A year's wrap up - Oz via Egypt

After I left Morocco, I met up with Matt in Cairo. He has been travelling with his family (which is 11 people mind you!) around the world. No mean feat! It was good because it meant that we were our own tour group, but it also meant we had to be organised to get around.

We plunged head first into ancient Egypt with a tour of the Cairo Museum, which is stuffed to the rafters with all sorts of Egyptian goodies like mummies (including cats, scarabs, dogs, horses and even a massive crocodile!), tombs, sarcophagi, statues, jewellery and implements. What I found most impressive was the display containing the entire contents of Tutenkamun's tomb. This guy certainly did well for himself for such a young-un!

The Pyramids of Giza are right near the city so we also checked them out. Pretty amazing structures, almost as amazing as the pictures! You can go inside some of them and crawl up a narrow corridor to the antechamber. Amazing that such a massive sturcture was built just for one king. The nearby 'stepped' pyramids at Saqqara are also interesting and were the 'trial run' for the Giza pyramids. They were almost better because they are more mysterious and there aren't as many tourists swanning around them!

After Cairo we took the train down to Aswan, home of the Aswan High Dam, which was built after the Aswan Dam (which wasn't big enough!). We took a felucca trip up the Nile, which was great, had dinner with a Nubian famiily, and spent too many hours on a bus heading to the temples of Abu Simbel, almost on the border with Sudan and built by Ramses II. These were fantastic. The main temple has four massive figures flanking its entrance and is ornately decorated and painted inside. The most amazing thing about it was that the entire thing was relocated, block for block, to avoid inundation when Lake Nasser was created by the Aswan Dam.

Nearby is Philae temple, which was built for the goddess Isis, and was also relocated to a lofty island site to avoid flooding. During the day it was amazing, and was one of my favourite sites; it was almost more spectacular at night, when we went to a 'light and sound show'. Sound good? Well, corny would be the word I would use. The performance was composed of lasers lighting up certain parts of the temple (great) to coincide with a story being thundered out of a loudspeaker over the site (terrible!). We couldn't help but piss ourselves laughing during the whole performance when the story being told by voices representing the earth, the river Nile and various ancient egyptians was coming up with lines like 'Isis, Goddess of Philae, my waters can no longer come in your temple and flow amongst the full breasted maidens' etc etc... hehe!

We then took the train back up to Luxor, home to 2 massive temples - Karnak and Luxor Temple, and spent the days wandering around their ruins. Karnak was particularly impressive, and so massive that I lost Matt and his brother Tim and didn't find them again until I returned to my hotel.

Not far from Luxor is the Valley of the Kings, which is famous because so many ancient kings were buried here, but in particular for Tutenkahmun, whose tomb is here too. The site is a complex maze of tombs dug into the hillside, out of the sight of marauding thieves. Many of the tombs are beautifully preserved and still have all the paintings adorning the walls and ceilings inside. Not far from here is the Valley of the Queens, which is not as famous but has a great Roman-style temple dedicated to Queen Hatsepshut.

What was interesting about many of the temples was that many of them were defaced by the Romans and English when they came, with faces of ancient kings and queens scratched off the walls and some artwork actually painted over and replaced. Some temples were even converted to churches to worship Christian figures. It was sad to see the graffiti left by soldiers and the Christian influence that destroyed some beautiful carvings and paintings.

After Luxor, and feeling very templed out, we returned to Cairo (yet another mammoth train ride). Then Matt, his brother Hugh and I decided to spend our last couple of days in Egypt in Sinai, the peninsula famous for Mt Sinai and the Red Sea. We had our sights set on scuba diving there, and stayed in a little place called Shark Bay, which was fortunately a hell of a lot less touristy than Sharm El Sheikh, which is tourist and horrible development-central. The development along the coast is absolutely unbelievable and entirely unfettered. I don't know when it will stop, or when the damage to the reefs will!

We did a shore dive on my birthday, which was pretty cool, but the diving didn't get spectacular until we took a boat out for the day to go to the islands in the Straight of Tiran. There are some amazing shipwrecks there and the reefs are absolutely beautiful; long vertical walls of coral, fish and plenty of things I'd never seen before. We dived at Woodhouse and Jackson Reefs.

Unfortunately poor Matt got ill and was unable to come diving with Hugh and I, so he just slept on the deck of the boat all day! Fortunately by the afternoon he was feeling better and able to snorkel a little. It was a great day out, the weather was great, the instructors were champs and now I'm keen to do a diving course when I get home!

But all good things had to come to an end, so we cruised back to Cairo and after a massive argument with the hostel management, parted ways, me off to Paris for the last week of my holiday and the Haskett clan off to Tunisia for some more adventures.

In Paris I spent my week just wandering the city with my jaw trailing behind me at all the grandeur of the architecture after being in Africa (and drooling all day because on every corner there is a bakery, cafe or patisserie!).

It was cool to visit Place Concorde where the second obelisk, removed from Luxor Temple and given to the French by the Egyptian Mohammed Ali as a present, is located, after seeing the other one first in Luxor. I didn't really do much touristy stuff but just enjoyed wandering the city, window shopping and enjoying being back in a bit of normality again. One thing worth mentioning is the Georges Pompidou centre, once a train station but now a cool modern art museum, complete with TinTin exhibition :). It's a work of art in itself!

I also befriended a couple of Moroccan guys who couldn't speak much English, and with my limited French the conversations were quite amusing! Let's just say we both improved our relevant languages. Hung out with a few other backpackers and spent some nice nights up at the Sacre Coeur looking over the city and drinking wine.

So then I returned home, first stopping off in Melbourne for my Red Cross debrief. I caught up with some of my good mates, and spent the weekend with my buddies from school. They had fortuitously organised a bit of a reunion which coincided with my arrival, so it was great fun!

We went to Daylesford where two friends have just bought a house and spent the weekend basically just eating, drinking and enjoying the goodies that beautiful Daylesford has to offer (it is a spa town after all!). Then after a few days at home I went to Canberra to visit some mates from work. We took a road trip up to Sydney, where I am now. Today I'm just cruising into the city to meet up with another friend I met on my travels in Cambodia many years ago. So all up it's been great fun, cheers to everyone that made it so excellent.

So back to reality; when I return home I need to get my life in order again, including finding myself a house, going back to work (d'oh!) and visiting all the pubs I haven't patronised for a year. Hehe! Plus its a great time to be back in Adelaide because there is lots happening events-wise such as WOMADelaide and the Fringe Festival. Should be great.

So, there it is; the end of my adventure. For the time being :)

Surfing and volcanoes, smoking sheesha and buying carpets

Lanzarote is easily navigable in one day, being so small, so it is perfect. Its all volcanic and desolate and with the shiny white buildings and clear blue sea, it is an unusual and beautiful place of contrasts. We went to Timanfaya National Park during the day on New Years Eve; finished up at a surfie party (which sucked but we got suitably drunk) and then after recovering NY day, hit the beach for the remainder of our time to catch some totally tubular and bodacious barrels dudes.

After NYE we headed to Morocco for a few more travel adventures. Nath only had three days in Marrakech so we spent the days getting totally lost in the labrynthine streets, dodging pickpockets in the square and getting asked 500 times per minute if we wanted to smoke hash. It was very touristy and after travelling in the rest of Morocco I am glad to say it was the worst of it. A great intro to Morocco though! The city square is unreal, and the night market where you can buy just about anything for dinner are great.

Ange and I hired a car for a week and cruised around the mountains; doing a round trip up to Meknes and Chefchauen, a totally chilled out and beautiful place. In the town of Ouzarzate we came upon the Paris Dakar rally cars; we visited Todra gorge, a beautiful and massive gorge where rock climbing is the go; and the ancient roman ruins of Volubilis, which were really cool. Hiring the car enabled us to cover lots of country in a short time, which was cool for Ange. Morocco is beautiful; desert, mountains, farmland and coast, it has everything! My french has improved rapidly too :)

I am in Fes at the moment, and having a wicked time with a bunch of guys who have adopted me! We have been cruising around the city on motos, and checking out all the amazing riads, medinas and mosques; getting lost in all the souqs (tanneries, jewellery making, carpets and the like); going to the mountains, and smoking lots of shisha tobacco. Hehe! It has been a nice relaxing end to my time here in Morocco.

Ange left a few days ago. Unfortunately she had a car crash when attempting to return the hire car from Chefchauen to Marrakech; so we spent a whole day with the gendarmerie, police and tribunal. Quite a unique tour of Chefchauen if I do say so myself! Somehow she managed to find me in Chefchauen; fortuitously I was walking past the police station when she drove past!!! Fate, eh! Luckily she wasnt injured, but the moto driver coming the other way and the car came off second best. Fortunately only a fractured arm and broken rear windscreen/tail lights and a big dent in my wallet were the results. Phew!

Tomorrow i fly to Cairo, and cant wait to see matt. I have 2 weeks there before a week in Paris from the 29th Jan to 6th Feb; am catching up with a bunch of friends I worked with in Liberia, so it should be great. Anyone in the vicinity is more than welcome to join!

Happy 2007 from the Hairy Canaries!

You are now about to read the ramblings of three Radelaideans currently pimpin´ out in the Hairy Canaries. :) :) :)

We just wanted to arse you a question, actually no we wanted to wish you a very merry new year. This time, we´re not drunk or stoned (yet), in fact we´re sadly sober in touristville, which would be Cala Blanca, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Espanol. Yeehar!

We are staying in a little town called Famara, which doesn´t have much to offer besides surfing, but is away from the tourist hordes, and hence perfect. Therefore, logically, we have been surfing (read trying our arses off, although we actually look the part which is good!), drinking, driving (not together, you might spill your beer!) and generally having a nice relaxing time enjoying some sun. Beats London any day.

Yesterday we invented a new form of experimental travel*: stalker travel. This is comprised of the following...

Observation: stupid tourists throwing rubbish out of their hire car window.

Hypothesis: f**king americans!!! (the theory posed by Goat Boy, questioned by Splacker, and supported by Fangio. A bet was made and the alternative travel method was born).

Apparatus: hire car, camera and bravado.

Method:

1. Follow said car until their first stop, approximately 45 minutes down the road.
2. Approach suspects with caution, yet optimism and intrigue.
3. Brandish camera and act like Japanese tourists, ie you are trying to take your own picture and require assistance. Choose a random, uninteresting backdrop.
4. Ask said suspects if they would kindly take the photo for you.
5. Make random conversation in order to determine their nationality. Subjects could include the weather, name of their pet, how much their hire car cost, and/or sexual orientation (all of these work wonders for determining nationality).

Results: The accent was clearly NOT American, to Goatboy´s eternal lament. They were from f*$&ing Sheffield. Bloody whinging poms!
Anyway. So that was our adventure yesterday. We rounded off the day with a delicious meal of local seafood...mmmmmmm.......seafoooooooood :)

Today after arising early to get in some surfing before having to return the wetsuits and boards, and finding that the surf was shite, we decided to hit the road (Jac) and cruise around. The island is easily navigable in one day, being so small, so its perfect. 60km long and 25 wide as a matter of fact. The island is really interesting, all volcanic and desolate and with the shiny white buildings and clear blue sea, it is an unusual and beautiful place of contrasts.

We are now about to embark upon a mission to determine the opening hours of Timanfaya National Park over New Years and then to hit the beach for some totally tubular and bodacious barrels dudes. Taste the burrito!

So after NYE we are heading to Morocco for a few more experimental travel adventures. We want suggestions, like Paris Hilton wants.....

Jac, Pange and Nath. :) :)

*Experimental travel: a concept where travel is not undertaken via the usual means, and the way in which sightseeing is undertaken is determined by a number of random factors. For more information, please consult www.lonelyplanet.com/experimentaltravel :)

101 things to do with millet, terrible travel woes and other stories

Mali was beautiful, I loved it, although after all the travel sagas I had I just hired a guide to take me around instead of my usual 'do everything myself'. it probably cost twice as much as if I did, but I was just so pissed off and tired and didn't want to have to think about organising anything!
I travelled from Bamako to the port town of Mopti and the island city of Djenne, which has the biggest mud mosque in the world. The mosque is really beautiful, an amazing structure that has to be re-rendered after each rainy season. Bamako is just a massive market, pretty crazy but still great. I really liked Mopti as well, the port is really busy and interesting. Spent a fez hours on canoes on the Niger River; the lifeblood of Mali. Then I did 5 days of trekking in Dogon country, which was amazing. Villages built into the cliff face, which runs for about 100kms. I made it as far as Nombori, not to Tomboctou though. The only bad thing was that my guide was totally in love with me and I had to fend him off the whole time!! arrrghh! Made life interesting... I apparently could have got a wedding ceremony in Djenne mosque by paying the Imam...not sure if it was really true but I almost said yes just to find out.

And I tried almst every variation of cooking there is using millet wheat which, along with onions in Dogon country, they grow everywhere; bread, pancakes, millet milk ... the list goes on ;)

...and then I thought the travel sagas couldn't get worse.....i got to paris airport about 24 hours earlier than I expected because my flight left at 1am from Bamako, so I tried to get on a flight to london a day earlier....they said yes because of delays to flights due to fog, but it meant I had to wait around in the airport...from 9:30 til 6pm, waiting waiting....no news, the British Airways staff deserted the desk so no-one knew what was going on...finally when they told us the flight would board at 6 I thought I would try and get my replacement ticket from the air france desk, but it meant I had to go outside the departure lounge, which meant that the announcements of boarding times didnt get broadcast so I didn't hear it....and then I got through all the paperwork to get the ticket and when I went to pay my card had no cash left.... ahh f*$%! so all that time spent at the desk; and then I couldn't get the ticket, and almost missed my flight to London! I was the last person to board.... but I luckily made it. Shit. it was so stressful! I fully bawled my eyes out on the plane. I am still recovering! but it is nice being with my family again for Xmas, it had been a long time since I saw them. Mum, Dad and Dan are embarking on some travels of their own around Britain and Europe. We are going out for my brother's 21st on Xmas Eve in town tomorrow night and also catching up with some good mates which will be great.

Leaving Liberia with a bout of gastro and another of bad luck.

Lets just say things have turned from awesome to scary, horrible and tiring all at the same time. I guess my holidays really have had it all, and they're not over yet.

I didn't really write much about my last few weeks in Liberia but they didn't go so well... a week or so before leaving I had my camera and phone stolen, which was so frustrating.

But I had three excellent final weeks in the field; my lovely boss Julie threw me an ICRC party with wicked food and drinks; and I organised a couple of great farewells. One was at my apartment, where I invited all my local friends, and the women from the market cooked up a wicked feast. The courtyard turned into a disco with great African music, it was a great night and a great celebration. My local friends really helped to make it a great send-off, even going to find massive speakers for me when my music plan failed. We really had the neighbourhood pumping!

I was very sad to leave, and am still missing the place.

But then the bad luck really started as I set off for what i was looking forward to most: holidays.

After my ICRC debrief in Geneva I got gastro from the first proper western meal outside of Liberia (makes a lot of sense!) and spent the whole night before my flight throwing up. So, with no sleep I proceeded to the airport with tickets in hand only to realise I didnt have my actual return ticket home, only the flights from Liberia to Geneva; this meant I missed my flight to Paris and had to fork out $600 for a one hour flight. I really hope my insurance comes through and I can recover my tickets when I get to Paris in a few weeks! I really desest that horrible moment where you realised that everything has just turned pear-shaped...

Let's just say things have been awesome, scary, horrible and tiring all at the same time. I guess my holidays really have had it all so far, and they've only just begun.

But I did manage to make the flight in Paris, so that was a good start. Unfortunately though, I had half my things taken from me as I only had a small backpack as hand luggage; the new security regulations limiting what liquids you can take on board most importantly meant I got my sunscreen taken away, and I got totally sunburnt as I couldnt find sunscreen anywhere in a country full of black people!

After sitting on the plane in Paris for a couple of hours they informed us that the weight restriction had been exceeded so we all trooped off to our hotel that the put us up in for the night and then had to come back the next day. We had to stop over for refueling in Agadir, Morocco to enable us to get to Bamako. So after a days delay I finally made it! Let the holiday begin. Phew.

Ghanaian adventures

I thought it was about time I wrote an entry, and considering I'm sitting in the airport trying to kill time while waiting to go to Harper, thought it the perfect opportunity ...

Ok, now I'm not there because as soon as I wrote that we had to go! Now I'm writing from Harper, just watched the Chelsea/Barcelona champions league game...no' ba-oh!

On Wednesday night, I came back from a week in Ghana. I met my sister Ange in Accra, and we had such a great time. I arrived the Wednesday before, and after hanging out in the swish lobby of the hotel that my boss was staying in for a few hours, returned to the airport to fetch Ange for the best reunion ever!

We stayed in Accra for a couple of days, waiting for Ange's lost luggage to arrive (bloody Alitalia airlines!). Checked out James Town, the slum part of Accra, which was a bit of an extreme compared to the leafy green wealthy suburbs. Accra is a low rise city with flash new buildings here and there amongst all the old ones. There is an old fort you can visit in James Town, where they used to keep slaves before sending them abroad. It's really run down, but they are trying to raise the $$ to revamp the place.

Speaking of $$, Ange and I felt very rich. $US1 = 10,000 cedis. So we withdrew massive wads of cash from the ATMs and banks, and proceeded to stage a slightly mad, money throwing event in our hotel room in such glee of being super-dooper-cashed-up. Fun! But we felt rather vulnerable carrying around so much cash though.

We went cruising around Ghana in tro- tro's (mini vans) and taxis, going west along the coast from Accra and checking out all the forts and castles. it was cool. We did some canoeing in mangroves and lounging on the beach at lovely little resorts. Very holiday-like I must say. We visited a big rock formation in the middle of the forest and then took another canoe trip down the river. We almost went all the way to the Cote d'Ivoire border, to a little village called Nzolezu, which is built on stilts out on a beautiful serene lagoon. We canoed there and then spent a few hours exploring. Beautiful.

My favourite place by far was a reasonably large town called Cape Coast, which has two forts overlooking the town, nice beaches (although as in many places they are toilets and rubbish dumps), a big fishing industry, and a massive castle, again used to house slaves before shipping them off to South America, Britain etc. We did a great tour of the town and also spent the night at the local establishments, learning how to dance West African style!

Ghana reminded me a lot of Liberia actually, and I thought that in ten or so years' time, Liberia could indeed look like Ghana. Same friendly people, beautiful forests and beaches (although the forests are a lot more decimated), similar scenery, nice fishing villages, but the main difference was the portuguese/english/dutch influence which you can see in all the buildings and of course, in the forts and castles along the way.

Rumble strips were everywhere... think judder bars or speed humps and you're on the right track. They were doing up the roads all along the coast, which was great to drive through all the road works (ha!) but it was a wonderful sight for me, and driving on nice, smooth paved roads was a real novelty! No massive potholes like I'm used to. And street lights....wow!

We visited the arts centre in Accra on our return, which is the only place you can buy Ghanaian crafts, so the place was hassle central! Got ripped off, but hey, these things happen. We also met 3 nice (and nice looking!) young guys at our hostel who were professional tennis players, so we went to the Accra international mens tennis tournament and watched them play for a couple of hours on our last day. One was Tunisian, one Moroccan and one Egyptian, so North Africa was well represented! The Egyptian guy knocked off the only Aussie in the tournament, so a black mark for him :(

So overall we had a great trip. I think it was a good intro to Africa for Ange, and we had heaps of fun. My 2,130 marriage proposals from Ghanaian men, including 2 policemen at one checkpoint, was a bit of an ego boost for me! hehe...I think it was the combination of white woman (=$$$) with african hair.... kinda amusing.

...and did I mention that it was totally great to see my little sister.

And now that I'm back, onto other news...Friday night I went to a university ball with a Liberian friend of mine, it was for his student council, they swore them in that day then had a party at night. I got to dress up and look totally hot! I was the only white person there, and that made it more cool!

Halloween being now, I also dressed up as the grim reaper on saturday night for a halloween party. The costume was great, pity the party was shit! Stupid US Embassy people.

Anyway, that's about all the news from here. Things are ok, although I am getting kinda sad at the prospect of leaving this place. Pretty excited at the prospect of being at home again soon though.

Are things on the improve in Monrovia?

Yo mornin! How everyting?

Ok back to proper (Australian) English ... hehe! Work/life is going well. I am sitting in the Roberts International Airport (well the domestic terminal, because the domestic airport isn’t operational yet), watching the BBC Food channel (such a weird thing to be doing in Monrovia) and waiting to go to Voinjama. I'm staying there til Friday. In a couple of weeks we have a WatHab workshop in Monrovia, where all of our WatHab staff (expats and Liberian) will come down for a big pow-wow on Saturday and Monday, so it will be good to have everyone together.

I spent two weeks in Harper recently, working with my hygiene promoters in the field and supervising their activities. I think I wrote to you about the adventures of Jacqui FC. Hehe!! Just before I left, my colleague and good mate Solange and I took a canoe ride in the estuary there, which was great fun. One of our security guards and his friend Frances took us out in their wooden canoe. The estuary is beautiful, as is watching the fishing boats come in, their patched-together sails taught against the breeze.

We had a big party on the weekend here in MON. It was a farewell for a Lebanese friend of mine who has been working for the UN, and is now going to the Democratic Republic of Congo to set up things for the elections there. It was a big party, about 100 people, we danced all night, drank lots of Red Bull and got home at who knows what time … I am still recovering! Not to mention I didn’t sleep well last night, I think my Larium malaria drugs are screwing with my brain, because I thought I had ants in my bed, or maybe they were fleas, but it felt like I spent the whole night trying to kill the little buggers. None there this morning, and this has happened to me once before, so I’m guessing it was just a dream. Doesn’t help my lack of sleep though!

Monrovia is such a contrast to our offices in Harper and Voinjama. Lots more people and services, lots more to do, always a party on, but I actually prefer to be outside of the city. It’s a bit of a depressing place; not so nice to look at. Buildings decaying, paint fading, lightposts full of bullet holes, and they recently chopped down all the beautiful flame trees in my street to ‘plant the poles’ as they call putting in the new street lights.

The most worrying thing at the moment is that there is a high crime rate; people are desperately poor, the National Police Force is totally ineffective, and the UN peacekeepers don’t really seem to be doing anything except sitting on their arses at the checkpoints (although to their credit I saw a night patrol recently). I’m not sure how much they are supposed to get involved in curbing crime, but they’re not doing enough. So there are lots of rapes, carjackings, break-ins, robberies and other petty crime. Some targeted at expats, but mostly against locals. Luckily we have a good reputation (and big cars) so we are generally ok. Some of it is apparently perpetrated by ex-combatants, but also it is just people desperate to get money.

The Minister of Justice recently encouraged people to form vigilante groups, or neighbourhood watches, which is all well and good if people are truly watching out for each other and detaining the perpetrators properly before the police take them. I think it is working well in some communities; I have spoken to people who are going to community meetings and receiving training in how to deal with the perpetrators. But in many cases, things get out of control when they take things into their own hands; often the perpetrators are beaten to a pulp before the police get there and take people to the hospital (and they take forever, so mostly the people just die before that happens; plus if they are not beaten by the locals, when the police take them to the station, they do the job there), or their bodies are thrown into the river. Last week I saw a body floating along by the bridge. It's really not a nice thing to see. It makes you scared about the security situation, but its just a part of life here. Life is not highly valued, there are a lot of scars remaining from the war and things are only slowly starting to recover.

But you can see some things changing for the better. More and more of the city is getting street lights, there are more cars on the road, the Liberian Water and Sewer Co. are beginning to fix the drainage, in a few places roads are starting to be repaired (although the rain spoils them just as quickly!), the water treatment plant will apparently improve from 20% capacity to 60% by the end of the year (but I’m not holding my breath) etc etc. In that respect its positive. But a lot of people are becoming frustrated with the government, who I think is almost as corrupt as they were before, even though they started positively. It’s a mammoth task to rebuild a country, and there is a miniscule budget compared to what’s needed, but Ellen needs to spend more time in Liberia getting things done than going on soirees with leaders overseas (although she has secured some good funding for country rebuilding). Also there is a real focus on Monrovia, and the people in the counties are feeling neglected. There are many signs of things deteriorating in the same way it happened before. I really hope the UN stays and keeps the peace over the long term, because if they pull out too quickly things will potentially degenerate again. This would be a total shame. The people here have suffered enough.

Anyway enough about that. It’s too depressing! Did I mention I have been here for 6 months now? Only 3 months to go. I am already looking forward to my end of mission, and even though it would be good to extend my mission and continue working here, there is a lot I want to do. Like spend Xmas with the family in London, and travel a bit in Africa. And of course, get home. I am however hoping to be able to organize for the dates of my debriefings in Geneva and Melbourne to be pushed out so I can travel in northern Africa, and meet up with Matt in mid January. I’m almost more excited about what I want to do after my time here, than what I want to do while I’m here! Still, life and work goes on and there is always plenty to do.

What else can I write? Well we have had more plane dramas. Our usual plane, which is usually plagued with mechanical problems, had yet another one a few weeks ago when it landed in Zwedru….a judgement error caused one of the plane's wheels to land off the edge of the runway, causing one wing to dip down and the propeller to hit the ground. One of the blades sheared off and apparently ripped through into the cabin. Luckily no-one was injured! So now our plane is grounded (again) in Zwedru, and we had to get another one in. Only problem is, its just a single engine plane, so a lot of people are worried about taking it! Doesn't worry me at all. And because its so small and can't carry much fuel, or refuel outside of Monrovia, it has to do 2 separate flights to get around to all of our offices. So things are always complicated with this machine!!!! Bloody thing. The roads are too bad to drive many places, in fact just coming from the airstrip here in Voinjama (so I can now finish this email!) we drove through 2 big mud spots that luckily were passable because it hasn't rained today :) Anyway, its all good.

I am living all alone in a big house at the moment. It’s supposed to house 8, and I am the only one upstairs. Downstairs our South African pilots and our database manager stay there, but they are hardly there. I have the whole top floor to myself! At least I can wander around in my underwear if I like. I get guests every now and then, and I was very happy yesterday to sit down at the dinner table with 2 kiwis and a Brit who was previously working in Australia, and enjoy a nice steak dinner with potatoes, carrots, apple sauce (it’s a kiwi thing, they apparently don’t do the gravy!) and a nice bottle of wine. WOW! This is a rare treat :)

Our new WatHab delegate for Harper arrived yesterday, she is a Malaysian-born Kiwi called Bernice, who is replacing the Swiss delegate (she almost epitomizes the Swiss stereotype; they locals have nicknamed her the Iron Lady). I am looking forward to working with Bernice; she is the same age as me, much more approachable and friendly, and more positive about everything than her predecessor. First mission for ICRC too. That means that not only will working in Harper be a lot easier, but now in the WatHab team we have Mike, myself and Bernice, all Kiwis/Aussies, and our boss Julie is a Canadian. So working should be a lot easier (ie no Swiss)! I am going to Harper at the end of September to begin/supervise a program of Hygiene Promotion workshops with my field officers, that will run until the end of the year (although I'm not staying there that whole time). So that should be good.

Lucky last piece of news…I have planned my next holiday: Ghana. A couple of new flights have opened up with Air Senegal to Dakar and to Accra, and we are actually allowed to take this airline (woohoo!), so it gives us a few more options for our week of compensation leave. And it’s a lot cheaper to go there than to fly to Europe, like we used to have to. So Ghana here I come, mid October. Anyone want to join?!