Moving Day

The day of our visitors coming finally arrived and it forced Matt and Keith to build beds so I could move in with Christelle. I have been loving living with Matt's and so almost with regret was I moving in with Christelle. But then if you have ever met Christelle you could understand how excited I was. She is bubbly and so lovable, I couldn't wait to live with her. And since Alyssa was eager to have her own bedroom and company was coming that needed a bed, everything was finished and I could move all my belongings into my new room!

So come Wednesday morning we pack up to go down to Port – au – Prince. And yes, this is a whole entire experience all by itself. So all six of us climb into the Excursion, which is so spacious we can't complain. The ride up the mountain we will have added 6 more humans and 8 suitcases. And no small ones either. The humans are small tho. We reach the smooth pavement and rejoiced. So many sights to see here. We reach the city passing loaded down taptaps. They carry people and the occasional chicken and goat perhaps. Full to the max! And tour buses and gravel trucks...endless people... walking along the side. There are few traffic dos and don'ts. Use your horn as much as possible. You, in the vehicle of sorts, have the right away. And be aggressive in your driving or you won't get far. Today was the day for shopping. And I'm reminded again that I don't appreciate shopping. But since this is Haiti and the normal thing we see each day are hunger and poverty, the stores that cater to the UN and aid groups are exciting. Sometimes you almost forget that such nice clean stores can exist! Surely they aren't even this nice in California... and an Elevator!! the only one in Ayiti., in this store called Masion Handel. Home décor, office supplies.. anything you want, at a price of course. Once outside again it's Haiti. We were driving along behind the US Embassy and in this nondescript white building there was this nice restaurant. Totally modernly decorated and the smells coming from that place was a little bit heavenly. But we honestly felt out of place in there! You have to remember we are mountain folk. We journeyed on to Petion-ville. The richest city in Haiti. Right close to the airport actually. We went to Caribbean Supermarket. And I do realize that I'm talking about grocery stores and shopping but once you have lived in the farthest mountains of Haiti, far from “civilization” you treasure these moments. Inside so many blans!!(whites) We have pizza and chocolate ice cream in the little restaurant inside. You almost feel silly talking Creole to these Haitians. My stuttering around does not seem to impress these people. So I long for my friends back in Oriani. Tomorrow! We are always excited to go down for a vacation and always happy to go back home.