Motorcycle Diaries?

Well, Owen and I are leaving early tomorrow morning to head north and we'll be coming back next Saturday.   A lot has happened this past week so I'll try and do a quick recap since this will be my last chance for at least a week.

This past weekend was the long weekend due to a Haitian holiday.  Owen and I made tried to make  the most of it and have as many adventures as we could....I think we did pretty well.  On Friday, we went drove about 20 minutes south to a spot just of highway one near a mining site.  We grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed out into the water for a couple of hours.  Chris said the spot was pretty good since the coral reefs were close to the shore and people tended not to bother you there.  Well, not too long into our adventure, a guy named John swam out to us and introduced himself.  He asked our names and even made sure he could spell them correctly.  After he left I remember hearing about a guy that runs a scam in the area that starts out a lot like our interaction did with John.  I told Owen that he may be coming back soon with some bracelets that had our names on them.  Sure enough, 15 minutes later he swam back out to us and wanted to show what he had made for us.   I told him we didn't ask for him to make anything for us and that we were not there to shop but to swim.   He kept trying to put the bracelets on us and I told him that if he wanted to talk we would talk to him when we were finished snorkeling.  After we finished he showed up at the truck as we were putting our things away.  Long story short, he became upset that we didn't want his bracelets and that we wouldn't give him money.  I can't express how many times things like this have happened before.  Maybe not the same exact situation, but the premise is the same...try to manipulate a person into buying something or giving out money...when they don't do it, make them feel bad....if that doesn't work, start to get angry.  Word travels surprisingly fast in Haiti considering the nonexistent mailing system and no electricity. If you give into one of these situations, everyone hears about it and next time you will have more than one person trying to work their plan on you.

Anyway, after all that was over we came back home and headed out with the entire Clean Water for Haiti crew to go to the Hopps.  We ended up going swimming for another couple of hours.  After dinner, Owen and I were completely wiped out, but we decided to watch Ghosts of Cité Soleil because it had been mentioned during the day.  It was interesting because it dealt with what was going on in Haiti just a few years ago.

On Saturday we decided to take out the mopeds and go to Canaan.  This was the first time wither of us had ridden mopeds here in Haiti, so it took us a little while to find everything we needed and get out on the road.  Once we finally did get on the road, we found out that one of the bike didn't like to run for very long.  Whoever was riding it could get about 50 to 100 yards and then the bike would stall.  We made it about half way and decided we should get it fixed so we headed back home.  Along the way it became very comical because every so often I would get the bike running and fly by Owen telling him to catch up.  After 100 yards, I would stall out and Owen would ride up next to me as I was trying to kick start the bike.  Imagine this scenario repeating about 20 times during our journey.  Oh, and did I mention all the locals love to looks at the two white kids riding the scooters that don't work, and seeing us pass by multiple times.

This is one of the many instances where I was trying to get the bike restarted as all the locals were wondering what the two white people were up to.

Once we got back, Chris adjusted the air-fuel mix on the carburetor and we were off again.  We made it to Canaan and ended up getting a tour of the grounds.  This was nice because although I have been there multiple time I have never seen everything that is there.  Later in the day we came back to Canaan in the new van and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks with the kids in the cafeteria.  After that, Mark, Bobi, Owen and I played cards until it was well past our bedtime and then we headed back home.

We had so much fun riding the mopeds we decided that we needed to take them out again on Sunday.  The church service at Canaan starts at 10am and we decided this gave us enough time to hike up to Kapiat (The Source) and go for a swim before it.  We took the mopeds as far as we could up the hill and then chained them to a tree and walked the rest of the way.  It was pretty early in the morning and overcast, so it was a perfect time to hike.

Owen and I stopping to get a photo on our journey.

After the excursion we rode back down the hill, changed clothes in the restroom at Canaan and went to church.  We had heard rumors before, but they were confirmed when we arrived that we would be joining the other missionaries there in singing a song for the congregation and then leading the service.   We sang part of the song in Creole and part in English.  I think we did pretty well for only having a couple minutes to practice with the group.  Later in the day I ended up filling about eight, 50 gallon drums of water from our well and delivering them to Canaan so they could have water to drink.  

The rest of this week has been filled with the training class we were putting on.  We had eight people from three different organizations in Haiti that came to out Biosand filter training.  

The newest graduates from Clean Water for Haiti's training class.

On Wednesday I headed to Port with Israel to get the steal that we had cut for our molds.  This was very exciting since it meant that we wouldn't have to plasma cut or grind any of the pieces.  It was supposed to be a quick trip to Port and back, but as we all know by now, that is just wishful thinking.  As I got closer to the road that goes to the new bridge in Montroius, I noticed that there were vehicles line up on the side of the road.  It wasn't as bad as when the new bridge had yet to be opened, but it was reminiscent of that time.  Once we could see the road that led to the new bridge we noticed a lowboy trailer, the ones that transport large construction equipment, was stuck across the road.  The trailer had gotten high-sided and the from and rear wheels were a little off the ground and the truck couldn't move.  There is another way to get to the bridge, so we turned around and headed for that route.  This alternate road however, is very narrow and at one point I was pinned against a gate as four buses, two dump truck, and other small vehicles maneuvered past us with Israel directing them.  I had to pull in the side view mirrors, and I am not joking when I say that the buses were coming within a centimeter of the truck.  As I was sitting in the cab, I kept thinking about how the conversation would go when I had to tell Chris that the truck had been smashed into by a bus.  We ended up making it out without any damage and the rest of the drive seemed to be a piece of cake after that.  

At night as I was heading to bed, I noticed the yellow light was lit in the work yard.  It took a few seconds for it to register, but once it did I yelled for Chris.  The yellow light indicates that EDH was on.  That means that city power was actually working....that is the first time in almost three months.  It was only on for a few hours, but to see any power being supplied at all was a complete shock.  

Thursday after work, Owen, Ricardo, Evens and I went on a hike near Ricardo's house.  Owen and I have been practicing Creole with Ricardo and Evens after work some days.  Evens works for Clean Water for Haiti and Ricardo is Even's good friend and I also met him one time at Kapiat.  It was good to get out and see where Ricardo lives and actually do something outside of work and outside our mission with local people.  It was a fun hike and we got a lot of good practice in language wise.

Evens, Me, and Ricardo

Alright, I think that sums up most of what happened this week...at least the exciting parts.  I'm off to bed to get a good nights rest before another adventure starts tomorrow.  Take care.