Monrovia, Liberia - Thursday 22 November 2007 - Paying for all the "fun"

What really happened on Wednesday? To tell you the truth, it was an ordinary day spent in a workshop here in Monrovia. The time aspect is further blurred as we talk about deadlines and expectations, promises and the like.

After the first testdrive on Tuesday we discovered a few things that needed attention and one of those were the rear left wheel shaft. It needed to be replaced in order to get proper grip and Mr. Richard said that it would be delivered one at 125 US dollars (used of course) by Wednesday morning. After preparing the car for takeoff into the "unknown" I discovered that someone has stepped on the turbo air intake pipe AGAIN... It happend at a workshop in Mombasa, Kenya as well. The solution is to weld it, but my guys used glue!!! I was assured that this was going to work and it did, for about one hour... So on Thursday morning they needed to take it off and weld it properly. Although it didnt look like aluminium welding, it was said that it was. Hope it will last until some other mechanic steps on it again.

Was needs to be done now is to adjust the shaft so it fits (!!!) and make financial arrangements with the two parties that have worked on the car since I arrived in town. Most of the work done at Mr. Richards is due to bad work from Mr. Jacson and company and the gearbox price needs to be reduced. This is something I dont look forward to ...