Monday in Haiti

There is another beautiful sunrise here in Haiti that I am watching. All of the clouds from last evening’s downpour have passed. The storm arose around 5 PM. It started with thunder & lightening and then it poured by the buckets full for almost 1 hour. It was raining so hard that it was difficult to see much of the surroundings. We really felt sorry for the three women who took up positions in the patient waiting area outside the compound. We had notice them when we returned from our nice lunch at Cyvadier Plage.
Carol, Bruce, and I decided to walk to the hotel for lunch. Yes, I said, walk. Some of you might find the fact that I would walk somewhat shocking. We chose to walk up to the main road by Son-son’s, then along the main road to the road the leads back to the hotel. We passed Boyer’s house and we think he was surprised to see us. He had company on his veranda. His arm continues to be very sore and he plans to have Dr. Nelson look at it again before he departs for Port-au-Prince early this morning.
The three of us had another nice meal at the hotel. The manager was very pleased to see us again. We are trying different items on the menu so as to be better able to describe them to the team when we all eat at the hotel this Saturday. Again, we were pleased with the lower than expected bill.
Our return to the clinic was via the back route. Basically you follow a narrow foot path through the foliage. I have not taken that trail for several years and was surprised at how many homes were along it now. And, yes, the litter from trash dropped y the Haitian was everywhere. We thought we would see more small children on our walk but we were not joined by them along the way. We stopped by to see Renel’s home building progress. Not much has been done to the building since I last saw it in March. Renel has already asked Carol for money to help him finish building it. A note to Dr. Stoner, I will bring pictures but we failed to take along a camera yesterday.
It was a restful Sunday and we hope that we have everything ready for the team’s arrival today. We have one problem that we cannot find the solution to. The door on the north side on the third floor is locked and we cannot locate the key. We have looked everywhere for it. We are hoping it will turn up soon. There is an exit on the south side so the team will be forced to use only the one door.
I am watching the team’s flight progress on flight aware. That is so cool. I am also listening to the noise from the property to the West. The boys are back to the rock breaking. Yesterday, they added the sounds made by throwing the rocks into the steel bed of a large truck. It was very musical-not! Otherwise, it was nice to have a somewhat restful Sunday prior to a very busy week ahead.
Yesterday I wrote about seeing cats. On Sunday we saw an even stranger sight. As we sat at the Cyvadier Plage looking out on the water two, yes I said two, power boats were cruising past the bay. One was near the shore and the other a little further out to sea. I believe that is the first power boats we have observed in this area. Today’s news tells of a ferry boat accident between a city in the DR and Jacmel. I suspect that is the cause of us seeing a boat. I was unaware that there was ferry service from Jacmel. You learn something new every day.
The families who were eating at a nearby table were quite interesting. They appeared to be Sri Lankan’s. Two older men & women and two teen aged boys. They spoke French and mixed in a little English now and then, I think, to confuse us. Other than that family there was one other couple having a meal and that couple was engrossed in watching something on their laptops. I suspect the hotel has a wireless network.
It is now almost 8 PM. Team has had supper at the luggage truck will soon arrive. I’ll post this and describe the teams travel adventures another time. I will say that this team seems to be another great team. I am enjoying each one of them but I still miss my old team mates. Thanks for your support of FOTCOH and even more thanks for having to put up with me..