i came to liberia for the surf

I got asked to photo yesterday which was cool for having an excuse to take out my camera, but lame because it's more fun to be out. Anyway, this is about 15mins walk along the beach from my house....shame on everyone that doesn't live here.

liberian bling

Sliding Robertsport

bong mines

Ryan and I spent four nights in Bong Mines with our friends Wilson and his brother Alex. Bong mines used to be one of the main iron ore mining areas in Liberia until the war hit. The fighting within the town was heavy, and the rebels ended up burning all of the mining areas, leaving a community and a large part of the national economy literally in ruins.

The trip was awesome, totally cool hanging out with Wilson and Alex's family and getting out of Monrovia for a bit, but also completely unwordable seeing destruction like this on such a major scale.

you know you're in Liberia when.....

....Jordanian peacekeepers use your yard to pose for camera phone photos with automatic rifles and dark sunglasses.

yusss

christmas eve staunch

Some of the posse post epic rice and bean soup feed. mmmmmmmm beans. The chicken went in too.

the dilemmas of chicken ownership

Jollof

November 29th is a national holiday in Liberia due to the late President Tubman's birthday. For most people around Monrovia that's an excuse for heavy eating and some even more heavy drinking. Anyway we coal potted some Jollof rice at my place and drank a ton of water.....and here's some photos.

Two chickens and a whole 500ml of oil later (oil is sold in old mineral water bottles which is why i can be so precise).........mmmmmmmmmm arteries. Incidentally i had to intervene on the oil to get it down to that much. Every soup (rice topping) in Liberia seems to require at least this much oil in it....even if it was just for 4 people.

Out goes chicken, and in goes 5 onions, a pumpkin and some garlic and tomato paste.

And then 6 tin cans of rice and some insanely cheap (by Liberian standards - i'm glad the package is in portugese) brazilian made chicken frankfurters.

How not to focus a camera if you're photographing food.

Morris telling a story that had something to do with reporting on the radio that there was a white guy taking photos while they were eating.