Chronicle for 2010-07-10

Starting the trek from Monrovia to Yekepa with 11 of us packed in the ABC van. Probably 9 hour trip. It has been raining most of the morning and there was a large storm early this morning before we woke up. As we drive we pass many interesting things. Many people carrying baskets on their heads. This morning a guy walked past the house we were staying at with a large basket of doughnuts on his head. So many of the structures are just burned out ruins, all remnant of the long civil war that occurred here. So much of the infrastructure was completely destroyed.
Just passed a UN truck there are a number of them.
Went past a small guard shack and are now headed down the rough road to yekepa passing through the Firestone plant. The countryside is filled wit rubber trees. And we have see many people doing an endless job of keeping the undergrowth cleared from the trees.
Stopped at a market to get some misc supplies, pretty much filled with every thing a person would need.

Stopped for lunch along side the road. Becky had arranged sandwiched to. Be packed for us, it was nice to get out and stretch a bit.
We are about 5 hours into the trip and the road has been getting worse, still better than i had imagined, but constant obstacles, potholes mudslides etc. The poverty is constant, unlike other places I have been where there are better areas than others, here I have seen very few "nicer" places. We have passed a number of villages where there have been large numbers of people at the market places we are told that each village has it's own designated marketplace day of the week where there is more available than other days

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