Day 14

Haiti by the numbers.
20 - meals that contained Cabrite
19 - cockroaches currently in the sticky trap near the stove.
18 - times Jo'el says,"yeah man" by noon, on an average day.
17 - times Tcho says "I" inside of 5 sentences
16 - meals that contained noodles
15 - Days since I have seen my family
14 - Great days getting to know a little bit about Haiti
13 - Free range goats I passed on my way...300 meters...to the clinic yesterday morning. The babies are so cute.
12 - Noon, water comes on. Fill up a Boket(Creole for bucket) will ya!!
11 - People on our tap-tap this AM
10 - $ the rate for a non-swindled manicure in Deschapelles, Haiti
9 - The value of 1 US dollar to the Haitian Dollar...which doesn't exist.
8 - Banana and Plantain fritters that I ate the other day. Madame Bebe is A-Okay.
7 - speed bumps on the main road from Port au Prince to Deschapelles. The Creole translation for the things is "police man lying down". You better know where they are so you can slow down. You see then on long straight aways and as you approach various villages. It is a big surprise when you slow down from 80 abruptly to 0, and you don't see a Cabrite in the way.
6 - animals that live at Kay Hanger, Van Goat, 2 cats, 3 roosters. Though I haven't seen one of the cats since Tcho was here last.
5 - people on one Moto. Motorcycle in Creole. Amazing
4 - AM. The time Janet and I are catching a ride to Port au Prince, to fly home.
3 - hour ride to Port of Prince, or Cold showers needed on certain days.
2 - Cuban cigars, thanks M'Boss
1 - Chat
X plus 1 more - number of people that fit on a Tap-tap.

Today was a great capper to the trip. Vern was able to secure our favorite tap-tap drive, Tim Timly for a trip to St. Marks.

Yes, a tap-tap is simply a truck, or very often, what Paul Martin may see as a rescued Hi-Cube. Interestingly, Tap-tap is a blanc term I am told. There is no Creole translation. I don't remember the Creole word, but Yvener said it means back of a truck.

The Haitians refer to many things by the name of the most common brand that comes in from the US. Batteries are Ray-o-vacs. Cooking plates are Pyrex. The techs refer to their plaster knife as the General. General tool is on it. I haven't asked them, but I am certain that the box cutters name is Stanley.

Jill had some nurses that came in from Mass General Hosp, including her sister. They came to St. Marks helping to reduce the amount of the Tap-tap.

Dad, Matt + Brian, I actually did the walk around to verify the each wheel was missing no more than 2 lug nuts.

Quite a neat experience riding the tap-tap. On the way out the "corridor". ( This is the rocky dirt road that connects the hospital compound to the main road.). I glance back to see Madame Bebe standing in the back of a tap-tap, so I shout..MADAME BEBE! COM OU YE!!!!!!!

We didn't go to the beach, just had good lunch and walked around a bit. I bought in to a bike shop. You'll see us expanding into the states soon.

Vern and Jill needed some groceries from the Deli-mart. It is an Americans store. Above it is the fast food place where we ate lunch. As well as the IT school where Yvener would like to go.

Yvener met us for lunch and showed us the school, then road back home with us.

We're quite a spectacle...11 blancs in a tap-tap riding across Haiti. We're like the punch buggies of Haiti. 1st want to spot and yell out blanc, wins.

Coming home Vern and I visited Tcho's house. It's a pretty cool place. I took pictures on my real camera, so I can't post those yet. He wasn't quite done with something he was painting for me, so we returned home and he came by after dinner to deliver.

Suzanne, super PT also came by to say good bye. She and I are going to try to skype our classes together. She is one nutty yet cool PT.

I am a little worried about leaving Vern. More than once, walking around with him, he would head in the wrong direction. I'd just stop and ask where he was going.

So, it's been a great couple weeks. Hopefully I gave as much as I got.

It is 5 am now. We are winding our way over the switch backs and climbs over the mountains. The sky is just beginning to lighten, so you can see misty clouds in the valley. All along the roads are people in nice clothes, walking to church. It is still dark. The sky starts as orange at the mountain crests and fads to off white and then to deeper blue as you look up while the sun is still not up.

Vern said he may go to church today with Tcho.

We have stopped for many goats, a horse a donkey, some dogs and on and on.

I am ready to go home. I miss my family.

Okay, the road requires 2 hands at the moment. I'll write more in a bit.

Chov Blanc
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