Haiti - Day 1

(NOTE:  These Haiti blogs are being written after the trip because I could not get onto a piece of technology due to the fact that everyone.else.had.one and was on it constantly.  I just need to invest in my own for my next trip.)

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Departure day for Haiti.  I did not sleep well the night before.  Part excitement and part scared that I would oversleep.  My night went like this:

10:30 - go to bed
11:30 - look @ clock
1:00 - look @ clock, get up and go to bathroom
2:00 - look @ clock
3:30 - look @ clock
4:00 - ALARM!  (now I'm sleeping good - go figure!)

Allyson and I arrive at church at 5:00 (our meeting time) and we're the last ones there - again, go figure (Strike 1).  We get our luggage on the bus, have a prayer, and head out to the airport.  We all get checked in and through security.  I stop at the bathroom.  When I come out Allyson, Cassie & Amanda have stopped to get a muffin, so I wait for them.  We are walking to our gate when we here Randall saying "Run!!! They are about to close the door to the plane!!"  Seriously?  I had no idea we were THAT close to time. (Strike 2). We did, of course, make it and found out that they'd been calling our names!!!!  OMG!  None of us heard our names.  HA HA HA!  Wouldn't THAT have been something if we'd missed our flight!  I don't even want to think about it!

I guess because of the last minute rushing, etc., Allyson gets hot and light headed on the plane.  I had somehow ended up with her breakfast and we were not sitting anywhere close to each other.  When the pilot finally turned off the seat belt sing, I asked Ken to take the breakfast to Allyson since he was in the aisle seat.  He came back and said he thought she was sick because she had the barf bag out.  Mama worry for her baby came out then. I could see her and kept an eye on her the rest of the flight.  I think the water and muffin helped.  From there on out we were fine!!

We arrived in Haiti around 4pm.  The airport in Haiti has been updated with air conditioning, a baggage conveyor belt.  It is still behind the times compared to airports in the US, but Allyson was bummed that those of us who had never been to Haiti before did not get to experience the Haitian airport like it used to be!!  We'd been warned about guys trying to help us with our luggage - they are all standing around in red shirts and look "official", but they are not and just want you to pay them.   It wasn't as bad as I expected.  Jim was waiting for us with a nice 12 passenger van.  Again, Allyson and Danny both thought we were not getting the true Haitian experience since we didn't have to sit on our luggage in a tap-tap.   I was good with the van.

Jim and Debbie's place is already amazing and it is going to be even better when it is all finished!!  We got all settled in and had a wonderful spaghetti dinner.  Jim' sister, Donna, is in Haiti with them and within the first 5 minutes they all made us feel so at home and it was as if we'd known them all our lives.

1ST IMPRESSIONS OF HAITI:
1.  I would have been in a major culture shock overload if I had not already heard and seen Haiti through Allyson.
2.  It is chaos!  People everywhere, cars everywhere, if there are traffic laws - well . . .
3.  They try to get money - especially from Americans - any way they can.  I mentioned the lugged at the airport already, but on the streets when the van comes to a stop, the come from every corner and begin wiping down you vehicle wanting you to tip them.  Jim just kept shaking his head no and would pull off when he could move again.
4.  The roads are horrible.  They beat you to death.  Most of them are just dirt roads with major bumps and holes, etc.  I don't know how Jim keeps tires on that van!
5.  When we first got out of the van, there was this wonderful aroma.  I thought it was our dinner!!  I later learned it was the bakery next door - - oh my goodness!

After dinner we made plans for our next day.  We got ready for bed with a cold shower (no hot water) - but after the initial shock, it felt good!  We had screens on our door and windows and had a fan so I was pretty comfortable during the  night.  I slept pretty good being in a new strange place, but I think not sleeping the night before helped that as well.  I went to sleep with big anticipation for the week!!