How many steps to Haiti?

How many steps does it take to get to Haiti?  Quite a few as it turns out.  The last blog posting told of our safe arrival in Haiti.  While Heather and the kids flew in on American Airlines I got to take the slow boat with Missionary Flights International (www.missionaryflights.org)  These are the same folks who brought us and our household in back in June 2007.  Below are a few photos chronicling my journey to Haiti last Thursday.

While the first step was a 3-hour drive from Bradenton to Fort Pierce, on Thursday morning we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise over the Bahamas.  Here you see the cockpit of the turbine powered DC-3 aircraft which is older than I am.

Lots of cloud on our journey, but it cleared as we neared our first stop on Grand Exuma in the Bahamas.  This was a fuel stop halfway through the 4-hour trip to Cap Haitien.

Thai takes a little nap, her cage snuggled in between the cargo and yellow lifeboat.  MFI has never had to use them thankfully.  My seat along with the other 23 passengers was right beside Thai.

Following Grand Exuma our next stop was Cap Haitien, largest city on the northern coast of Haiti.  Here I cleared immigration and then transferred to the other MFI DC-3.  This was an older radial engined version nearly 47 years old.

Looks like the Cap airport is not exactly up to FAA or ICAO standards.  A number of people were walking along a path right beside the runway.  Didn’t see any goats or other animals though.  We were just on our takeoff roll when this photo was taken.

A shot of part of Cap Haitien as we make our way south to Port-au-Prince.  A beautiful sight even through very dirty aircraft windows.

 

A really cool sight greeted us on climb out.  I have never been to Cap Haitien but knew of the famous Citadel built by one of Haiti’s first rulers, Henri Christophe.  The photo shows it sitting atop an outcrop overlooking the valley.  The stone edifice still stands more than 200 years later.

We cross the mountains of Haiti, winding our way through the valleys and staying below the gray clouds.  The rainy season makes everything green.  Beautiful is all you can say.