Surf's up in Liberia

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Catching waves is an adventure in this West African nation that is recovering from war.

By Myles Estey — Special to GlobalPost

Published: October 1, 2009 06:17 ET

MONROVIA, Liberia — At 6:30 in the morning this capital city’s Waterside Market slowly stirs for another day of chaotic, bustling activity.

On the north edge of the market, four people in boardshorts exchange jokes as they pass their surfboards over a rusting gate of a dilapidated orphanage, and climb awkwardly to the other side.

As puzzled onlookers on the hill stare down, the hardy crew navigates wrecked buildings, a barking guard dog, piles of trash and raw sewage and climbs onto wet boulders jutting into the crashing sea.

Each surfer picks his or her own path through the detritus, waiting for a break in the waves, before jumping off the rocks into the ocean.

This is Liberia’s weekday surf scene.

“The best waves are here,” explained 18-year-old Peter Swen, a talented young Monrovian, and a regular face in the tight-knit scene.

“Even though there’s a lot of stuff in the water, we are still jumping in to surf the waves. It’s kind of a great wave, you can ride it for 200 yards. It’s kind of a perfect wave,” said the dedicated surfer.

The friendships in the small surfing community of internationals and Liberians helps to make enduring the "stuff" in the water slightly more bearable. Floating plastic waste and the stench of the sewage are variables that committed urban surfers contend with around the world, to varying degrees.

Unique to the Mamba Point wave is that it faces Liberia’s largest slum, West Point, where 75,000 people live without electricity, running water or toilets. This last point ushered in the point’s nickname "Poopy Point," rarely said without a self-deprecating laugh.

In a country still struggling to rebuild after 14 years of civil war, such conditions come with the territory.

“Mamba Point is a physical reflection of what’s going on … It is kind of saddening, it could just be absolutely gorgeous, and instead, it’s one of the filthiest places in town,” said 36-year-old American Keith Chapman.