrovia. On the way there we passed the stadium that was used as a refuge towards the end of the war and the Firestone plantation.
















Buchanan is said to be the 2nd biggest city in Liberia, but that's not saying much. It definitely has the feel of an old beach town. There is a pretty nice grocery store, a few nice (but pricey) restaurants, a beach and lots and lots of coconuts. Friday night after getting settled in we walked to town for a bite to eat at one of the nice (yet pricey) restaurants. Although the menu was questionable (since when did French Toast become a salad?)...



.....I ordered a shwarma chicken and french fries. This time, I finished everything on my plate. We spent the night chatting about our first month in Liberia, drinking beers and swatting away mosquitoes. It was raining when we woke up on Saturday so we decided to hang out on the porch, listen to music and buy breakfast (fresh coconut patties) from the town kids passing by. This is a Peace Corps past time for a rainy day.




















By 1:00 the rain slowed down and we were able to find a taxi to take us to the beach. The beach close to town is too dirty to hang out on, the beach we went to is about a 15 minutes car ride. It was great to be by the ocean, under coconut trees and in the sand!
The water was warm, the sun started to come out and there was even a little cabana bar serving cold beer. The tide was strong so we didn't go in too far, but it was nice just to wade in the shallow waters. Ruthia even took it as an opportunity to do laundry


There were some local kids hanging around the beach waiting for their "pa" to return from a fishing trip. As you can see, the little one was most proud of his catch. And yes, the yellow hard hat is essential to fishing in Liberia.
That evening we went to another local restaurant, where the chef prepared fresh barracuda and french fries for us. It was delicious and I cleaned my plate again. It was a busy weekend but well worth it. Now if only the ride home was as great as a day at the beach....










1 comment:

  1. For your information...on Iron Chef last night one of the sous chefs created a dessert that consisted of French toast with a topping of fruit and vegs that he described as a salad--French toast salad! So there!

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