Tracking Ed Monroe as he travels to Haiti and other exotic(?) places

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Hello from Cyvadier July 7, 2009

After a long and frustrating day, we are safely home at the FOTCOH clinic in Cyvadier. Last night Bruce & Carol at the Miami Doubletree and I at the Miami Airport Wyndham could not sleep well. I was just dozing off about 11 PM when FOTCOH Pharmacist, Mark Purcell chose to text me a message. That kept me awake for quite some time and I watched the clock till about 3 AM. At 4 AM, Bruce and Carol called me from Miami airport wondering where I was at. The Doubletree hotel told them to be at the airport at least 2 full hours before flight time do they chose to get to the airport at 4 AM for a 6:45 AM flight. Okay, so I am awake. Time for a quick shower and call the bellman to assist with the three 50 lb bags I had to claim at Miami due to the layover. I had acquired one of Bruce and Carol’s bags on my luggage cart so I had to get to the airport so we could check in together. Getting through AA check in and TSA was a breeze at that time of the morning. BTW, we saved 50 % 0n our hotel bills by using Hotwire. That was a nice thing. Bothe the Miami Doubletree and the Wyndham have 24 hour shuttles and are great hotels for $ 55.00 per night thank you Hotwire.

Our plane was 30 minutes late at take off due to a light bulb that needed to be changed and a late arriving passenger. We flew in a 737 which is know as the SST (short stubby thing)/ That forced us to give up one of our carry on’s due to the lack of space and the tremendous quantity of bags that were carried in the plane. We 3 were the majority of Blancs on the plane; I counted 5 of us on the plane. We arrived in PAP1/2 hour late and we encountered the usual delay in getting our luggage. However, three of our bags did not make the flight. One of my green 50 lb bags, one of Carol’s 50 lb bags and my carry on with my laptop. Oh SH##! So we were told to come back at 11:30 AM as the next flight would have landed and our bag would surely be on it. So Boyer took us to a nice hotel near the airport, along with his father, Louis, and we had a nice sandwich there. Boyer had eaten some fish the night before and was not feeling at all well. We returned to the airport and, of course, the plane was not in. It arrived 1 hour later and our bags were on the very last baggage cart that was unloaded. It was so exasperating. They could have cared less about unloading the carts. They kept shutting off the conveyor belt and standing around. Several Haitian went nuts so I did not have to get crazy. Finally, I got all three bags loaded on a cart and then had to hunt for Boyer and the Toyota. The Digicel phone that I had kept going to his voice mail and I was outside in the crazy thong of “helpers: that congregate there. Finally he picked up his calls and found me. Now we are off through Port-au-Prince and headed for Jacmel. For those of you who have never experienced that ride, I cannot begin to do it Justice. Washed out areas in the middle of the town, garbage dumps everywhere, cars, trucks, busses, tat-taps, and motorbikes everywhere. General mass confusion and chaos constantly were our traveling companions. Next came the run through the mountains. I am told there are 365 curves. We stopped counting as they came too fast. Boyer tried to maintain 40 MPH as he cut corners, assed on curves, honked his horn at blind corners, caused a pedestrian to drop her bowl of what ever she was carrying when we passed her too close. We almost wiped out two chickens, and more that I will not go into.
Finally, Jacmel, beautiful Jacmel, came into view and we arrive at the FOTCOH clinic safe, sound, hot and tired. Neva and Andreta had prepared a chicken with rice dinner for us and there was a cold bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and s few Prestige beers for us to unwind with. The only damage in our bags was ½ bag of plain M & M’s and a jar of jelly so we have some laundry to do tomorrow. I am disappointed that we lost so much time today that could have been used to prepare for tomorrows refill clinic but we will survive. It is just after 8 PM and I will close this, take a cool shower, and try to get some sleep. We are presently all on the third floor and running the air conditioner as it is extremely hot on both the second and third floors.
Thanks you for your prayers and support. Today was a very frustrating day but we continued on knowing that you are supporting what we are trying to accomplish for the Haitian people.

9 comments:

lilhipijipsi said...

Good to hear you made it Ed. I enjoy reading your blogs, and updates. Can't wait to be back. Best Wished, Good Karma, and God Bless y'all. Marlena

Kay said...

We are thankful you arrived safely. We prayed for you at Mass this morning. Get a good night's rest...I don't think Sparky will keep you awake tonight! God bless. Nurse Kay

Ms. P. said...

Ed...
I have been enjoying your tales of travel & am glad to know that I'm not the only one who has travel frustrations...LOL. But as always, you are taking it in stride. I hope the bugs are kind to you in the coming days. I'm looking forward to hearing your tales of compassion.
"I ask God from the wealth of His glory to give you power through His Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make His home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. Yes, may you come to know His Love - although it can never be fully known - and so be completely filled with the very nature of God." (Eph. 3:16-19)

Ms. P. said...

Ed...
I have been enjoying your tales of travel & am glad to know that I'm not the only one who has travel frustrations...LOL. But as always, you are taking it in stride. I hope the bugs are kind to you in the coming days. I'm looking forward to hearing your tales of compassion.
"I ask God from the wealth of His glory to give you power through His Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make His home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love. Yes, may you come to know His Love - although it can never be fully known - and so be completely filled with the very nature of God." (Eph. 3:16-19)

Dr Jo said...

I am excited for you Ed, and living this vicariously of course. Papa Dick is squirming no doubt, having the first mission there without him & Barb! Looking forward to your news. Rest well!

Anonymous said...

so glad that you made it safely. all is well here. kids have two baseball games this evening so that is the sum total of our night. Lots of good things at work right now and Edwin and Elly couldn't be more excited to get here. we miss you and love you, dad.

Chris

Unknown said...

Hi Ed it's Sharon! I know how awful that mountain trip is from the couple times I took it. By the way any new team members reading this here's a tip: get the sick bags off the plane because I'm sure someone WILL need it. Glad to hear you three arrived safe.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Josh Bradshaw said...

I hope today is easier for you!