TIA: Liberia

We made it to Morocco! We flew into Casablanca and took the train to Fes. We were definitely novelties on the train, with friendly locals who “love Americans”, repeatedly warning us to “trust no one” and avoid buying carpets if we don’t want to get ripped off (do we really look like people who would buy big rugs?). Upon arrival in Fes, our cab drops us off in the vicinity of our riad, points down the street and says it’s that way.  We start wandering somewhat aimlessly through the medina. A local kid comes up and guides us the rest of the way.  Upon arrival, Mark offers the kid 2 dirhams for his help. Local kid proceeds to start heming-and hawing about how we’re cheap.  We’re adamant 2 dirhams is fair for his 5 minutes of work and just brush it off when he hands us back the money and storms off.  We are then whisked away by the riad staff who offer us cool washcloths to freshen up, nut-stuffed dates to snack upon, and show us our lovely room with its remarkably reliable free wifi. A bit later as I’m checking online to see what 900-dirham spa packages cost in US dollars, we realize 2 dirhams is just 25-cents.  Turns out, we are seriously cheap bastards.  Sorry small child; hope you don’t hate Americans forever as a result of our complete ignorance of exchange rates.

Anyway, the riad is lovely.  Pics from our morning breakfast on the roof.  We’re now off to explore a bit and hopefully not create any other incidents.

The Agape National Academy of Music and U.S. Embassy hosted a Peace Concert Saturday afternoon at the local YMCA. There were several great choir and vocalist performances, but the hubs kinda stole the show with his youth choir directorial debut. I think it was the combination of the white man directing and the little African children singing “We are the World.”  The song was such a hit they were asked to sing it again at the end of the show so we could all get up, join hands and sing along.

Yup, this is what we’re up to in Liberia.

Sunday was Liberia’s first ever marathon. The hubs, in what may not have been his most brilliant decision ever, ran the full shebang; I went with the 10K Run for Liberia. 

It was a pretty crazy experience. Never-ending rain, slightly chaotic and nothing like the typical race experience. To those of you who have not yet enjoyed Liberia’s rainy season, I should explain that the rain was more akin to what you might think of as a “tropical storm.” We’re talking torrential, relentless downpour of big raindrops and heavy winds. 

Race day coordination was a challenge - this is Liberia, after all.  We were told to arrive at 6:00 a.m. for the 10K so we could get checked in.  Since we already had our bibs, this meant we got a check mark on our bibs and the opportunity to stand in the rain for a couple hours before starting. The Liberians runners seemed pretty pumped about all of it – jumping up in down in circles and doing lots of warm ups. I was totally amused by how different the whole affair was relative to any race I’ve ever run in the States. Primary example: no porta-potties. Thankfully our friends and fellow runners, Christine and Kevin, live just around the corner from the start, so we were able to kill an hour hanging out in a dry place with plumbing.  Fancy, I know.  

Despite all odds, we managed to force ourselves to go back out into the rain to get ready to run. The wheelchair and amputee races started first. It was hugely inspiring to see the guys in their wheelchairs and on crutches ready to race through the rain. Liberia’s President then showed up to start the race and actually ran a bit at the start. This of course meant there was a ton of security and created all sorts of confusion at the starting line, but we survived. Once we actually got running, it was pretty easy. Naturally, the lanes were not consistently closed and there were a few moments where I felt like the cars racing by were aiming to take me out, but we sloshed our way through.

The tagline on all the race marketing was “let’s finish together” – super cheesy, but with some truth to it. Definitely very cool to see people of all walks of life making their way to SKD Stadium for the finish. In a country that’s been through so much, it’s cool to see the random signs of progress.

The hubs hit the not so big-28 yesterday.  He requested lots of baked goods.  I came through and have to admit, my key-lime pie skills have come a long way since last year.