I have been in Harper, on the south eastern coast of Liberia, for the past week. It's been great; this place is beautiful. The town is built on a little peninsula that juts out into the sea, so we have beaches on both sides. The coastline looks just like the travel mags; palm trees swaying in the breeze, clear water, golden sand, black rocks dotting the beaches. Our residence looks out over a beautiful bay, and even has its own little beach. So in between working (and yes I have been, there's definitely not much play!), I've been spending most of my free time there with a book.
I was supposed to return to Monrovia today, but luckily for me, our plane (aptly named Red 607) wasn't able to land due to bad weather and rude UN helicopters landing when we were supposed to. Due to the safety rules, Red can't land unless the airstrip is totally clear, so they weren't able to stop here. Suits me! Another week here in paradise, away from the big bad city.
Harper is only a shell of its former self. It's a small place, but quite beautiful. Apparently before the war it was the playground of the rich and famous, and many of the buildings were obviously grand old holiday mansions. I really like it. It has five old churches, a bustling market and port, and fishing boats going in and out all day. There's even an old Morning Star Freemason's temple, the highest buliding here with its gothic columns and marble interior, and although it's abandoned and trashed, it has the best views of the place. It would have been amazingly beautiful in its time. From the balcony of our residence I can see two shipwrecks and the remains of a jetty.
Apart from our little beach I wouldn't swim here though. The current is really strong, and the massive waves are dumpers! Today I went for a walk on the beach with a work mate, and it sloped down to the water at 45 degrees for about 2-3 metres. The waves themselves were at least this high, and came in with massive force...you wouldn't last out there for more than about 1 minute. The little yellow crabs love it htough....they scurry into their holes on the sand when the waves come, and as soon as the water is gone they literally kick out the sand that's intruded into their homes and scurry out again. Over and over, all day long!!!
Speaking of dumping, unfortunately some sections of beach are pretty disgusting. Liberians don't know any better (or have any other systems or infrastructure) than to treat their beaches as toilets; ie, literally taking a crap on them. Yuck! In addition, there is always loads of rubbish washed up...old shoes, plastic, rubber, foam, driftwood, fishing line, bits of coconuts and palm trees.
But for the most part, the beaches here are beautiful. Too bad you can't swim at them (the clean ones, that is!).
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