Buchanan City, 19 August

Awakening,one peers thru the mosquito netting as a light breeze gives its last breath to the curtains. My Boston insects have been domesticated;Liberian insects do as they please. For just pennies almost, mosquito netting holds off malaria in the developing world and the disease could be reduced, if not eradicated if we in the wets were more generous w. our pennies. Arriving last nite I'm welcomed by a rainy season that lasts from April to November and, accord. to President Sirleaf-Johnson, climate change has extended this season dramatically. Collected @ the airport by Dr. Zangai and his driver, Paul, we make our way fr. Roberts airport located on the Firestone Plantation and the 60 mile trip on the Monrovia-Buchanan Highway. Our 4-wheel drive passes thru bamboo, cottonwood, and rubber tree forests and past the very humble thatched roof homes of the poor. No highway lighting, no electricity on this road, but Liberia has a rainforest so pristine, it rivals the Amazon. There wld have been more of it except that the former 'African strongman'(Charles Taylor) currently on trial at the Hague, chopped down a good deal of it to fund his rebel enterprises and the 14 yr. civil war. Africa is impoverished in many places, but its lush natural richness and the resilience and enterprise of its people will win out eventually. "Ma Ellen"(as the President is known) leads her people to small victories day by day since 2006. The folk stories of Liberian women bringing the war lords to their knees to end the war thru a peace movement is documented in the film, "Pray the devil back to hell". See it if you can....But I digress. The real story is that Monrovia-Buchanan highway on which you can only drive normally for intervals of 500 ft. or so, as you bob and weave snake-like to avoid the notorious potholes w. only your headlights to guide you. And this is the second time I am leaving a little bit of "myself" off the side of the road unable to conquer the nausea. The up-and-down movement did me in and reminded me of watching Nuri as a baby in the 'jolly jumper. Not the same. I am not smiling. Stay tuned for tomorrow's continuing saga of Robin-in-the-bush as I describe a "bucket shower" and the radio programme.