There were Lexus', BMW's, Mercedes Benz. Then there was us, the big Toyota Landcruiser - with it's topper full of totes, suitcases, and coolers - squeezing in a not very refined way through the crowded streets of Petionville. It felt a little frumpy.
I felt a little frumpy, walking into stores and restaurants in rumpled, cheddar fish cracker smeared travel clothes, next to people all dressed up with somewhere to go. It was a welcome feeling, the return of the knowledge that other people are richer than us. That other people can drive really nice cars, wear really nice clothes, and buy things at a store that we would only begin to dream of - or check that column in our budget, sigh, and move on.
There is not a day that goes by living in my mountain home, that I don't think about money - mostly in the form of giving or in the disparity between the rich and the poor. I think about it when I hang my machine-washed clothes on the line (with clothespins) at 9am and the neighbors are just starting their day's work of washing clothes. I think of it when I swing my son in his own swing in our yard, and I think of it when my cook wonders why in the world I would rather give away coconuts that are cluttering my porch than keep them for when I need them. I think of it when I pull out last week's leftovers from the freezer to heat up for a quick meal and think of how long it takes the majority of my community to make a meal...how they would probably love to have a place to keep those things most American's despise...leftovers! I think of it when one of the dozens of people come to my door with a story and a need.
But today was different. We had gone on a trip, a trip to have fun, to scope out some more of Haiti, to have an adventure, and to be reminded of the things we miss...eating out, vacation, roads with painted middle lines, and grocery stores with parking lots.
We had come to Petionville.
Our vacation started at 6:45 am on Friday, loading up the Landcruiser at Plattner's. Everyone got in and we were off - almost. Things weren't looking very promising as we had to push start the vehicle to get it going.
But once we got it started, we were off, and no more problems. Lots of snacks, Adventures in Odyssey, and magazines later, we arrived at Petionville, a suburb of Port au Prince. We took in the sights, and were getting hungry. Oh, look at all the fruit in the stands. Apples! Orrin saw that and immediately started begging for us to stop and buy some. He'd been waiting all week for this trip so we could go to town and buy "red apples and green apples!" He was fixated on the need for apples, and would not even be distracted by the other kids trying to show him the doughnuts traveling down the street in a tote on someone's head. No deal. Apples are what he wanted! Cassia conveniently finally gave up and fell asleep about ten minutes before we arrived at our first stop, Smokey's, where we sat outside and enjoyed good smoke smell, and lots of really yummy ribs. Ummmmmmm. We were grinning ear to ear. This was a great vacation already.
On the way out, David stopped in at a flower shop, and bought me a rose. It took a while, but it came out wrapped up beautifully.
We went to the Karibe Hotel, a huge building with big rooms, beautiful grounds, a pool, and great views of the city. We tried the pool for a while, but it was a little cold (I know, you're thinking "you don't know what cold is!) and starting to rain. So we cleaned up and went up to the top for a scenic dining experience, complete with lots and lots of mosquitoes.
After dark and with kiddos in bed, David and I sat out on the small balcony of our room and enjoyed watching all the lights of the city on the hills around us, the rain, watching all the people who were coming to the hotel for a concert that night, and had a good talk.
The kiddos did great sleeping...they're finally getting to the age where we can safely travel without totally ruining all sleep progress we've made. It. Is. Lovely.
In the morning, Orrin heads straight out to the balcony, looking out at the construction site across the road. I'm just thinking that what is probably running through his mind is that he's going to go ahead and pee in "the outside"...right off our balcony and maybe onto someone's head. I look out as he is pulling up his shirt. "Orrin!" I holler. Down goes the shirt...quickly. "What are you doing?" I ask. He turns around nonchalantly and walks back in. "Nothin'." Ummhum.
We ate breakfast and just our little family headed out for a little sightseeing and shopping. We found a neat little store called "Kay Atizan" where we found some really neat locally made items. I had fun checking everything out and David appreciates the craftsmanship involved so we both had a good time. We came out with a few Haitian made soaps and a beautiful metal serving tray, wrapped in paper and put in a handmade woven bag.
Even with all our running around, we still made it back to the hotel in time to swim a good hour or so before we had to clean up and pack up for our noon check out. Thanks to GPS, we found our lunch destination, Fior Di Latte, an outdoor pizzeria and gelato spot. It was covered with a trellis full of vines, and surrounded on one side by a wood wall, one wall of bamboo, the ice cream building on one side, and the kitchen on the other. It was amazing. The pizza with spicy dipping oil, the atmosphere, the ice cream in a waffle cone (yes, I'm calling it ice cream, because I really don't know what gelato is...) was all amazing. Seeing people come and shop in these upscale shops for kids clothes or beach accessories, or bringing their kids out for ice cream or meeting their mom for lunch was really fun to see.
Loading up again in the Toyota, we headed up the winding roads of Kenscoff, another suburb of Port. We were in search of a lookout to see over the whole of Port. It was seeming to elude us, but we did see some breathtaking views of the other mountains. It is amazing how beautiful this country is. How many mountains there are. How I never get tired of looking at them.
We came down the other side of the mountain and there it was...all of Port au Prince spread out before us. The airport, the homes, the roads, the ocean, the mountains, all in a massive landscape.
We took a few minutes to look, then headed down to our next destination...the Caribbean grocery store. The excitement was great as we WALKED FROM THE PARKING LOT
into the massive store filled with all the wonders of the food world....apples - red and green!, imported corn on the cob, yogurt, seedless grapes, bagels, sandwich meats, 2% milk - yes, 2% milk! There in the refrigerated cooler. In a half gallon jug. The real thing. Not powder. Not shelf stable. Not lactate. You heard me right, folks, we found 2% MILK. I'm moving to Petionville.
It was super crowded, and I felt like I was getting in the way of everyone else around me as I forgot the cart in the middle of the aisle to pore over the feta cheese selection. Then I remembered the whole
country is crowded and I probably wasn't even noticed.
Seriously, we bought way too much stuff there. Our cart was completely full as we made our way to the checkout - where I picked up a Haiti travel magazine....probably the first magazine I've bought off a rack in a store in my life, but it just seemed like something I should do to complete the experience.
When we got all our stuff stowed away, we started out for Dumay, our destination for the night. The Platt's had all bought pints of ice cream to eat in the truck for the ride, but Orrin was insistent. "Mom, I want a green apple!!!" Gotta love the kid :)
The plan was to drive through the dry river bed and arrive in Dumay in about an hour, make some supper, play some Farkle, relax, make some late night pizzas for a snack, and go to bed. Hahahahahaha. We didn't think of the fact that it's actually been raining in Haiti, and it was raining again as we headed into the riverbed. Wow, that's a really deep puddle. Do you think we can make it? The boys were all game and went splashing out in the rain and checked it out for us. Yup, it's only ankle-deep. We continued, but it only got worse. We wandered in and around the river, crossing huge areas of water, and thought we had made it. "We're on an island," David said, half-joking, but it wasn't a joke. We really were on an island. But the other side was right there - only one more crossing. The boys went in - right up to their chest. You're kidding. We turned around and headed further in and along a cliff edge. I think we were all pretty nervous, praying that the water sodden ground would not give way and tumble down with us to the bottom. We thought maybe we'd make it this way, but when it became apparent that the rushing water was not going to let us through, we decided to turn around, brave the cliff edge again, and go the "long way" through town. We picked up someone on the way, and he helped us get back out again, and stayed with us til we found the road to town. It was crazy how much the water had risen in just the time we were wandering around in the riverbed. By the time we got out, the ankle-deep patches were spraying up water as we forged ahead in an effort not to get stuck.
Speaking of stuck....that's what we got when we got to Croix de Bouquets - stuck in traffic. It was a solid hour or more to go a mile. We ate chips, listened to Odyssey, and passed Cassia around as she was getting tired and fussy. We watched the supper hour slip by. Anyone up for some McDonald's? (I hope you know that's a joke). Motorcycles tried to squeeze by us and find a place to get through the traffic. Cassia performed her high-G screeches, and we wondered if we'd ever make it. We thought singing might settle Cass down and help her to fall asleep. Little did we know that she thinks Jesus Loves Me is a praise song. We started singing and she started jumping up and down on my lap, screeched out another high-G, threw herself backwards and laughed. We laughed too, and then as traffic broke up, we sang more songs. It was an amazingly short rest of the way to Dumay. And of course, Cassia waited until 8:22 to fall asleep.
We arrived at the guest house about quarter til 9, and found out that the water pump had gone out the day before :( I had tried to prep Orrin that Grandpa and Grandma would
not be in Dumay this time, but he still mentioned that they weren't there after he had scoped the place out. When we finally got the propane tank switched over and the oven lit, we just popped those pizzas in and wished they would cook faster. We unloaded all our stuff, and emptied the water out of our freezer bags that had been on top of the Landcruiser. Our suitcase had also leaked, so we had clothes strewn all over our room to dry, and Cassia's pack n play mattress was hopelessly unusable. It sat in front of a fan until Thursday before it dried out. So we made do, and then devoured our supper of pizza, chocolate chip cookies, yogurt with blueberries, and MILK. Then we hit the hay.
The next morning, the well pump was fixed about the time we headed to church. It was a really nice, really long service - a little over 3 hours :) Cassia's hair showed its curls from the heat and humidity, and both kids took naps. The choir sang three songs - so incredibly amazing. It was really good to be back in Dumay and see familiar faces again. After a quick lunch of cold meat sandwiches, we headed out again.
Cassia didn't make it too far before she was flat-out asleep. We had done her in with all this traveling excitement! Orrin promptly dug for an apple and asked for more about every hour of the trip. We listened to more Odyssey, ate apples, set the time for our next snack attack, laughed about all our memories, and arrived back at our home sweet home before dark.
We got an email from the Embassy this week, with "Heavy Rain and Flooding Life Safety Precautions" in the subject line. Joan sent it to us too, commenting on the saying in the email: Turn around...don't drown! David commented back with his own original mantra: Don't sink in the sand...get caught in a traffic jam! :)
It was good to get away for a weekend. To get away from the day-in-day-out. To spend some fun time together. To get a change of scenery and gain a little perspective. To remember that somewhere not too far away is a supermarket with a bottle of 2% milk, and may we meet again soon :)
