Sorry for the delay, folks - turns out, the internet in Haiti is not all that reliable! Of course, the P-Au-P airport had a brownout while we were waiting for our flight, so I suppose internet that never goes down is pretty far down on the priority list. Without further ado, here's the first of the last of the blog posts from yours truly, and hopefully I can have this wrapped up by the end of the week.
8-19-2014
This morning, Ashley/Dr. Henegar pointed out that I haven't taken a lot of pictures in the last couple days while we drive. She's right - I've been relaxing a little bit, but I have a feeling today might be the day to pick it back up.
As it turns out, today is the birthday of the public school system in Haiti, and there's a parade of school children! It held us up a little bit.
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| My disappointment that "The best barbecue" was never open is great and unending. |
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| I thought I had captured a rare photo of a Haitian riding a motorcycle with a helmet on, but this dude is probably a transplant. |
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| Catching a glimpse of the parade. |
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| On and on and on and on |
Sometimes, the clinic is a little slow. Today, we had just enough time for Claudy and Baker to sing to us. Baker serenaded us with the words of Enrique Iglesias. Have you ever tried to find a good place to rest your eyes while a sultry Haitian man croons a spicy Latin ballad 2 feet from your face? Do you sing along? And don't go asking your CI - they're not prepared for these tough questions.
After one last stint at the men's club, it was time to say goodbye to Claudy and Baker. We'll definitely miss those guys.
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| Not the only guy I saw in a suit in Haiti, but maybe the coolest-lookin' guy. |
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| It's chronic, and I don't know what the treatment is. |
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| This is definitely the way I'd get around. |
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| Sometimes it's difficult to get gasoline in Haiti - so when it's available, the stations are slammed. |
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| Pick your fun fact: 1) almost all the schools have uniforms. 2) the balancing-unwieldy-object thing is big here. |
To help us remember Haiti in a more...relaxed manner, we stopped by a grocery store for some of the Rhum Barbancourt, and tried to find a barber shop decorated by Usher.
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| We didn't find him. This will have to do. |
One final debrief on the roof to talk about feelings, Haiti, experiences, personal development, and to start to think about how we're supposed to move on from this experience. I have a feeling that last question will take a while to answer. Once the debrief is over, it's pretty late - but for the first time on the trip, we don't have an early morning the next day, so we stay up to a reasonable hour and chat. Once "reasonable hour" passes us by, the sane people go to bed, and it's just 2 of us Americans and a couple of the house staff on the roof. We learned a lot of Creole phrases it would be best to not print here. We also learned a fair bit about the culture, the safety of Jacmel, and some other sundries.
- A prostitute in Haiti would cost you as little as $5.
- Gays are "accepted", in that they don't attempt to brainwash them into straightness, but they are considered aberrant.
- It's also common among the voodoo followers to consider a gay person to have been possessed or tainted by evil spirits.
- Haitian relationships are a lot about money. People are looking for someone to provide for them.
- Politicians in Haiti are crazy corrupt and (if you could even imagine this happening in a developed nation like the U.S.!) sometimes they get caught giving gifts to members of their own sex in exchange for services.
- I learned the Creole phrase equivalent of "makeout spot", but I can't figure out how to spell it. In any case, the second beach we went to is apparently one of those, and after 7pm, there are no rules.
- Jacmel is considered a party town.
- I would potentially be "safe" walking alone at night in Jacmel, but I would probably get mugged. Under no circumstances would any of my female companions be safe.
At 3AM, we called it quits. Gotta get a little sleep, I suppose.
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