I was honored to be invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Liberian Land Commission today, just down the street. Its great that this is finally happening, and it was very interesting to learn about all the effort that went into its constitution and formation, and its tremendous scope of work. Its a daunting challenge to tackle this very complex and difficult issue, but it is encouraging to see such a talented team in place, and I have really high hopes that with international support, the new entity will be able to tackle some of the major land and property challenges in Liberia.
I knew that Liberians eat snails, and that there were huge snails that came "from the bush", as they say, but I had never seen them for myself until I encountered these wheelbarrows full on Benson Street today. Rather than eat these guys, I'd be more inclined to keep them in a terrarium, but that would involve finding someone to building one, and cutting glass is still not a common trade here.
I didn't buy any of these fellas and haven't tasted this local dish, but it was remarkable to come across a small mountain of fist-sized tree snails in the center of the city.
Its not particularly unusual to see buildings getting knocked down. There are a couple on Capital Bye-Pass that some guys have been working on recently.
But this one was, I thought, rather old, and perhaps even historic. I think there is a picture of this house in the Architecture Tour. I guess this is not surprising that it was knocked down, but sort of puts into focus that there is no Historic Preservation or other listed restrictions here. Not that World Monuments Fund or UNESCO has Monrovia's settler heritage in its sights (which is probably a hot-button issue, anyway). But, should it?
I am relatively certain that this is a Duiker, which is apparently a house pet of the Royal Hotel at 15th Street, Sinkor. It wandered up to my table at dinner last night, licked my hand, pooped, then walked away. I've seen it sleeping in the bushes during the day, and it also seems to be friends with the cat, who had kittens recently, and I've seen the kittens sleeping with duiker during the day. I don't know if its native to Liberia, or what-- I know that duiker is a Dutch word from South Africa.
Walking up to edge of the swimming pool at the Ducor Hotel yesterday, I saw this vantage point for the first time, looking down the hill and down Water Street to the Crown Hill end. Looks very metropolitan, like a suggestion of what the city could be if there were taller buildings.
I don't know how many West African cities have large populations of large bats, but I can say that both Monrovia and Accra are filled with humungous colonies, which take over entire trees in the downtown area. At first, they look like dead trees, with dry leaves clinging to the undersides of the branches, until you realize that you are looking at clusters of sleeping bats.
I'm not really afraid of animals, but I have to say that I think bats look sort of diabolical.
Anyway, today was quite an event on Snapper Hill, when, just as we were driving by, a huge crash came from one of the giant trees nearby. It sounded like a strike of lightning, or an auto accident. Instead, it seems as though we witnessed an incident of the straw that broke the camel's back: there were just too many bats on this one branch, and it all came crashing down. Pretty fascinating, from a physics/mathematics point of view.
Well, this resulted in bat pandemonium. The bats, being nocturnal, were mostly asleep, and I also wonder whether their eyes are even worse in broad African daylight than in their normal night-time setting. The bats panicked, and thousands of them started flying all over the place. Some right into the ground, others into chain-link fences. One or two hit the side of the car.
This, in turned, caused a rush from all the people nearby-- running to catch them with their hands or even buckets and nets. Not a quarter hour later, there were bats for sale in the streets, a few blocks away (I was tempted, but didn't buy one…)
Bats for dinner across the city tonight!
At the invitation of an acquaintance, I was transported up to Fendell, which sort of the northeastern gateway of metropolitan Monrovia. The urban sprawl slackens a few miles after red light, but not long thereafter is the new Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia, being constructed by the Chinese. In size, scale, and simply in newness, it is quite a sight, and its not even finished yet.
Like the t-shirts I talked about earlier, I am not really sure that anyone pays attention to what is written on the trucks that are used around the city, for transport and delivery. Like a lot things here, they mostly seem to come from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands (deciphering the languages on the side). Also like t-shirts, they end up here through donation or other sorts of exports of undesirable goods.
It has to be remember that, quite aside from the high degree of illiteracy among the local population, there is little understanding of the differences between Europe and the United States, much less the various countries and their languages.
I've met Liberians who thought I was German, or Russian, and seemed unaware that I would speak a different language if I was. To them, non-Africans speak English. I can see how this makes sense to them, in their perspective.
I'm helping my friend find a new place to move his family in the area at the end of my street. Its sort of embarrassing to admit, I've been here for about six months on and off and I've never ventured down into the community down by the river, a 5 minute walk away.
Here are a few shots of the selection in the immediate area, ranging from about $50 a month for one-bedroom, to $150 for a two bedroom with a bathroom inside (but no running water…)
I have to admit it was pretty incredible to walk four minutes from my air-conditioned apartment down to this little area, and see how differently my neighbors live.
This is my second "local" weightlifting competition, and although I have been really under the weather this week, I was glad I came out for it. Once again, the event was held this morning at the Joe Bar Market area, and sponsored by Mr. Big, the former Mr. Liberia, whose gym is just down the Old Road from Joe Bar Market Junction.
Same as last time, it was just a bench press competition, using "African weights" (really old machine gears) so the amounts involved were a little approximate (the guys would call out the weights in "African pounds", as in "175 African pounds." To get real weights from overseas is difficult and expensive, and there isn't a lot of money to be made out of starting up a gym.
However, there's no question that these guys are strong! Even using their conservative estimates for the weights, the champions were lifting 2-3 times their own body weight off the bench. Pretty incredible!
Driving Across the Mesurado River on SKD Boulevard provides an excellent view across the low marshland, with the fantastic Mangrove plants and their incredible, curvaceous route structure. I hope that, before development threats this habitat, measures are taken to protect it.
African Sunsets are fast, as if the sun is weighted down, but they don't lack for color. I find that its much easier to see the sun when it sets here. I guess between the woodsmoke fires and perhaps the higher-altitude dust from the Hamattan effects, a sort of atmospheric screen dims the sun a bit.
I've mentioned seeing baby Chimpanzees on the street before, but here was one just sort of hanging out on a storefront on Benson Street this morning. Still cute, still sort of sad, and still a mystery exactly what the plan once it is no longer a cuddly infant.
Thanks to my new buddy Paul for showing me around his jobsite, which is the Temple of Justice courthouses on Capitol Hill, home to the Supreme Court and the offices of the chief justices.
Although under construction, the interiors are pretty stunning. I don't know much about the history of the building, nor do I know how I would research it, but my friend Paul was able to confirm that the building was originally built by an Italian firm sometime in the 1960s. Judging by the gorgeous Luigi-Nervi details of the helixed ceiling and lighter-than-air staircase to the upper gallery, I'd say he's got his facts right (I'll move these over the Architecture Tour when I have a chance).
Having a colleague here who is interested in football has definitely made for a fun week. I am not a big sports fan, but I do love attending live sporting events, especially in stadia. Liberia's all-county final match was an excellent opportunity to finally be inside the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex, which is giant.
Getting in was fairly chaotic, almost scary (I couldn't help but think of stampedes crushing people in Liverpool, etc). And sitting on the concrete for several hours was a literal pain in the ass. It was pretty fun otherwise, and the crowd was friendly. The National Judo Team was also in attendance. Final Score: Nimba County 1, Grand Gedeh, Zero. There was a massive traffic jam afterwards.
I've written before about the great little public space at the end of the Spriggs-Payne runway, which is usually packed with people playing football.
Apparently, no action has taken place on Spriggs Payne's attempts to remove these people, and the place remains one of the few public recreation grounds in the city, albeit in flaunt of the law, to a certain extent.
My friend Paul Jones, who runs the fantastic Keta Sandlanders in Ghana, is in town, and so when we drove by here earlier and he spotted the action, he proposed coming back and being a spectator. We went this afternoon hung out for a while, watching some of the matches. It was pretty dry and dusty, but it was a great afternoon, and the football was pretty exciting.
Its a bit difficult to get pictures of this area, which is below Capitol Hill, behind the Barclay Training Ground, south of Central Monrovia. Anyway, it is, in my opinion, a spot with totally fantastic potential to be a public space and a real asset to the city.
As it is, however, it is a largely neglected, derelict zone, with stinking garbage everywhere. But much of the city is like that.
I know I am no professional photographer, but I really hope that these images convey the inherent potential of this area to be a jewel of the city.
This little child is my friend's mother, and his sister's daughter. Since I am his "brother", this little girl is also my niece. In fact, her mother let me chose her name, so I proposed Abigail, which is my recently-deceased grandmother's name.
This week, I read in the paper about the Airport Authority's effort to remove the squatters from the area and reclaim the land as their property. The next time I drove by, I saw this banner, stating roughly the same.
Its a difficult, complex situation. On the one hand, the Airport is right. Its their property, and it is really important to re-establish property rights as part of a proper, rule-of-law environment.
On the other hand, this dusty little spot is one of the few public recreation spots in the whole city, and it is very prominently situated along the main road into town (it is even mentioned in a New York Times article about Hilary Clinton's visit). I just wish that the place could remain as it is (and by that I mean have a significant investment to make it a true public park), rather than reverting to the domain of the airport authority, where it will likely not be as publicly used as it is in its current state.
