Day 2 – Part 1

February 23, 2011 – Day 2 Part 1
4:00am still not sleeping
5:50am mad dash for departure
7:00am depart from Karibe Hotel to airport
10:00am Port au Prince to Hinche in a 6 passenger MI

As the day windes down and exhaustion takes over I struggle to keep my eyes open long enough to recount the day. The adventures continue.

Unfortunately I found it very difficult to sleep in my massive king-sized bed, and beautiful room last night. I knew I was desperately tired and I was worried I would sleep through my wake up call and alarm, so I tossed and turned all night long. At 4am I was up to see if anyone from home was on the computer-lol-and then got back in bed and finally fell asleep. Only to wake up full jump and call downstairs to the front desk to ask what time it was. The attendant told me it was 6:30 and I ran bolting from my bed flinging clothes, luggage, shoes, electronics into my suitcases and grunting at myself about how impossible I was holding the team up on the first day.

I arrived downstairs with my 3 massive pieces of luggage, laptop and camera to find not a soul in sight. I went back to the check in and asked again what time it was and the man confirmed that it was 6:40am. I quickly looked at the clock and wondered where everyone was. I took a stroll down to the restaurant area, around the lobby and grounds but couldn’t find a soul. Finally I asked to call up to Laura’s room.

“Laura”, I asked animated, “what’s going on?” I couldn’t imagine that they would alter their plans and forget to tell me.
“What do you mean, what’s going on?” she asked.
“Where is everyone? I’m downstairs in the lobby by myself!”
“Heidi, it is 5:45! We’re not meeting until 6:30.”
And suddenly I know what’s happened with my ipod ineptitude and translation problems, but grinned regardless, at least I’d have time to fit in a shower.

At 7am we travelled down through the city back to the airport after dropping all of our non-immediate luggage at WV headquarters to follow us up later in trucks. Paul Emile had heard we were now a party of 5 instead of 6 and had cancelled the other plane they had originally schedules for us to save us some money. What he didn’t know is that we had a load of luggage to go up with us with small presents for the children in COBOCOL. Nevertheless each of us managed to get our personal luggage down to one suitcase, leaving the others behind as we wouldn’t need them until Saturday’s sponsor party with the children.

Again, the drive through the city was difficult to see, rubble, garbage, goats, people, everywhere. I watched as a father tied the shoe of his young daughter as she prepared to go to school. They sat in the shell of a house. Hundreds of children were heading to school on dirtbikes and by foot. Friends and siblings, linking arms and helping one another up through the streets. One little boy carried the bookbag of another little girl up the hill. The children are impeccably dressed, their uniforms are clean and pressed. Cell phones are everywhere. It is such a juxtaposition in my mind, poverty and cell phones. I am coming from a society where until recently a cell phone was a sign of affluence but here, a cell phone is the only means of communication for many people as land lines are generally not easily accessible.

We arrived at the airport after about an hour stuck in traffic. Men began running towards our vehicle banging on the windows as we pulled up to the airport and for a minute I couldn’t remember why, then it hit me, they were looking to carry our luggage. So aggressive, I think to myself, they must make a good living. We waited for Mike and Bernie to catch up in their vehicle, but the second we stepped outside we were swarmed by at least 10 men not only wanting to help us with our luggage, but grabbing at it and fighting for it. I watched my suitcase leave with one man and chased behind him to at least be able to keep my eye on it.

We entered the airport and tracked down our suitcases and Mike tipped them for the group and then we waited near the MI office for instructions to our flight. The coordinator came out of his office and looked us over, like we couldn’t possibly be seriously expecting a flight with all of THAT luggage. He took a few trips back and forth to the office and had some intense talk with Mike until we were told that due to the weight restrictions on the flight each of us was to get weighed and they were going to write it all out on a chart to establish how much luggage we could bring with us. Yes, we were going to be weighed in front of everyone. In the airport. With the Haitian “weigher” loudly articulating the results for all to hear.

Ah like this wasn’t humiliating enough, as they read our weights out for the world to hear, we are then told that we were allowed just 40lbs of extra weight between all 5 of us and that we must pull out only the absolute necessary personal items for the next day to take with us, quickly. There was an unspoken understanding that this was to be as little as possible to survive. Ah imagine the demoralizing effect this event had on the 3 women in the group as we hauled out underwear and all personal items needed to get us through the next couple of days and held it, in my case in a transparent cosmetics case, and then weighed it and had it recorded. Ah yes, this will make a great story later, but at that moment…not so pleasant. We were then informed that we were still 5lbs too heavy and must all go to the bathroom to lose as much of it as possible and stop drinking water—no I am not kidding!

After our bathroom run we waited until 9:30 to go out to the plane. It was here we realized just how foolish it was to think any of our luggage could have fit on the plane with us. The compartment under the plane was smaller than my carry on case! Cosmetics bag it is, for how long…good question…all we know is that in Haiti, plans are only plans, and rarely the reality.

After all of that though, I got to be co-pilot 😉 on a 6 passenger plane over the mountains to Hinche—totally cool experience—with a pilot from Vancouver. The mountains are absolutely bare with no greenery and a few “houses”. 20 minutes later we landed in Hinche on a rocky dirt path in the center of town and I was certain we were going to bottom out.

~H