Indy to Chicago went quite quickly and we were thankful that our gate to the Miami leg of the trip was close by. Chicago to Miami was about a 2 1/2 hour flight, and we arrived at lunch time. Once again the change of gates was close by so we had ample time to eat and hydrate! Then we left for Haiti. It was a flight of a little less than 2 hours and we actually arrived early.
Flying in to Haiti was interesting. The west coast of Haiti is nothing but bare, uninhabited mountains - not a tree in sight for miles and miles. As we got closer to Port-au-Prince we began to see homes and businesses, but as we approached the airport for landing the homes we saw were little more than plywood and tin. (We'll get a closer look at that area tomorrow.)
Pastor Bernard met us at the airport with a bus and a van. After getting through customs and a gauntlet of people "helping" with our luggage, we boarded the vehicles for the trip to the hotel. Honestly, this was eye opening, if not terrifying. The streets were often potholed and narrow. The drivers seemed to make up the rules as they went along. Pastor Bernard was able to garner the help of a former student who is now a police officer in Port-au-Prince, and he and his posse got us through a terrible traffic jam. There were times when we were driving down the wrong side of the road to bypass some of the worse of the traffic, and a couple of times I had to put my head down and pray we didn't get in an accident. The trip from the airport to the hotel took over an hour and a half and it's only about 8 miles away.
During that time we were exposed to many different neighborhoods - all terribly poor and run down by American standards. People were cooking food in large kettles on the side of the road. Others were selling their wares. Still others were just scurrying from one place to another. It was interesting to see the school children dressed in different uniforms headed home after a day of learning.
And there are taxis here called "tap-taps". I'd say that was one of the scariest things i saw. For the most part a "tap-tap" is an old pick up truck that has handmade bench seats in the bed of the truck and a cover constructed of wood and sometimes fabric. But they were painted bright, bright colors. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were 15 people riding in the back of one "tap-tap", usually with someone hanging on the back standing on the bumper.
When we got to the hotel (and it is a nice hotel!) it took some time for the staff to process our reservations. But after about an hour everyone had their luggage in their room and we were off to the local grocery store. I'd say that the term grocery store is being used loosely. It struck me that every aisle had an employee stationed on each end who were there to watch for shoplifters. And it was a 3 story building with an elevator that you could take your grocery cart on and go to the next floor.
Shopping was a unique experience because we're not very familiar with the exchange rate and we're really not sure how much we paid for what we got! But we all got supplies to keep us going on the work site for the rest of the week.
Tomorrow we are to start off early - 7:00 a.m. About 10 of our group are going to Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Port-au-Prince for a one-day VBS. The rest of us head to the work site to begin laying the concrete blocks that will form the school in Leogane.
Please know that we're very happy to see the comments and are comforted to know that we are being included in your prayers. That is very encouraging to us. Sorry for so few pictures on this blog. Perhaps others will post more tonight or tomorrow. Blessings to you...Pastor Rodriguez