First new post of 2015!

Here is my jungle walk this morning.  Now that we are in the tent city (more later) I can get through the population and have plenty of road ahead that is unpopulated.  The road leads to the Jayproken which is the village where the women danced for us.  The village is a 3 1/2 hour walk so the number of people on the road especially in the earlyish morning is few.  It is a walk through the jungle with small critters and a cacophony of birds.  If anyone can identify any of the plants, have at it!

Ants working hard.

Use with caution.  Motorbikes pick their boards wisely.

This afternoon we were officially welcomed by the County Health Team.  They did a ceremony in which the "cola" was shared between us and them.  

On the right is the county official presenting the cola, a walnut sized nut to Dr. Chessor, our medical director.  Because they were presenting to a woman they had to have a man receive as well so Dr. Joe stood up.  I was assured it would go vice versa as well.  This is a very gender oriented place.  

The chief spoke.  He was very animated and quite a showman.  Some of his speech was in the native tongue and interpreted.  He essentially welcomed us and sealed the partnership.

Found a new reddish banana today.  Very yummy and hardy.  I had a couple for dinner in order to take a break from Liberian food.  I almost lost my tongue and lips to chemical burn at brunch today.  Typically the food is pretty good, but there is little variety.  There is some common seasoning to pretty much everything and everything is hot.  Today's lunch was unpalatable in its peppery heat.  Loved my bananas tonight.