April 27, 2010

Yet another quiet day in the office...ha-ha! The good news is that I finally managed to get my data converted and tied out, the bad news is that one of the pieces of information I needed did not come over. Ugh! Guess I will have to try again tomorrow! Hopefully I will finally get all the data I need in one shot. I think I figured out how to get what I need so I should be able to hammer it out and get it done by noon. My goal is to go out and rubble tomorrow afternoon.

Tonight I went out for a beer with some people from the base. It was nice to enjoy a cold one and get to know more people. I found out about HODR (Hands on Disaster Response) through a long time friend of mine who is an architect in Seattle. He introduced me to the organization a few years ago. What is so funny about this is that another gal that is here has known my same friend for the last 10 years. She is an architect as well from the Seattle area. It was fun to hang out with her and get to know her. I always enjoy getting to know people.

I will keep this post short. More to come tomorrow!

April 26, 2010

As yes, another day in the office. I've decided the office life here isn't so bad....for one thing I am never cold in the office plus I can wear whatever I want. The office can sometimes be a little loud though, like today. Today they began the fabrication of the first school. The fabrication is taking place in our yard where they cut the lumber and framed the walls and a couple roof tresses. It is amazing what a team of talented individuals can accomplish in one day. It was fun to sit in the "office" and look out the door and watch framing going on and hear saws and hammers and seeing saw dust float by.

The first school they are building with HODR funds and the plan is for to apply for grants to build more schools. In addition to building the school they are also building furniture for the school. I will take some photos of the desks and chairs...they are super cute. I will post them after I get home where the bandwidth can handle uploading photos. I guess there is an NGO that has asked HODR to submit a program (which I think equates to apply for a grant) so HODR can build more furniture. There have been a few different NGO's that have stopped by over the course of days to see what we are up to and one of them really liked the school furniture and would like to provide HODR funds to build the furniture.

The good news is that I finally got all the data converted and uploaded into the new system. Now I just need to work on getting everything reconciled. I know there were a few errors in the upload. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a quick process.

Well, I'm off to take my cold water bucket shower!

April 25, 2010

Sunday may be the sabbath, but I spent all day working. This project of moving all the data from one system to another is just not easy as I thought it would be. Unfortunately the data from the online system cannot be just exported and imported into the new system. So I have been creating a data file that I can import. As I write this I am still not finished but figure I should get it wrapped up sometime tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that it will update with no errors!

Sunday's on the project are the off days. Our cook also has the day off so we are on our own for food. Since I have had some GI issues for the past two days (nothing bad, just annoying) I really have not been all that hungry. But I decided it would be a good idea to try and eat something. I went to egg lady outside base and split a fried egg sandwich with a friend. It was tasty...just egg, bread and butter! I opted to stay away from the lettuce, just in case!

For dinner we walked down to the place Masag... a local restaurant that many of the HODR folks visit. There is a local guy that sells artwork outside our base (Peter) that offered to walk three of us there, since we didn't exactly know where it was and we wanted to walk...it was only about a mile or so. It was entertaining to walk at night. The roads are smaller than normal do to the fact that they have rubble on them, and there are lots of mototaxis, bicycles, a few cars and quite a few people. Peter was very protective and took good care of us. He made sure we stayed close to the side of the road...he said the mototaxis are crazy! I never once felt as though I was in danger. He said Leogane is a very safe place. Masag was crazy...loud carribean based music and tons of people (mostly locals) all crowded in a small area. I jumped in line and made my way to the front. A skill that comes in handy here! This place is known for its burgers, fries and shakes. I was looking forward to ordering a burger, but they were out so I ordered a chicken sandwich and fries. One of the guys I was with was not comfortable being there so we decided to take our food to go. It was his first time in Haiti so I can understand how overwhelming it is. I didn't really care for it myself the first time but have found it to be comfortable this time. Even the heat and humidity are starting to grow on me, despite not sleeping as well as I normally do since it has been so warm at night and where I am sleeping there is little circulation of air.

All in all, it was another busy yet productive day! I can't believe I leave in a few short days. I am kind of sad. I have really enjoyed getting to know other volunteers and the locals.

April 24, 2010

Today (ok, yesterday since I am writing this entry on the 25^th, but not posting it until the 26^th as the internet went down….) was another busy day. I spent the majority of my morning working on my system conversion. At lunch time I finally got to get off the base....it was driving me nuts to be cooped up inside. My friend Andrew needed to exchange some money and I asked if I could tag along. Going off base did not feel at all the same as it did in Gonaives. In Gonaives, it felt chaotic (lots of people, tap-taps, mototaxis), there were always people trying to approach you and it was so dusty. It was not nearly as chaotic walking off base here. The locals don't harass you like they did in Gonaives. They don't ask you to buy things, or ask for money. They still say hi or hey you as you walk by. Sometimes I wonder if it's just not that my expectations are so different after having had already been in the country. Anyhow the trip to the "money exchanger" was good. They were actually just a bunch of guys sitting on the corner with a wad of cash that you could negotiate your rate with. The town truly does have 80-90% of is buildings damaged.

This town actually has the potential to be a beautiful town. A lot of the buildings are colorful...there even some old wooden buildings, that somehow survived the earthquake. For some odd reason those old wooden buildings faired better than most of the concrete ones.

We stopped at the vendor just outside the camp and picked up a Coke to enjoy. Nothing beats an ice cold coke (don't worry there was not ice in my coke) on a hot day....well maybe an ice cold beer, but it was the middle of the work day!

During the afternoon I decided to take a break and go play with the kids that live in the refuge camp. They come to the front of our compound for a few hours in the afternoon. During that time we have play time, art time and English class. I participated with two groups, play time and English. All I can say is boy do the kids have energy!!!! Most of the children really do want to learn. I spent quite a bit of time working on English with one young girl who spoke very little English. She spoke Creole (Haitian) and French. We got by and were still able to communicate and she would teach me in Creole whatever I taught her in English. It was a well needed break from my computer and I really enjoyed the time! It was a nice reminder of why I am here…to help!

April 23, 2010

Yesterday I spent the day installing QuickBooks Not for Profit and trying to setup the new chart of accounts. Not my typical Hands On Disaster Response work but it feels good I am helping them. The office here is more active than my office in Minneapolis! There are lots of us working hard on many different projects. Architects are designing, people are discussing current and upcoming projects, people are entering data and of course answers questions from folks in the field and locals looking for help. After our dinner of rice and beans and a few mini hot dogs left from lunch we had our nightly All Hands On meeting. These are always entertaining and provide us with stories and discussion points. Last night one of the teams discussed how they felt unappreciated by a homeowner. Others pointed out that no matter where you are in the world you will always come across people that don't appreciate what you do. I think the fact that this same rubble team had worked at another house the day before where the homeowner was helping them and bought them cold cokes throughout the day was the other extreme so it was easy to feel unappreciated. It was interesting to learn that houses here are what people invest in and are handed down for generations. So the fact that the homeowner had a nice or large house, does not mean he will be able to rebuild it or that he has the financial power to be able to pay someone to clear the rubble. In this case it was a man who lost his wife in the earthqauke and is trying to support 5 children.

HODR is planning on rolling out a local volunteer program on Monday. We had one in Gonaives as well. It does help to get local people involved. They help us with some language barriers and can help explain to other people that we are not getting paid. The volunteering concept is not well understood here.

The volunteers here are all great. It has been fun getting seeing some of the same folks from the Gonaives project and meeting new folks. I feel more comfortable and welcomed than I did at in Gonaives. There are close to 100 of us here on base. It is a lot of people, but the space is so large that in a way it does not feel like there are that many people here.

I hope to take some photos today and post a link to them. Hope everyone is doing well.

April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day and greetings from Haiti. I arrived here safe and sound yesterday. My flights went well with no issues. I even met up with the 4 individuals with the ACCP that were coming to visit the project. The ACCP is a member organization that helps the development of contribution professionals. The people that came down here represent firms such as Sun Country, Expedia and Johnson and Johnson.

Flying into PAP I was able to see the level of destruction from the plane. Its one thing to see it on TV but another to see it for your own eyes.

Upon arriving we were shuttled to the warehouse where immigration, luggage and customs were. The airport building itself was damaged in the earthquake and has not yet been fixed. The first thing I noticed that was different (aside from not going in to the airport) was the presence of military helicopters, large tents and supplies. The warehouse was hot and crowded, but not as chaotic as I thought it would be. After gathering my luggage we stepped outside the door, where choas ensued. Outside the PAP airport was chaotic last time I was there so I was prepared for it, but it was more chaotic than before the earthquake. There were a lot of people there to "help" you. They want to carry your bags, but then get paid for it and they don't ask they just try to take them from you. I was prepared for it but they pretty much left our small group alone. We met up with Andrew and our drivers and started our journey to Leogane. The drive here, was almost as crazy as I remember the drive to Gonaives. No lanes, passing whenever, speed up, then slow down (quickly) then swerve...repeat. Mind you there are no seatbelts or traffic signs and very few street signs! I have no idea how people know where they are around here.

We arrived here at base at dinner. We ate dinner, had the evening meeting, got a tour of the facility and got sleeping quarters setup. The evening meetings are always fun. I enjoy hearing about what everyone did during the day. Yesterday there were teams out removing rubble from collapsed houses, a structural engineering team that has been traveling out to area schools to inspect them, a team of folks that serve as volunteers at the hospital, a crew that is working on beautification of the base, a welding/tool repair team, an architecture team that is designing schools and school furniture and even a two person crew that is working on "greening" up our operation by getting composting setup and eventually rolling that out into the community. I am sure I am forgetting some of the other work that is being done. For the most part I just hung out and talked with people for about another hour and then headed off to sleep. After getting up at 3:45 that morning I was tired.

Oh did I mention it is HOT here and my friends the mosquitos are here?

I am looking to digging in tomorrow and getting stuff figured out. I will update again soon!

Haiti April 2010

Greetings! I am off to Haiti again. I will be leaving Wednesday April 21st and will be returning on Thursday April 29....just a quick trip this time. I am heading to Leogane, Haiti to volunteer with Hands On Disaster Response, an NGO I have volunteered with a couple of times, once before in Gonaives Haiti in January 2009. Leogane is located about 18 miles west of Port Au Prince and was the epicenter of the earthquake in January this year. Leogane was catastrophically destroyed with up to 80-90% of the buildings damaged. I am looking forward to the trip and the adventure it will provide. I hope you enjoy reading my random thoughts. Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email if you have questions on what I am doing or what I write about.

2009 Thoughts

How can it possibly be 2010 already? First of all I seem to have misplaced 2009 and second of all where did the last ten years go? It seems like just yesterday we were all thinking about Y2K.

2009 began with me heading to Haiti to volunteer with my favorite organization Hands On Disaster Response. The trip was eye opening, as you can read from my earlier posts this year. I returned to MN, where it was 100 degrees colder..quite literally. I returned to work at my contract job in downtown. At the end of April I headed down to Arizona to visit my mother and help her with some things around her house. It's always nice to visit Arizona and sit in the sun! In June I ran, well mostly ran, Grandma's Marathon. Why is it that whenever I sign up for a marathon it is hot? Of course the day before the marathon it was cool and cloudy in Duluth but the day of the race it was 92 when I finished. Toss the humidity in there and it was quite a day. Overall I still improved my marathon time by 30 minutes and was only 30 minutes off my goal time. Guess I will have to try again!

In July I had the fortunate opportunity to be part of my friends Katie and Dustin's wedding. It was a great day and a fun time...until I got my foot stepped on while dancing. Don't worry...I did not let that stop me, I kept dancing. When I woke up the next morning my foot was black and blue and swollen. After a trip to urgent care I came home wearing a boot, which mind you I wore for the next 3.5 months!

I still managed to sail all summer, despite the broken foot. I went to my first regatta, away from the yacht club where I typically sail. It was a team racing regatta in Sheboygan, WI. It was a great experience and I look forward to returning in 2010.

We also took a trip to Peru this past fall. If you have never been, I highly recommend a trip there. It was a beautiful country and the people were awesome. We enjoyed the sights of Puno, Cusco, Machu Picchu and Lima. You can read my earlier posts if you are interested in checking it out!

In November we traveled to Washington DC to do the usual Thanksgiving Amber's Birthday Christmas celebration! So it all doesn't happen on one day, but boy I am always exhausted after that weekend! I always enjoy my time in DC. I really like it there.

Now that the foot is finally healed I have resumed my workouts and have even tried adding CrossFit to the mix twice a week. I have always done a poor job of lifting weights so this is good for me as I know strength training is important. I was so sore after the first class that I could hardly walk down the stairs.

I am still contracting and actually am still with the same client. I have been fortunate to be selected by such as great company.

Each month I look forward to my book club. I am so fortunate to be part of a great group of ladies. We always have such great discussions, both about the books and about life!

I look forward to what 2010 will bring. I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy!

October 10, 2009

I apologize for not being able to post anything after the 5th of October until today. Once we left Cusco I did not have wireless access and the internet access in Aguas Calientes. In addition I had some issues with the hotel internet in Cusco.

It is nice to be home although I already miss the mountains of Peru. I spent most of today getting caught up on the mail, bills and grocery shopping. I am still in that culture shock after being out of the country. We are the "Land of Plenty"...a phrase I have borrowed from my friend Marc. There is something to be said about the simplicity of lesser developed countries.

Of course I did have to watch the Vikes, but ended up taking a nap through all of the second half. Guess the 31 hours of travel time wore me out.

I hope to have all my photos posted later this week so keep an eye out for them!

October 9, 2009

We start our journey home today. We are leaving Cusco at 11:50am but don’t fly out of Lima until mid night tonight. Gotta love the International flights from Peru! The flight from Cusco to Lima is short - only about 65 minutes. Upon arrival in Lima we checked our luggage into the secured airport storage. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Miraflores area. The weather in Lima was chilly and damp. I was glad that I brought an extra jacket along as I was chilly in my light sweatshirt.

We grabbed a light lunch, light compared to our other meals. We all had sandwiches, except Chuck who had a great big ice cream sundae for lunch. For some odd reason he has been craving ice cream this trip. Anyhow after that we wandered the streets and found the “market”. This market actually contained a lot of the same stuff that we found in Cusco only the prices were a little higher. We decided to grab a drink at a bar just to kill some time before we found our dinner spot. We asked a person at a tourist booth in Lima where they would recommend we go for Ceviche. Ceviche is another Peruvian dish that is made from raw seafood with lime and lemon juice and some seasoning. We found our restaurant we chose was called Alfresco in the Miraflores area. We asked our waiter what he would recommend for the Ceviche. We ended up settling on the mixed Ceviche and the Tiradito that was recommended by our waiter. The Tiradito consisted of three small dishes of raw white fish (Flounder) in different sauces. One sauce was a yellow chili sauce that was not spicy, the second was a cilantro sauce and the third was a sauce made from vinegar, garlic and oil. I tried all of the dishes but I just don’t seem to like raw fish for one reason or another. I still taste the fish. For my main dish I ordered swordfish with garlic and spices served over a side of creamy corn, which was delicious. The corn was not like American corn, the kernels were huge. Our dinner took about 2.5 hours, we intentionally ate slow but the service in Peru is slower than in the States. There is no reason to rush! We called our the taxi driver that picked dropped us off and he came and picked us up and took us back to the airport. We checked in, paid our exit tax and headed through security. We said our good-byes to Joel, Pat and Jonathan and waited for our plane to board.

I slept off and on for part of the flight to Miami. We arrived here around 5:45 this morning and went through customs. That process was relatively pain free! We expected to be able to check our luggage right back in but we were not able to do that because we were more than 6 hours early for our flight. So we had to sit with our luggage for a little while. When we returned to the check in area there were long lines everywhere, it was a mess! I can honestly say the airports in Peru were far more organized than the Delta ticketing in Miami. I was finally able to get our boarding passes printed, which was a challenge since half the machines were not working. Upon the suggestion of a Delta employee we went to check our baggage at the curb. After waiting in that line for about 20 minutes we found out you could only check baggage for Delta on the curb, which made no sense to me sine they are the same company. Anyhow we returned inside and waited in line for an hour to check our baggage. The Delta/NW staff in Miami need a lesson on how to efficiently check baggage. After we got our luggage checked we headed through security. Going through security was fast and easy, unlike checking the baggage. We grabbed a bite to eat and wasted a couple of hours in the Miami airport before boarding the plane. I don’t remember take off, I guess I fell asleep but woke up about an hour into the flight and downloaded the rest of our photos. We arrived safe and sound at 6:00 in MSP to chilly weather. I think I need to move someplace warm!

October 8, 2009

Today we had our tour of the Sacred Valley. Our guide, Mary, picked us up in the morning and we drove about an hour out of Cusco to a scenic overlook. We piled back in the van and drove to a llama, alpaca and vicuna “zoo”. This was one of my personal highlights of the day. Actually everyone in the group really enjoyed it. We were able to learn about the different types of llamas, alpacas and the vicuna. We were also able to feed them alfalfa. They really didn’t express an interest in being pet, but they were not afraid to come right up to you to get some alfalfa. At this stop the locals also had a demonstration of how they spin and dye the yarn from the shearing. There were also 5 women from different villages that were demonstrating the weaving on the loom. They make the most amazing stuff. I have no idea how they do it. Their fingers move so quick and are so agile. We left the “zoo” and headed up the hill to another scenic overlook of the Sacred Valley.

Peru is known for Chicha, a homemade beer made from corn that is “brewed” daily. Houses that make the Chicha hang flags outside. The flags are all over, I We stopped at house to try the Peruvian beverage. The first Chicha we sampled was the plain corn Chicha, which I found to be disgusting. The second one we sampled was made with some strawberries in it. That one actually tasted pretty good. I don’t know that I could have ever finished the size of glass the local’s enjoy.

The view of the Sacred Valley was gorgeous. It was very lush with a lot of farm land. Some of the farmland was plowed using a tractor and some of it was plowed using oxen. From this lookout we could see the market in Pisac that we were heading to. We arrived at the market and were allowed one hour. I could have easily spent more time just wandering. This market had a tourist side and a local side and I only barely got into the local side. From there we headed to Ollantaytambo to visit another amazing Inca ruin. I still cannot get over how the Inca’s moved these stones. We climbed up the stairs to enjoy a great view of the city, the surrounding farmland and one of the highest mountains in Peru. One difference between this ruin and others is that the Inca’s utilized pink granite in addition to regular granite. The pink granite was mined from a neighboring mountain quarry, hauled down that mountain and back up another mountain to where the ruin is. When I post photos later I show where the rock was hauled from. It might be hard to see how far and high they moved the rock from the photos.

After our visit to the ruin we stopped for a buffet lunch about 20 minutes away from Ollantaytambo. This was a place our guide selected for us that contained a lot of local Peruvian cuisine from the Cusco region. The food options consisted of salads, lots of potatoes, beef, lamb, chicken and desserts. The food was pretty good. I am usually not all that excited about eating at buffets in American let alone a foreign country but none of us got sick so all was well!

We continued our drive back out of the Sacred Valley back toward Cusco. We enjoyed many sights of the country. This area is very rich in agriculture. There they grow corn, potatoes and fruits and of course raise livestock, mostly cows and pigs. There were also some horses and donkeys as well. The farm animals are what I consider to be “free range” roaming the country side. Most of the houses are built using adobe bricks, some have windows and doors and some don’t.

We arrived back in Cusco around 4:30 and I decided I would wander the town some more. Chad, Chuck and Jonathan wanted to come with and see some more of Cusco. I took them up to the area Pat and I stayed in and shared with them some of the sights of the San Blas area. They seemed to really enjoy it. I think the highlight for them was the stop at Gringo Heidi’s for the famous Nelson Mandella cake, chocolate sauce and ice cream. It was amazing. We wandered the area for a couple hours slowly making our way back to meet Pat and Joel so we could head for dinner. Upon picking up Joel and Pat we headed back to the main square area to find dinner. Our mission that night was to try the Cuy, yep Guinea Pig. We first stopped at an Irish bar to enjoy a cocktail. Once the bar got too smoky we headed down to our dining spot. I guess the Peruvian gods were not on our side as they were out of Cuy at this restaurant. That day was a local religious celebration of something or other (they celebrate a lot there in Peru) so there was a run on Cuy. Oh well, we still enjoyed our dinner.

October 7, 2009

Today was our tour of Machu Piccu. We rose bright and early to catch an early bus to the entrance where we were to meet up with the guys. It was fun to see the sun come through the mountains and eventually see Machu Piccu lit up in the morning sun. The guys had just gotten to the meeting spot right before we got there. They looked shot! They said the hike was hard (Chuck, Chad and Joel thought it was harder than Kilimanjaro). The terrain started on a dirt trail but eventually came to the stone Inca Trail. There was a lot of up and down each day. On the last day the rose very early, 3:45am, in order to try to get from the camp ground to the Gateway of the Sun at sunrise. It sounds like they were speed walking borderline running to get there. I guess all the groups did the same thing. I will ask Chad to put together a blog post that summarizes the trek.

Their trail guide was our Machu Picchu guide. We had two ours guided and a few hours to wander the park on our own. It was great to have a tour guide to tell us about the history and other facts of the Inca Empire. The Inca’s started building this site around 1430 AD but it was abandoned as the official site of the Inca rules at the time of the Spanish conquest. Since Machu Picchu was located so far away from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found by the Spanish and consequently not destroyed as most of the Inca sites were. Machu Picchu was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911 and has been was listed as “Historical Sanctuary” in Peru in 1971 and designated as a World Heritage Site in 1983. I understand why it is listed as one of the seven wonders of the world. It is truly AMAZING and no photo I have ever seen does it justice.

October 6, 2009

Pat and I rose bright and early today as our ride to the train station was departing our hotel at 6 am. We were taking the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes. The train ride was about 3.5 hours long and took us through the changing landscape of Peru. The train made the initial climb out of Cusco into the surrounding hillside and then descended into the Sacred Valley. We passed many colorful villages in the foothills of the Andes. We descended further into the plateau of Anta which contained many of the typical Andean crops. We passed by several Inca ruins and agricultural terraces. Many of the terraces are all that remain of Inca cities that were lost forever during the first years after the Spanish conquest. The great plain narrows dramatically as the tracks enter a deep gorge that was carved by the Pomatales River. The Pomatales River runs into the Urubamba River and heads to the Amazon. Just past where the two rivers join we passed where the guys started their trek on the Inca Trail. As the train continued toward Aguas Calintes the surroundings became more lush and green, almost tropical. It was weird to see so many tress as there are not many tress in and around Cusco. As the train continued the hillsides were covered with trees and Spanish Moss. We arrived in Aguas Calientes and went to our hotel. Because we arrived at 10:30 we were not allowed to check in to the hotel but were able to leave our bags there to wander the town. This town is significantly smaller than Cusco but still had the charm of Peru. The people here were friendly, just as everyone else we had encountered on our trip.

After noon we checked into our hotel and decided to buy a bus ticket and take it up to Machu Picchu as we thought there were some trails to walk on outside of the park. The bus ride up the mountain was crazy. It is a dirt road that switch backs up the mountain that is essentially one lane. You never knew when you were going to meet a bus coming from the opposite direction and you might need to go in reverse up or down the mountain in order to make room for the other bus to pass.

Upon arriving at the top we found out there were no trails to walk on outside the park. It had just started to rain so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat at the cafe. I enjoyed the soft serve ice cream. While we were there we were joined by a couple that was originally from Great Britain but had relocated to New Zealand and a recently engaged couple from Germany. We had a great visit with them while waiting for the rain to pass. Once the bus lines decreased we decided to head back down to town.

We enjoyed our dinner buffet can called it a night early as we had another early rising scheduled for the next morning.

October 5, 2009

Pat and I enjoyed a nice dinner at Pacha Papa (Father Earth) in the San Blas area last night. The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating but the outdoor seats were full. Never-the-less the atmosphere and was awesome. There were several indoor rooms off of the main outdoor courtyard.

It is the start of the rainy season here. That being said it rains everyday usually around 2:30 or 3:00. The past couple days the rain has been light and only lasted a little while but today it is a nice gentle rain and appears to look like it might last about an hour. I can see some blue skies on the other side of town. We have the most amazing view from our hotel. We are part way up the hill and overlook the city. As I look straight out the window right now I can see the mountains that surround Cusco. I have the same view from my shower! Of course the window is much smaller and I hope no one can see me! Otherwise the weather is Cusco has been gorgeous. The mornings are crisp and the afternoons are nice and warm. The evenings are quite chilly. I feel like I could wear shorts during the day but a winter coat in the evening!

I woke up this morning feeling though I had slept in, for the first time this trip. I threw on some clothes and tip-toed out of the room so as not to rouse Pat. Our hotel provides free breakfast. I was able to enjoy breakfast with a few folks from near Cape Town South Africa, Ireland and Australia. A few of us exchanged emails and welcomed each other to visit our native countries. After I finished breakfast I went to sit out in the courtyard. When I finally looked at my watch I realized it was only 8:30 and I know I had been visiting with the other folks for quite some time. Pat said she heard me leave around 7...so much for sleeping in. Today Pat and I wandered around Cusco and did some Christmas shopping. I can assure you this is the first time in a long time that I have done any Christmas shopping in October. Our first stop was a Fair Trade textile shop that I read about in my guide book. That place was really neat. They had a museum explaining the process from the sheering all the way to through the actual weaving. The Fair Trade museum guarantees that 70% of your purchase goes to the women that make the goods. The work was beautiful and quite different from a lot of the stuff you see on the street.

Today our goal was to go into as many stores as possible and see if we could start to feel the difference between alpaca, baby alpaca and llama wool. I think we finally have it figured out. Baby alpaca is very fine, alpaca is soft and the llama is more coarse. But then it is hard to tell if the stores have mixed synthetics in with the wool!

We ate lunch at Patiti, a restaurant that served many different types of food, from traditional Peruvian to Asian to Italian. I opted to try the spaghetti to see what it is like here in Peru. The sauce was mostly meat, which was pretty good but I like a little more sauce. Pat had a chicken salad served in Avocado and a bowl of chicken soup, which they split for us. The chicken noodle soup was excellent! A young guy came in and sat down at a table by himself. We invited him to join us. He had just finished University in England and was taking several months to tour the world. He had been in Rio De Janeiro, Bolivia, Peru and then heading Santiago Chili then to New Zealand and Australia. He is traveling with a group but kind of hopes to stay in New Zealand for a while. I was envious, his trip sounds awesome.

We headed back to the hotel just as the rain was starting. We have one more night here in Cusco and get up EARLY as they are picking us up at 5:30 to catch the train that takes us to Aguas Calientas. We spend part of the day there and the next morning we head to Machu Picchu! I am really excited to see it!

October 4, 2009

This morning Pat and I transferred hotels. We are staying in Cusco at in the San Blas area. This area is known as being the art district. It looks similar to the rest of Cusco with the only difference being there are more small art gallery shops along the street. Once we got settled in our new place Pat and I headed out to the wander. We stopped at this little shop called Magic Hands. We went to open the door but it was locked. Just as we were able to leave a man named opened the door. He said we were welcome to come in but he only allows two people in the store at one time. The store is quite small, however Jesus says he only opens the door when he senses positive energy on the other side. As it turns out he is a shaman, or a traditional healer in a small village near Cusco. This skill is passed from generation to generation within families. He lives and does natural healing in his village for part of each month using natural herbs, roots and other ancient methods and practices. For the rest of the month he works in his small shop creating one of a kind jewelry with Inca symbols and stories to match. Jesus asked my permission to scan my hand with his. What amazed me what the warmth and energy that I could feel from him. He told me that I was struggling with conflict and that I was “crazy analytical woman” that tends to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Ok, I was thinking this guy was a total scam artist but there was something about his aura that just made me feel so comfortable. He told me my aura was orange and green but should be yellow. He brought out a piece of jewelry, a necklace, that he said would help me to block the negative energy and convert any negative energy to positive energy. Regardless of whether or not the necklace was beautiful. It has a Fire Opal on the front side with silver and white gold surrounding it. On the back side are 5 stones that are in the shape of a cross or a fish, depending on how you look at them. One stone is from Wayna Picchu, one is Peruvian Opal Moonstone, the next Bull Horn followed by Lapis Blue and Serpentina from Machu Picchu. Jesus may be a scam artist, some people claim he is but everyone comments on his energy.

After that we wandered down the street stopping at stores here and there and ended up back in the central market. There are many street vendors here in Cusco that approach you to sell you anything from water, belts, paintings, jewelry to photos with native people and alpaca or baby sheep. I got sucked into a photo with a native person and her baby sheep. It cost me $0.30 and I got to hold the the baby sheep. I am such a sucker for baby animals!

We enjoyed a nice lunch at a restaurant on the second story where we could watch the people in the Central Square.

After that we walked, all uphill back to the hotel. We have been relaxing and I was able to get caught back up on my blog posts.

We are heading out to find dinner shortly. We are going to a restaurant just up the street that was recommended by our guide service.

October 3, 2009

Today we had a free morning in Cusco and an afternoon packed with an organized tour. Most of the folks in the group headed out to wander the town, for some of us it was the first time seeing the town in the light. I opted to stay in as I knew I would be doing a lot of walking in the afternoon and wanted to save my foot for that. In the morning I downloaded photos from mine, Chuck and Joel's cameras and updated the blog all from an open air patio within the hotel. The hotel actually has 4 of these little patios. I tried uploading photos but was not having much luck, I think the connection is too slow for the volume that I was trying to upload. Hopefully today I can get it mastered.

Our afternoon started with a tour of Sacsayhuaman, an Inca walled fortress. The ruins, cover a huge area, but they area perhaps one-quarter of the original complex. Although they are still uncovering parts of the original complex a lot of it was destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors when they fought the Inca's. Most of the history of why and how this fortress was built was taken and destroyed. The Inca culture worships the natural world - sun, moon and Mother Earth. Without those we cannot live.

The next stop on our afternoon was Q'Enko. Q'Enko, another Inca ruin. This limestone outcrop was hollowed out into a cave like altar. Some claim the alter was used for animal sacrifices.

We then headed to Tambomachay. These ruins consist of three tiers of stone platforms that water still flows across into a sophisticated system of aqueducts and canals. It is believed this place was used for water ceremonies and worship and not as a "bath".

We headed back down to Cusco to the Cathedral in the main square (Plaza de Armas). The cathedral is actually comprised of three parts, as I refer to them the old, older and oldest. The architecture and decor is AMAZING. There was gold, silver wood carvings and paintings.

After the tour of the Cathedral we headed to our last stop at the Qoricancha. Qoricanca, also the Temple of the Sun, was dedicated to the worship of the sun. Yet another demonstration of the Inca culture and their naturalistic beliefs.

In addition to the Inca culture and architecture here fascinates me. It amazes me to think that the cathedrals and homes here have sustained several severe earthquakes. Cusco is beautiful!

The guys had their meeting with their trekking guides for the Inca Trail last night. Both Pat and I sat in and listened. It sounds like they will have a phenomenal trip. I wish I could be able to do the trek but am grateful that I can be here.

October 2, 2009

When we were researching our trip we came across a train ride from Puno to Cusco that is quite popular. We decided we would splurge and take the Class A train as the booked warned of possible safety issues. Not to mention we once took a long train ride in Sweden using the general class and did not reserve seats and ended up standing and sitting on our luggage between the cars for most of that train ride. The extra money on the train ride was well worth it. We departed Puno and made three stops en route to Cusco. The elevation in Puno is right around 11,500 and the the highest point on the train ride was 14,500. That point was roughly the halfway point where we were able to get off the train for 10 minutes. Boy could we tell the difference, you get winded really quickly at that elevation with such a large elevation gain. The train then descended back to Cusco which is just over 11,000 feet. I feel great at this elevation, not that I felt horrible in Puno, but just got winded very easily. Chuck is finally back to himself. The descent made a huge difference for him. He is back to joking around and picking on me as usual!

Our train contained an observation car. I have to figure out if it is an observation car for the riders or for the folks not on the street. :) Sometimes I felt we were on display. The only spot where I felt uncomfortable was in Juliaca. That town has a reputation for having more crime. I could tell as I noticed extra personnel on the train and at least 2 folks in the back of the observation car, whereas normally they did not hang out there for extended periods of time. There are some very poor areas of Peru as well as some very nice areas. In my opinion the country is better off than Haiti and even Tanzania. We were able to see some snow capped peaks of the Andes Mountains on our train ride which were beautiful. The countryside is amazing. When we started in Puno the landscape was very dry and after we crossed the high point the landscape started to green up. Prior to the hight point there was little in the way of agriculture to speak of and the cows, sheep and few alpaca's we saw looked a little on the sickly side. After the high point the animals looked very healthy and we saw actual crops being farmed. I saw very little farming that was done using modern machinery the bulk of it was still being down using cows to pull a plow or plowing by hand. One interesting thing I have noticed is that I saw the majority of women doing the agricultural work, in addition to laundry. I have yet to figure out what their men are doing....

Our train ride included small Pisco sours and a band in the morning, a gourmet lunch, an afternoon lesson on how to make Pisco sours with a band and a fashion show, then followed by afternoon tea complete with finger sandwiches. It was quite the experience. I was the lucky person that the bar tender gave the demonstrated Pisco Sour to. They are yummy! The Pisco Sour contains Pisco (a liquor that I think tastes similar to a really good tequila), syrup (essentially sugar), lemon juice, egg whites and a few drops of bitters. Both Chuck and Chad ended up trying a Passion Fruit Sour and a Papaya Sour. They said both were pretty good.

Upon arrival in Cusco our driver met us at the train station and brought us to our hotel where we rendezvoused with Joel (Chuck's brother), his wife Pat, and their son Jonathan. Shortly after we got checked in our representative from our guide company met us for a quick briefing and provided some recommendations for dining options. After that we walked up to the main square which has lots of dining options and is beautiful at night. We chose to eat at the Inca Grill but since Chad, Chuck and I were still full from our train ride we split a small pizza. Joel, Pat and Jonathan said their food was excellent and our pizza was quite tasty as well. After that we came back to our hotel and headed for bed.

The people here in general are very friendly and welcoming aside from a few of the young boys that threw rocks at the train. Boys will be boys no matter what country you are in. The young kids run to the train to wave at you as you go by. They have such bright happy faces and are elated when you wave back to them.

I tried to post some photos the other night, but was unsuccessful so I will try to post some either later on. If you have questions on things or want more information on something please feel free to drop me an email. Hope everyone is well and best of luck to those running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon tomorrow! I will be cheering for you from Peru.

October 1, 2009

Can I just say that it is hard to believe that it is October already? Today was an awesome day. We got up at 5:30 and Chad and I enjoyed the breakfast buffet. Chuck was not feeling all that well today, altitude sickness...such a weird thing one trip you can be fine and the next time you can be miserable. After breakfast we caught our taxi and headed to the boat launch. We had about a 30 minute boat ride to the the first stop on Isla Flotante Uros Suchi Chuyma. These are floating islands that indigenous people live on. Our tour guide Miguel (a different Miguel than we had in Lima) spoke Spanish and also the language they speak. On the island our tour guide explained how the islands were built and the culture. These pre-Incan people are quite amazing. They are always busy. They give tours in the morning, harvest reeds or fish in the afternoon. Some of the men even have jobs in the mainland of Puno. One interesting fact was that an elected official noticed many islands catching fire back in the 1980's because of the use of candles for light. So he provided several solar panels to the people to allow them to have lights. The funny part was they also have TV's and radios that are run via the solar power. Being on the island felt akin to walking on a firm waterbed. After that we broke up into groups and were able to tour a house. Sabina took us into her house, a one room reed house, and dressed in the clothing they wear. We posed from some photos and then headed out for a tour of the reed area of the lake in a reed boat. The boat was surprisingly stable!

After the tour we got back on our motor boat and headed across the lake to a natural island called Taquile. This island has a population of about 5,000. We hiked part way up the hill where Miguel talked to us about the inhabitants history and their culture, which was fascinating. One thing I have noticed in my two short days here in Peru is that is that Mother Earth is very important. The Taquilenos are known for is the woven textiles. They do amazing weaving - both the men and the women. From their you had the option to hike up and then down the other side of the island or head back to the boat which would bring you around to the other side of the island. I opted for the boat since I was not sure my foot was up for the unstable ground yet. The elevation makes it throb more than normal. Chuck and Chad did the hike and said it was nice.

We then boarded the boat and headed back to Puno which is about a 3 hour ride. We got back just as a thunderstorm rolled in. It was a nice thunderstorm complete with awesome lighting. We relaxed a little and headed down to dinner.

Hopefully by tomorrow Chuck will be feeling better. All that I have noticed so far is that I get winded easy but don't have any headaches or upset stomach. I have been drinking the mate de coco tea which I am guessing must be helping me. Chad has had some tea but has adjusted much better he has in prior trips. Tomorrow we take a 10 hour train ride to Cusco. The train runs at above 11,000 feet and the views are supposed to be gorgeous. I am looking forward to it!

September 30, 2009 Part II

Just a quick post to let everyone know we made it safe and sound to Puno. We arrived in Juliaca around 2:30 claimed our luggage and met our "taxi" and left there around 3. That city is not spoken of highly for tourists. The drive here was surprisingly good, especially compared to the commute from Port Au Prince to Gonaives in Haiti. We got to Puno around 4 and got checked into our hotel. After that we wandered the complex for a little while and decided we wanted to have an early dinner and hit the sack early. The hotel is definitely nice with a wonderful restaurant. I had roccoro relleno (a pepper stuffed with some sort of beef stew served with something that reminded me of au gratin potatoes covered with a cheese sauce. It was fabulous. I also had some vegetables zucchini, mushrooms and roasted red peppers that were covered with a provolone cheese. Chuck had alpaca tenderloin steak with french fries and Chad had beef something with rice. All dishes were excellent. We are already getting ready for bed as we are shot after traveling for close to 34 hours with little sleep. Only a few cat naps here and there on the plane. Tomorrow we head out for a tour of Lake Titikaka and will visit two of its floating islands. We learned tonight that the deepest part of the lake is 270m. We will double check and fill you with useless information tomorrow. Everyone is doing well despite the high altitudes. Chat soon.

September 30, 2009

This may be part one of today's post, we will see how I am feeling later. We left Miami slightly early (who ever heard of such a thing...) and had an uneventful flight to Peru. It is currently 10:49 CST and we are back in the Lima airport. We arrived here around 4:45, went through customs and got our luggage and were waiting for our tour company to pick us up around 6am. Our guide arrived to meet us shortly thereafter and took us out for a driving tour of Lima. Lima is actually a beautiful city. There is a lot of neat old architecture, we saw the statue of San Martin, oldest cathedral, the prime minister's house, the bishop's house, the Barranco and Miaflores districts. As for animals we saw wild dogs and cats, pigeons and small vultures. The weather was overcast and has yet to clear. Most days start this way and the fog and clouds burn off after nine. We enjoyed a great breakfast at Mananos in the Miaflores area. We invited our guide and the driver to join us. Chuck and Miguel (our guide) enjoyed a native Peruvian breakfast. It reminded me of beef stew, Chuck called beef with a gravy sauce served with bread. He said it was tasty. I had coffee, and a ham and cheese omelet and fresh squeezed strawberry juice. Miguel was telling me how cheap strawberries are here year round. I was so envious. Chad enjoyed a ham and cheese omelet as well with fresh squeezed orange juice. Our driver Juan had some sort of croissant sandwich that was served with an awesome chili sauce. The sauce had kick but great flavor.

After breakfast we headed back to the airport and got the rest of our travel information and checked in to head to our next destination of Puno (elevation is close to 13,000 ft). I am guessing we will all have headaches and feel horrible for a couple of hours, espeically after not sleeping a whole lot. TTFN.

September 29, 2009

Greetings from MIA, Miami International Airport. We left Minneapolis this morning and arrived safely in Miami around 2:00 EST. From the airport we checked our bags into storage and caught a cab to Lincoln Street in South Beach Miami. Upon arrival on Lincoln Street we walked a couple of blocks and decided it was time to grab a couple slices of pizza for Joe. We ate at Pizza Rustica. Chad and I had been there once before and enjoyed their selections of pizza. Chuck and I split a slice of Caprese and Chad had BBQ Chicken. After that Chad and Chuck decided to head down to the beach. I opted to take in the scenes of Lincoln Street, mostly so that I did not do too much walking on my foot. I headed up to sit out at the Starbucks and being the person I am could not just sit outside on their nice comfy chairs without ordering a beverage so I opted for an Iced Mocha (decaf and skim of course). As I sat down and pulled out my Mac to work on my first blog post a man commented on my Mac. Of course once he started talking he just never stopped...of course being the nice gal that I am never told him to leave me alone. Anyhow he was quite entertaining, probably because he has consumed more alcohol in one day than I have consumed this month! He wreaked of it, even from 10 feet away. He and his “uncle”, who evidently plays Santa Claus down here in Miami were heading to Fort Lauderdale. Reminder if I have kids never allow them to sit on Santa’s lap in FL. The “uncle” was more inebriated than his “nephew”. Anyhow as I was sitting there listening to Craig (the drunk man) a gentleman came to sit next to me, I thought because he was enjoying this scene. I guess he actually sat down to try and scare the drunks off! Very nice of him. His name was Victor, originally from Columbia but grew up most of his life in New York before making Miami his home. We had quite a nice conversation about Columbia, Minnesota, work and life. Chad and Chuck agreed to meet me a the Starbucks at 6:30 but they showed up early, I guess Chuck just was not into the art deco of the South Beach. He did comment that the prettier sex wears their clothing a little tighter down here than in MN. I made introductions and the four of us visited for about an hour. After a recommendation for cheaper Mexican food close by from Victor we left Victor and leaded on. We ate dinner at Lime, the place kind of reminded me of Baja Tortilla, only they did not have as many salsa’s on their salsa bar, just 5. Chad and I both enjoyed a chicken burrito and Chuck a fajita salad. Shortly before we were going to leave a woman a few years younger than me came into the restaurant on crutches with a boot, only on her left foot. She looked kind of bummed when she sat down so I stuck my leg out and said I was glad to see I was not alone. We struck up a conversation and it turns out she also broke her 5th metatarsal, but hers was only 3 weeks ago. I think she was a little bummed to see me still in my boot after 11 weeks. I told her not to worry, she would probably heal faster than I! We chatted for a few minutes and then I headed back to my table. While I was away Chuck commented to Chad that “she makes friends everywhere”. Chad’s comment back to him was, “like you should talk”. What can I say....

After dinner we caught a cab back to the airport, retrieved our luggage and got checked to our flight to Lima. I got seated and hoped to start surfing the web, but low and behold there is no free internet where I am...man what is this world coming to...who wants to pay for internet? Signing off (well at least of the laptop) for now!

Peru Itinerary

Tuesday to early Wednesday September 30th

• Travel to Lima via Miami
• Have breakfast in Lima

Wednesday September 30th

• Travel to Puno (elevation 12,000 feet)

Thursday October 1st

• Tour Lake Titikaka (the highest navigable lake in the world)

Friday October 2nd

• Travel to Cuzco via train. If memory serves me correctly the majority of this 8 hour train ride is above 11,000 ft.

Saturday October 3rd

• Tour of Cuzco City and Ruins

Sunday October 4th

• Chad, Chuck, Joel and Jonathan begin the Inka Trail Trek
• Pat and I will be spending the day in Cuzco

Monday October 5th

• Chad, Joel and Jonathan continue the Inka Trail Trek
• Pat and I continue to enjoy Cuzco

Tuesday October 6th

• Chad, Chuck, Joel and Jonathan continue their Inka Trail Trek
• Pat and I travel via train to Aguas Calientes

Wednesday October 7th

• Pat and I meet up with the boys at entrance to Machu Picchu
• Machu Picchu tour
• Return to Cuzco

Thursday October 8th

• Sacred Valley Tour

Friday October 9th

• Travel to Lima

Saturday October 10

• Travel home

My original itinerary to Peru included me on the Inca Trail Trek, unfortunately due to a very slow to heal fracture in my foot, I am not able to participate in the Trek. I will however, be able to spend a lot of time with Aunt Pat, which I know will be a blast. I am looking forward to the trip.

Hope you enjoy the posts and feel free to leave comments.

Traveling again

Time flies. I cannot believe that summer is over and that I have not posted here in quite some time. Here is a summary of the high and low lights of my summer.

• June - ran Grandma's Marathon. Of course since I signed up for the race the temps were in the 90's. Other than that the run went good, I even managed to improve my marathon time by 30 minutes.
• July - was blessed to be part of my friends wedding on July 11. However, I sustained an injury swing dancing and ended up with a fractured 5th metatarsal that I am still trying to nurse back to health. That ended my running for the summer. Thankfully I was able to focus more time and energy into sailing.
• August - got to spend a few days with my mother, celebrated my 9 year wedding anniversary with our annual trip to gorge ourselves at the state fair and attended my first out of state team race regatta.
• September - I bought a Mac - I never thought I would but I just got sick of the issues with the PC. We will see if I end up converting the household PC but for now I will use this for my photos and when I am too lazy to walk downstairs to surf the web! The real highlight will start on Tuesday September 29 when we leave for Peru. Chad and I along with Chad's Dad Chuck, his Uncle Joel, his Aunt Pat and their son Jonathan.

I will be posting on a regular basis from Peru. I plan on taking my laptop and hope to be able to post some photos as well!

Photos From Haiti

I have edited and posted some photos from my trip. The photos can be found by clicking on the Chandra's Photo Albums links on in the green box to the right under links. I am still waiting on a few folks to send me a couple more pictures. Once I get those photos I will add them to the album. Hope you enjoy them and can get a feel for the experience.



Also here is a link to a story that aired on CBS's 60 Minutes while I was in Haiti. The story features hip-hop artist Wycelf Jean, who is originally from Haiti. It talks about what he is doing to help the poorest country in the western hemisphere. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/60minutes/main4707723_page4.shtml.

Back to reality...

I had a nice trip home. I sat next to a Haitian man that lives near Washington DC on the flight from Miami. It was interesting to get his perspective on his country. I found it amazing that he wants to move back. He came to the states about 11 years ago to go to college, began working here with and NGO and now does consulting work for NGO's. He had applied for a few positions in Haiti while he was visiting for two months, but had not had any success. He will continue trying. He seemed intrigued by my observations of Gonaives, he had never been there. He encouraged me to come back to Haiti some time and visit Jacmel and Cap Haitian. I guess both are supposed to be beautiful and quite different from what I experienced. It would be interesting to return someday to see what the rest of the island is like.

Another HODR volunteer, Jonathan from Canada, was on my flight back to Miami. He also had a 5 hour lay over in Miami so we were able to wander the Miami airport and eat dinner. We decided on Chili's and were overwhelmed by the choices when we opened the menu. It took us both a while to decide what we wanted to eat. I was able however to decide that I wanted a Margarita right away! My flight back from Miami was uneventful and I made it back to Minnesota on Tuesday night about mid-night.

It was a shock to get off the plane and feel the cold air in the jet way. I almost tried to find the next flight out to a warmer destination. I got to the house about 1:00am and slept for a few hours and headed back to work. It was weird to be back at work and kind of boring to be sitting at a desk rather than shoveling and moving mud. It took me a few days to adjust to the sights and sounds and foods of the US. I think I am still in shock by the amount of choices we have here. I have my photos downloaded and will post them yet this afternoon.

Hope all is well!

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Today is departure day...hard to believe my time here has gone by as quickly as it has. I received an email from my husband that says I will be coming home to the coldest temperatures of the winter (so far). The high today is going to be -2F and the low is -15F. That SUCKS! I really like the weather here....warm and sunny during the day with nice island breeze. Last night was the first night I actually got cold while sleeping. It was a nice feeling! I am dreading going back to the cold. Maybe I need to convince Chad we should move somewhere warmer!

I am curious how adapting to life back in the States will be. I am guessing I will have a little let down after being exposed to this level of poverty. I think everyone should do a volunteer or mission trip to make them realize how fortunate we are to have what they have. Its hard to believe I will be going back to my house, that is not made from concrete block with a tin roof with running hot and cold water. I don't need to go to the well like most of the people here to get water and I know the water will be safe to drink. Man I can even flush the toilet paper, what a weird concept. I can take a long hot shower, instead of a cold sailor or military style shower. I will have access to virtually any fruit, vegetable or food that I want. I really am having a tough time thinking about being on a bus heading back to work tomorrow in downtown Minneapolis where there will be tons of restaurants and lots of people dressed up and in a hurry. I understand why many people make career changes after having been on a mission or volunteer trip. Knowing you are making a positive difference in the lives of people is very powerful. Ok, enough babbling for now. Time to go take a cold bucket shower and make sure I have everything packed and ready for my 10:30 shuttle ride to the airport!

Monday 12 January 2009

Today was a day full of all sorts of emotions...being excited to get home, sad to leave, overwhelmed by the culture and relieved to have made it to Port Au Prince safely. The drive is somewhat scary. The roads here are sometimes paved, sometimes grave and full of huge pot holes (and I thought Minnesota had issues with potholes). There are no lanes on the roads so passing is usually on the left but can occur on the right. People travel via tap-taps (small trucks loaded with lots of people on the back), mopeds (sometimes with up to 4 people on them), and buses (three to four people to a seat with multiple people sometimes sitting on the top). The unpaved sections of roads are incredibly dusty, almost like driving in white out conditions. Here is how I would describe the drive back to Port Au Prince....speed up, brake, swerve left, speed up, brake, swerve right, speed up, pass someone one even if you can't see what is coming down the road (make sure you honk), honk at the people that are walking along side the road (so they know you are there). I road in the back of the vehicle...facing backwards for the entire 3.5 hour ride. Actually I was able to turn myself around to face forward for about the last half of the ride...I was worried I was going to get motion sickness.

After arriving back in PaP we walked down the block to go to the fast food restaurant. It was recommended by many. The fast food place was actually pretty good...or maybe it was just that much better than the rice and beans or pasta that I have been eating over the last week and a half. I ordered a cheeseburger, fries and a coke! After that we went to the supermarket to pick up a few things to send back to the volunteers. The supermarket was overwhelming, after having such limited choices over the last week. So many items. I am guessing that I will have that same overwhelming feeling when I get back to the States. After the market I came back and read at St Joe's. About an hour or so after I started reading the drums started. One of my friends came and said the dance team from here is practicing upstairs so we headed up to watch them. They were quite fascinating to watch practice. I guess they tour in the US so I need to find out their name and when they are coming to the States. After that it was dinner. The food here is wonderful. Dinner was fried rice, baked chicken, salad (vegetables never tasted so good), bread and brownies for dessert. After dinner four of us volunteers hang out and talked about our experiences here in Haiti. It was interesting to hear what people liked and disliked about their experiences.

Tomorrow I fly home! I am more excited about it now that I am here in PaP.

Sunday 11 January 2009

I am feeling back to my normal self today, which is good. Today was my last full day in Gonaives. It was a nice relaxing day. I read, visited, went to the market, made some mac n cheese and last but not least, went with Nate to get his haircut. This was quite the entertaining thing for me. This is probably the first "blanc" to get his haircut by this guy. He asked Nate what kind of "do" he wanted by having him look at a poster of all black guys hairstyles. Nate tried to explain to him in what little Creole he knows of what he wanted with his hair. I am not sure the man got the idea. The barber did most of his work with scissors but trimmed up the back with a couple of different clippers....Nate opted to not go with the true razor cut for the neck....it's a dry shave here....the haircut turned out OK, although the back could use some evening out. The barber also trimmed up his receding hairline which is quite comical. I will post some photos of the event after I get a chance to download them. I am afraid if I try and upload them it will not work since the Internet can be a little finicky here.

Other than that I had a nice time visiting with some of the other foreign volunteers this afternoon. I started packing up a few of my things...kind of sad to leave. I feel like there is still so much work that needs to be done. I know HODR has cleared about 65 houses thus far, but there is still so much mud. HODR plans on being here until the end of February but that is still not enough time and even then, what happens when hurricane season comes back? Where will all the mud go. I have not seen many trucks on the streets moving the mud off them. Most streets are not really streets and you need a heavy duty vehicle to get through them. It is crazy....

I have somewhat mixed emotions about leaving. I enjoy the fact that I am helping to make a difference but at the same time I miss my hubby, my home, my dogs, my friends...I also don't quite feel like I fit in here. Most of the foreign volunteers are long-term volunteers. They are nice, but I feel a little like an outsider, kind of like I started a new school! The average age of most of the volunteers is probably in the low 20's. None of them seem to have jobs to go back to. I do and also am fortunate to have a hubby, house, dogs, etc. Don't get me wrong I would love to do this kind of work full-time, but I want to be able to have the other things as well. Kind of hard to travel away from those responsibilities for 3-5 months each time HODR has a project. I do admire the volunteers that are willing to dedicate themselves to this for extended periods of time and not know what will come next. I have been fortunate to have met them and do look forward to seeing them on another HODR project.

I will post again tomorrow night from Port Au Prince! I am looking forward to the fun shuttle ride back to PaP tomorrow.

Saturday 10 January 2009

The haircut search was unsucessful last night. The place down the street was already closed.

I went to bed last night not feeling very well and still did not feel well this morning. I have a slight case of Montezumas Revenge, which is common here. Most people usually get it within the first couple of days....guess I am either tough or slow to adapt. I thought I was going to make it through this trip without getting sick. Oh well. The report on my day is short...I slept and laid low all day. I was terribly bummed as I was looking forward to visiting Ebeneezer to play with the children and to speak at the local volunteers language club. I was looking forward to telling the students about the snow in Minnesota!

There is a group going to the beach tomorrow but I don't think that would be the best idea if I am not feeling well. I think tomorrow will be another lazy day around the compound for me. Maybe Nate and I will finally be able to find a place to get his hair cut. The good news is that I am making great progress on my book, "Eat, Pray, Love". I can't believe that I leave here on Monday. The time has flown by.

Friday 09 January 2009

Good evening. Hope everyone is well. A quick update on the long term volunteer that had a medical emergency yesterday. The volunteer was stabilized here in Gonaives last night. He was coherent this morning and then transported via helicopter to Port Au Prince this morning and was seen right away. His parents flew in this morning and he will be returning to the states to continue to find out the cause of the seizures. It was a scary event, but I feel confident that if there was an emergency I know it would be handled well. The HODR team (both staff and volunteers) did an excellent job. My thoughts are with Robert and his family.

Last night was the first night since I arrived that I actually slept all the way through the night. It was great! Today was a fairly mellow day for me. I volunteered to do house cleaning this morning which did not take the entire morning so there was a little time for reading and even a brief nap before lunch. After lunch I headed back out to the mud. The site I was at today was good - a nice path for the wheel barrow from the inside to the outside and to where the mud was dumped. The mud itself was a little sticky and therefore not as cooperative. It amazes me how many different types of mud there are.

Tonight I am going for an adventure with Nate. He is on a mission to get a haircut. This should be interesting..I am guessing most of the stylists here are not familiar with "blanc" hair. I will post details about it tomorrow. Have a great night!

Thursday 08 January 2009

Today I worked on team "Trojan" formerly known as team "Testosterone". They were working at a site in Haiti, that by Haitian standards is actually in a nice neighborhood. The house was a 4 bedroom plus a "living area". The house had over 4 feet of mud in it. The mud was actually quite nice to shovel, which is a change. I shoveled all day, except for the 20 minutes that I did wheel barrow runs. The guys literally run with their wheel barrows, I chose just to walk mine. Not sure what the hurry was...must be the testosterone the guys have. I wish I had more to say about the day, but really all I can say is that I shoveled LOTS of mud. We came back and headed down to speakerman for a cold one and came back for dinner.

The situation here in Haiti, finally caught up with me tonight. After dinner I came upstairs to get my water bottle and came across some folks huddled around one of the other volunteers. He was having a seizure. Seeing that, in combination with being tired and being overwhelmed with feelings about Haiti I started crying. I have been told it happens here to everyone! I was upset earlier in the day when a couple of Haitian guys were watching me shovel mud through a window and telling me they loved me. My personal view of the culture here is that it is lazy. I am not sure if that is a result of the fact they have nothing or a cause of why they have nothing or some combination thereof. I just don't understand why they locals do not want to pitch in to help but stand around and watch the "blancs" work. I would like to believe that we are showing them what is possible, with a little hard work and hope that they would help one another out after we leave. Some of our local volunteers really are hard workers, but I don't see them making that much of an impact on their community. Maybe I am just too far removed. Ok, enough about my rambling.

Tomorrow is Friday, wow where did the time go. I can't believe I leave here on Monday. Where has the time gone? I volunteered to do house cleaning in the morning and then go out mudding in the afternoon. Not sure what Saturday will bring but I know one of the local volunteers asked a few of us to come and speak at a school that he works with. They teach English and French there so I can give a speech in English...not sure what I will talk about. If you have ideas send them to me at cwobschallmillner@yahoo.com. Then Sunday is our off day. We had been talking about a trip to the beach...there is a decent one within about an hour of this place. I would love to spend one of my last days on the beach!

Hope everyone is well and to those back in MN enjoying the snow! I just checked the weather and it looks like you are getting more snow.

Wednesday 7 January 2009

This morning I went out to draw well water samples. HODR has partnered with Oxfam to help them with their well development projects. Oxfam has been putting in wells and treating the water here in Gonaives since the hurricane. As such HODR is drawing the water samples and bringing it back to the lab for testing. The neighborhood was poor, like everything else here. I hope to have some photos to post to the blog in the next couple of days. We are not allowed to take cameras to the job site, but HODR has assigns one person each morning to go to the various job sites to take photos. I need to get on the "family" computer to get them downloaded. Anyhow, the water sampling was quite fun. We wandered around one neighborhood, like all of Haiti, impoverished. The houses are close together and mud is piled in the streets (both from where the storm deposited the mud). Of course, the group (4 of us) "blancs" draws quite a crowd. We had a crowd following us immediately, mostly the children. Most of these kids that we were with today did not go to school. School here costs money and of course there is not much of that in this country. After we finished trying to find the wells, quite the adventure we dropped the samples off at the well. We will probably find out the results tomorrow. It guess most of the samples have come back healthy so that is good.

After lunch I went out in the mud on a "local team". A local team walks to their site. We always get mobbed by the children. They seem to really enjoy us. Aaron, our team leader for today for this project, is quite popular here. Today we did a bucket line at that last project. After the we finished the project we walked to find the next site. We thought we were at the right house, confirmed it about 15 times with the woman at the house, but when we got back tonight we figured out it was not the right house. We were tempted to put the mud back...just kidding.

Wednesday nights are spa nights. We soak our feet in buckets (go figure) and one of the folks here has scrubs that we can use. It felt great. My feet, and hands, are so soft. Hope I don't get any blisters tomorrow.

I have decided to go out with team "testosterone" tomorrow. One of the team leaders is hoping to test me. Evidently since I am a friend of Nate's he thinks I have that same drive! We shall see. Nate said something about it being the Midwestern work ethic!

Tuesday 06 January 2009

Today was fun. I accepted the challenge of leading a crew of volunteers today. The day went very well. We moved a lot of mud. For the most part the I ran wheel barrow loads of mud from the site to the street. The first site did not have that great of a route so we ran one wheel barrow and had a bucket brigade. The second site had a great path so that was nice. We finished up the first site before lunch so we headed to the second site to prep and get started before we broke for lunch. After lunch we headed back and managed to finish 3 out of 4 rooms today.

Tonight there was a great discussion on how what else HODR can do so that we are able to obtain funding from other NGO's. As usual I need to mull on it a little bit before I share my ideas.

One really cannot describe what the country looks like, other than poor. I can't even think of anyplace in the states that even comes close. I feel like there is so much yet here do to. There is so much that could be done to prevent this from happening in the future. I just can't imagine what is going to happen next hurricane season...there is so much mud still in the streets and I have yet to see a truck moving the mud. I have asked where it goes, but know one can really answer that. Even if they take it out of town with all the rains during the hurricanes it will just come right back. The things we take from granted...clean drinkable water, running hot water, running toilets, clean air...the basics are not prominent here. The culture here is unique. Everyone watches the "blancs" (white people), I don't think they understand concept of volunteering and helping others. We have a few great local volunteers, but I can honestly say I thought we would have had more. I have not figured out what it is...they just don't seem to comprehend volunteering. They would do work, but for cash. Some of it seems to be generational, as the locals that volunteer with us are near their 20's. I don't quite have that figured out yet, I will keep working on it.

The major news down here is that the city of Gonaives has been without gas for 6 days. We sent our gas cans on the shuttle to Port Au Prince today to see if we could get them filled. Turns out they have been without gas for 2 days. I guess the government has gas, but is refusing to give it out because at the current pricing they will lose money. We have about 2 days of gas left, but will have electricity as we can hook into the city lines. I am not sure what will happen with the shuttles. The tap-taps (city "taxis") will probably still run, but they run on diesel and I guess there is not an issue with that. More on that to come as I find out more!

Monday 05 January 2009

Hi there. Hope everyone is doing well. Today I went out with a different crew...I found out a much more relaxed crew. It did not feel like we got as much accomplished as possible, but that's just how things sometimes work. We managed to get through a little over 1.5 rooms today and should be able to finish the job tomorrow morning. It actually rained here this afternoon...if you can call it that...I call it a brief shower...just as we were wrapping up our work. It was refreshing. Caught another great sunset from the roof this evening. After that it was dinner, our nightly meeting and then off to "speakerman" to have a beer. Now, that the Internet is finally working again, everyone is trying to get caught up before the generator goes off and we have to rely on battery.

Tomorrow, I decided I would give my hand at leading a crew. We will be going back to the same house we were at and I intend to finish the job...before lunch.

There was at least one mosquito that somehow got into my mosquito net last night. Of course being the lucky girl that I am, I have quite a few bites today. Ugh....

As a random thought...someone mentioned today they think I am the only married person here, aside from the executive director...there are about 40 of us here, I guess I find that kind of surprising but yet not!

Sunday 04 January 2009

Sunday's are the day off. I slept until about 7, got up had some breakfast, took my sailor style cold shower and headed off to the market with Nate. We did some shopping for food as our meals are on our own on Sunday's. Sunday's are long days at church for the Haitians. They spend at least 4 hours in the morning and usually have an evening service as well. There were a few "foreign" volunteers that went to church this morning with one of the locals. Maybe I will go with one of the locals to a weekday evening service, they are a little shorter. Nate and I came back to the "compound", I read and then we made some lunch. Lunch today was one ramen noodles with corn sauteed with greens, some hot sauce, some hot pepper in some cheese. Quite the tasty concoction. We went in on dinner with some others and Ian (one of the volunteers) made a tasty stir fry from eggplant, carrot, tomato, garlic and peppers served with garlic mashed potatoes. It was awesome. After dinner some of us headed over to "speakerman" for a beer.

Tomorrow its back out to play in the mud!