A lovely rainy Saturday walk around town

The rainy season is here although we've been having freak rainstorms and full rainy days these past few months when it was still officially dry season. When I first arrived in Liberia, I was told the rainy season starts in April and ends in October. However, the rainy season starts a little later now.

I was recently chatting to my Karachi cousins on WhatsApp and, sent them a picture of a rainy day. They didn't quite understand how much it rains in Liberia. 

I must say the rainy season is my favourite time of the year. The city feels completely different. 

Kavita dressed herself up for a rainy day with her rain boots, a sweater and her umbrella. We took a keke to L'oven Bakery to buy some meat and spinach pies which we had with Haresh back at the NATC office where he was working. For LD $ 150, the keke took us and brought us back. Kavita is slowly getting used to the concept of money and one needs it for things and keke rides. 

The feel of the cool air on our faces was delicious. How nice it is to finally feel this weather. 

Kavita and I left Haresh at the office to continue strolling around Monrovia. As we walked back up Randall Street, Kavita stopped at Super Cool's store. She wanted to pop in and say hello. The lady was quite pleased to see her. I understood that Kavita has made quite a few friends on Randall Street while she walks with Musu. 

We then met a couple of fellows selling moringa leaves. They told me to boil the leaves and drink the tea. I bought a bunch for $ LD 100.00. One of the men walked in front of me and, started selling the leaves. "Back pain, malaria, anything" could seemingly be cured with these leaves. "See moringa.com," he called out. That part of his marketing made me smile and I paused to take his photograph. He gave me shot with his arms wide open. 

We dropped off the leaves at the house. Kavita wanted to stay on to practice her ballet (she makes graceful leaps around the living room, I think she's learned about ballet from Max and Ruby and some story books). I convinced her to keep going for another short walk. "Let's enjoy the weather," I implored her. "We'll have tea when we come back." 

So, we kept walking. Kavita insisted on walking into Tiny Tots, a children's clothing and toy shop right next to Compu Tech. She looked around and I told her we're just window shopping. 

We kept walking and bought some bananas to snack on. 

We stopped by the mosque on Benson Street. The azaan was being called out and, I peeked into a small stall selling tasbee, jaanamaaz, skull caps, incense sticks. I even bought a few "Aladdin" incense sticks from India.

We passed some boutiques. 

We passed a DVD shop and I saw some interesting film posters. Kavita became obsessed with a fake fire. It was one of those devices that looked like a flame. She didn't believe it until the shop keepers let her touch it. She kept asking to touch it over and over again. 

We kept going and, came to the intersection of Mechlin and Carey Streets. I bought some honey from Guinea. The vendors were from Guinea but they were third generation Liberians. When I asked why they still considered themselves from Guinea, they said it was because Immigration officials would often harass them and tell them they are from Guinea. Some girls shopping in the next store turned around and engaged the conversation. It kept going and, I couldn't stay because Kavita got bored. 

I hope the honey will be good. 

We walked on and browsed in the book stalls under the old Ministry of Education. I managed to find some Liberian children's books! That was quite exciting. What was nice to see was that the illustrations by artists I actually know through the NATC technology art contest. 

Kavita wanted to go home but I convinced her I wanted to see the red flame trees on Broad Street. So, we kept walking up Broad Street and, I took some photographs of the beautiful trees.