Wait Up

Saturday, Chris and I went for a hike to get out of the house and see a change of scenery. We were accompanied by Kameal (I have no idea how to spell his name). His wife works at the UN embassy here in Haiti and he is visiting her for a while. They stay at Dennis' house here in Pierre Payen. We drove just past Saint-Marc and then headed up a trail that led to an old fort that was built to protect the city. The entire hike was in the sun and there was very little shade once we reached the summit. I know I'm not is the best shape, but I still like to think that I can keep up with most people. Well, apparently Kameal is in the police force back in Africa and is accustomed to doing 20 mile hikes with full attire and a backpack on. He was talking on his cell phone the whole way up and I was running after him trying to not pass out. I don't think he broke a sweat until just before the very top.

Chris and Kameal enjoying the view

One of the old cannons that has survived

After that we took a little break and got some food and rehydrated ourselves. Later in the afternoon, I Met up with Kameal and Dennis and we went sailing for a little while on Dennis' boat. There was a decent amount of wind because a storm was coming in over the mountains. We only got a little bit of rain, but it was great because it cooled everything off and the sun wasn't beating down on us.

On Sunday, Chris, Leslie, Olivia, and I went to church in Montrouis with the Ben and Heather Hopp. It was quite and experience. The church is just a cinder block building with a tin roof. Since we had city power, they decided to us the speaker system....which looks like a megaphone without the handle. The room is pretty small and there is nothing to absorb the sound, so it just bounces around. I was told that they don't have it very loud compared to most churches, but I sat behind Chris and noticed that he had his fingers in his ears almost the entire service. Everyone was very friendly and it was good to see another part of the culture here.

After church, the Hopps came over for lunch. After lunch a group of people stopped by the house. The group typically fixes wells in Haiti, but are also going to start drilling a few wells on La Gonâve (the island off the west coast of Haiti). They wanted to get some of the old equipment we still had from when we used to drill wells. They stopped by again today and I ended up helping them by welding a cracked bracket that was part of the drilling rig.