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.