Day 102: Robertsport – Monrovia

We had changed parking, higher up and a little away from the flood fringe. Another advantage: the night lighting no longer shines directly into our bed. And so we slept a little better despite the heat.

Carl, a German motorcyclist, has problems with the battery and Wolle uses the large power pack to jump start. However, recharging our Delta 2 sucks it out. And yesterday our compressor seems to have broken, it no longer builds up pressure. Always something to take care of.

We're going to Monrovia. Compared to Sierra Leone, Liberia seems poorer and more rubbish to us and the villages are more unstructured. But that's just a superficial first impression. Driving through the city is more Dakar than Freetown – loud, chaotic, dirty. Our location is the STS Compound. The reviews on iOverlander are rather too positive. The place is littered, there is only a shed with a shower, a toilet, no light and a rotten door. Goats, chickens and dogs do their part to spread rubbish and litter the place. And then the whole thing costs $10 per person! Since we want to leave Monrovia as quickly as possible, we don't put any energy or money into looking for an alternative and make arrangements...

Liberia is expensive, the actual currency is the US dollar. When converting to Liberian dollars, there is some type of fixed exchange rate depending on the location. In Robertsport it was 950 Liberian dollars, here it is more like 900. The change is not US dollars but local currency – we lose track.

One advantage, however, is that you can get US dollars at the ATM in Monrovia – the volume of the notes corresponds in value to our usual euro. Nevertheless, obtaining money (cash) remains time-consuming because the amounts at the ATMs are limited, the number of machines is limited and our willingness to use the ATM and pay ridiculous fees is also limited. Which somehow brings us back to Western Union. During the transaction we need the German SIM card for the verification code – but the SIM cannot find a network in Liberia. So you need a good friend in Germany for the verification code. What an effort. Thanks, Leo.

For normal people who earn around 60-80 dollars a month, most things here in Monrovia are unaffordable. When we go out to eat in a hotel restaurant “around the corner” in the evening, we first have to pay $10 per person as a consumption deposit. The food prices are more European. A tropical juice costs $6. We can easily spend over $100 in the supermarket – but admittedly it's also a big purchase. We pay $10 for a machine wash – but it's absolutely necessary for the bed linen.