Since I never know how things are going to transpire and what obstacles are going to come up, I don't assume I will get everything done on the list. Generally I am content with getting two of three or two of four done. Not very optimistic but I have lived here long enough to have learned! Below is the checklist for today:
pickup mail from MFI
buy metal chairs for guest house at Casami
check into glasses for Lagonav brother at Optika
buy some needed groceries at Delimart
meet Jean Bena & Max to advance $ for interpretation
find replacement taillight in Centre-Ville
It was a pretty quick trip into Port. The Dominican company Estrella is working hard on the highway. I passed many dump trucks, graders working on the roadbed and they were even paving a stretch today. Still lots of dust but the work is progressing.
First stop is the final mail pickup before Christmas. Always nice to get cards from family, friends and even folks from the church we don't know. Thanks. Now it's off to Casami, a local department store. Chairs in the truck, two things checked off the list.
As I make my way down the main road Delmas, the traffic is blocked again. Traffic lights have not helped, it's backed all the way down and all the way up. We will get there eventually. Patience is always needed on the road here.
Like in the United States and Canada it is the Christmas season here too. Most larger stores have a Christmas tree setup, maybe a plastic Santa Claus or manger scene. Just no snow or cold! Here is a big tree just a couple miles from the airport. Looks a little out of place in Haiti.
I get the groceries, check on the eye glasses and after a quick bite to eat at Epi D'Or I am on my way down to the airport. I am meeting my two interpeters who now reside in Port-au-Prince to plan for our next team that comes in about a week. They are great young guys from Lagonav who are studying and working in Port. I meet them at Twa Men (the monument in the headline picture). While waiting I check out the billboards. Interesting stuff. Cell phone companies, drinks and food. The one above is for a Nestle meal replacement drink. Can you see the guy pulling the wooden cart. They definitely know their audience.
OK, it's now noon and everything on the checklist is complete except for one. Off to the downtown area of Port-au-Prince near the docks. Four years ago you would not go near this place because of the gangs and other problems. Now it is safe but very congested. There are just things you can only find in Centre Ville so we make our way down. There is a particular area where they sell car parts and work on vehicles. I am looking for a tail light assembly for my 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser. No computer to check stock, we just ask. We find it at our first stop and now we have to negotiate a price. In the end it costs me about $35 US.
Now for another little piece. The kids locked the keys in the truck the other day and I had to open a back sliding window by breaking off the latch. Can a new one be found. The first guy who has one doesn't want to come down on the price. Always fighting. We make our way to some other places nearby. It takes about an hour before we realize that guy's part is the only one we will find today. While waiting we watch them working on the cars; above they are welding the hood latch back on. There must be a hundred guys who come up and want to recharge my air conditioning system. They won't believe I don't have the A/C compressor in the vehicle. My mechanic has it looking for a part. Thanks but no thanks.
Checklist complete, now home. On the outskirts of Port-au-Prince I see smoke. There were some demonstration in the city yesterday by Jean-Bertrand Aristide supporters. It was a large march but relatively peaceful. The smoke kind of looks like burning tires, I wonder what is going on. Turns out to be just the regular garbage burning outside Port-au-Prince. Where does the trash for 2.5 million people go? Most is just piled on the side of the road or in abandoned properties. Some is collected by garbage trucks and carted to the northern outskirts of the city. Here some people sort through it for recycling and the rest is left in big piles or burned.
Another day, another drive. I was counting up how many times I have done the trip to Port and back in the year and a half we have lived here. I am not sure exactly but it is over 120 times. As you can see from the speedometer, I am going about 65 miles per hour and the road is pretty rough, thus the shaking. I don't generally travel that fast because most of the road isn't good enough. But at the end of the day I want to get home to my family so I travel as fast as is safely possible. Today I met them down at Kaliko and finished my day with a dip in the nice, cool pool. Mission accomplished.
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