Number 2 River Beach, Sierra Leone

23 September 2011

Cape Hotel, Monrovia

I have stayed at the Cape Hotel in downtown Monrovia many times on my visits to Liberia. It is one of the nicest place to stay in Liberia. Think Motel 6 with lots of tile floors. It is clean, with pool and restaurant, and satellite TV. There are 24 channels and 8 are National Geographic Abu Dhabi in Arabic. Seriously. Of all the channels, four are in English: BBC, CNN, FX (!) and the "All CSI, All The Time" channel.

The hotel sits next to the US Embassy just above the beach. I have never been to the beach from the hotel, though. The locals call it Poo-Poo Beach, and I am sure they don't call it that for nothing. Speaking of poo-poo, flushing toilets in West Africa are the exception. That means working in a hotel provides a luxury to which many Liberians do not have access. The last time I checked in at this hotel, I got my room key at the desk, walked to my room, unlocked the door, and startled a (male) housekeeper doing his daily duty on the toilet in my bathroom. He leaned forward and swiped the door closed while I put my luggage on the bed. When he finished, he went to the hallway and came back with air freshener. I tipped him for the air freshener.

No such encounters tonight.

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