I Made It

Haiti Day 1:

Selling inflatable swimming pools from the side of the road 

Beautiful crafts

I left yesterday evening from Salt Lake to Denver, then a redeye to Ft. Lauderdale, then finally arrived in Port-au-Prince this morning.  The first thing I noticed as I saw the land was massive amounts of aluminum roofs in all different shades of rust.  The next thing I noticed was how similar everything looked and felt to Accra.  The street vendors, animals, open gutters, people with random things on their heads (like the guy carrying a twin mattress set), and lots of time sitting in smelly, dusty traffic.  

UN Watchtower

It was also impossible not to see the heavy UN presence-every third vehicle, even huge construction equipment, was emblazoned with a large UN stencil.  

Tap Taps

The tap taps (not to be confused with Ghana’s tro tros) are quite a sight.  These buses are works of art with every inch painted in some bright color, pattern, and picture. 

            I got off the plane and was immediately greeted by a calypso band in the entrance of the airport.  I worked my way through customs and the crowds of people at the baggage claim.  It didn’t take an understanding of creole to know that all the men that came to talk to me were just trying to get a tip for helping me with my bags.  I was excited to finally have a secret wish fulfilled with someone holding a sign with my name on it at an airport.  I thought that this dream was going to happen last year in Ghana, but the driver got the dates mixed up and never came to get us.  I was told this time that a woman named Marie would be there to pick me up, so I was really surprised to see a little one-armed Haitian man jump out of a line of people and put a piece of notebook paper in my face with “Erika” scribbled across in pen.  We pushed our way through the parking lot until we found Marie who hires this man to meet incoming ETS teachers and creole students (they run a creole language-learning program out of the house where people can come to Haiti to learn the language) at the airport doors.

There was another girl coming in later that afternoon, so Marie and I went to breakfast at a restaurant near the airport.  My plane got in around 9:30, and the girl wasn’t going to get there until 1, so we spent a while eating this plate of salty cornmeal mush and thick beef stew with boiled plantains.  Finally we drove to the airport where I sat in the car for what seemed forever, I’m sure over an hour, by myself waiting for Marie to find the girl Nancy and bring her back to the car.  I was a little nervous, because despite what Marie had been telling me about the lack of crime in Haiti, on our way to the airport a teenage boy who had been helping us with directions suddenly reached through the window and tried to steal Marie’s phone before she scratched him and he only got away with a pen. 

On the way to the house

On the street where I live

            We eventually began the trek up to Tomassin, a little town in the mountains above Port-au-Prince  The drive up the windy jungle-mountain road was absolutely beautiful with thick green vegetation and bright red and pink flowering trees.  I got to the house and found that I am sharing a room with three other girls.  I’ve met the two sisters who are very nice, and the third girl I have yet to see.  I unpacked, met some more of the creole students, and finally got a chance to get connected to internet to let Mom and Dad know that I got in safely.

My bedroom is the second window from the left

The view from the porch.  This doesn't do it justice

I was invited to go with the other creole students to a woman’s house down the street who runs a bar/restaurant out of her front room.  I tried some more food, a sort of meat-stuffed calzone and spicy coleslaw, and chatted with some of the students.  I was absolutely exhausted, so I kept trying to have fun watching the other people drink and dance, but I was really happy when someone finally decided go home.