Feb 25, 2018 - Milot - Sans Souci Palace

Bonjour - Let's begin with Sans Souci Palace. The Builder - Henri Cristophe - modeled the palace on Frederick II's palace in Potsdam. While the palace was devastated in the 8.1 earthquake of 1842, enough remains to show what a wondrous place it would have been in this remote part of the Caribbean. Or anywhere for that matter. Tapestries and marble were imported from Europe, but the furniture was fashioned by local artisans of island mahogany. Frederick sent a carriage as a gift. Christophe had another built, larger and more ornate as a...

Feb 25, 2018 - Citadelle La Ferriere

Welcome back - The second half of Haiti's World Heritage site is Citadelle la Ferriere - the aptly named Fortress on the Summit. Construction began in 1804 and ended in 1820. It required the labor of 20,000 men and was the garrison for 5,000 troops. Its walls are 4 meters thick and 40 meters high. It is by far the largest fortress in the Caribbean yet never saw its cannons fired in anger. The approach from Milot begins at the Palace. I'm pillioned between the driver and my guide on an off-road motorcycle. The ascent is steep and winding...

Feb 23, 2018 - Le Cap - Another Pilgrimage

Bonjour - First, a bit of background. After the Spanish had killed off the indigenous Taino, the French took over. French Saint Domingue boomed to where it was the richest colony in the New World, more valuable to the French than the combined American colonies were to the British. And its capital, Le Cap, or Cap Francais was the "Paris of the Antilles', with fine houses and theatres performing the latest plays and operas from the home country. This economy was, of course, built on the labor of slaves. But then comes ... but more about that...

Mar 11, 2017 - Traveling day

March 11th Up around 7:00 and do the last bit of packing to get ready to leave and pack one bag with bags for the next trip. This takes a while so when we go for breakfast there are two pieces of mango and one hard boiled egg… One of the crew hadn’t eaten their second so we had one egg and one piece of mango each. Then we unloaded the school supplies on the kitchen table which gave us a couple extra bags to pack, so back to the room. Already about 90. Lots of running around and confusion then the truck arrived to take the luggage down to...

Mar 10, 2017 - Bwa Bouton

March 10th Up after a reasonable night and to breakfast of oatmeal, mango, and banana – plus orange Tang! Amazing how good such bland stuff can taste so good! Then final packing and ready for the day. We lugged bags up to the truck at the top of the hill and seven of us piled on. I got to stand up in the bed of the truck for the forty minute trip. It was more than a little bumpy and sometime my feet left the bed of the truck. In one muddy spot the truck fishtailed through a wide patch of mud. The scenery was beautiful all the way – and we...

Mar 9, 2017 - Off to the west

March 9th Up about 7:30 after a much cooler night. The fans actually stayed on until about 6:00 and there was a nice breeze from the sea. We trooped off to breakfast (after flushing the toilet with a bucket of water) and it was spaghetti and hotdog sauce, plus Tang. One of the Sarahs had caught the “Haitian Flu” and was being quite unwell in her room. Curiously she was the woman we teased the night before by asking her if everything was OK over and over again whenever something happened. Probably a curse. We spent a little3 time getting...

Mar 8, 2017 - Are you pregnant?

March 8th Up early again after a very hot night – very difficult to sleep especially after the generator went off about 3:00 AM and the fan stopped. Kitty got up first and sprayed eucalyptus for bugs and I start coughing at the smell. Not too bad. Breakfast of eggs with hotdogs again but also peanut butter so all was well. We finished and grabbed our drugs and headed down to the church for our third clinic. The place was crowded already but we spread out the medications and got things ready, then off we went – with Felix again as our...

Mar 7, 2017 - The second clinic

March 7th Up to the crow of the rooster and get dressed. To breakfast and we had oatmeal and fruit – the oatmeal had anise, which gave it quite a kick. I got a cup of coffee and took it to our bathroom to shave – hard to get hot water. Then the whole crew got together to sort out medications and other stuff to take to the clinic down at the church below the guest house. We lugged all the stuff down and then “there is a plan” to placing drugs so we could find them easily. Well, it was a plan… The patients started showing up about 9:00 and...

Mar 6, 2017 - The first clinic

March 6th Up to the crow of the local rooster – who we hope to have for dinner later this week. We got dressed and out for breakfast – scrambled eggs with peppers and hotdogs. Plus very old (tough) bread and more peanut-butter. Plus orange drink. Water is always an issue here on the island. The citizens are quite used to it but us immigrants not so much. They provide bottled water in big jugs, but most don’t trust them. After we all had breakfast we filled our water bottles – and most then filter the water anyhow. In any event once done we...

Jan 30, 2017 - Labadee

When a cruise ship stops in Labadee, it stops in Haiti, but you would never know it. This little spit of land has been leased by Royal Caribbean who has turned it into an idyllic beach experience. You could be anywhere tropical. Zip lines run from the coastal hillsides along the beach for about half a mile providing great views for the zippers and a background of their screams for sun bathers lallygaggling along the shore. You can rent a wave rider or go on a snorkeling trip. At noon the ship's crew lugs a giant BBQ lunch to shore so you...

Mar 11, 2016 - Return to Port au Prince

Up fairly early and have a nice breakfast – Jiff peanut butter rather than Mamba – the Haitian variety – tasted rather bland. Bread got a little bit staler every day it seemed. After breakfast we packed up all of our stuff – took down nets and double checked everything. Finally got everyone together and packed the truck full of stuff – nowhere near as much as we brought over but still a bunch. Then most of us walked down to the beach to get on the boat. Once on board several islanders joined us and we had a rather rough time pulling the...

Mar 10, 2016 - A new team arrives

Day started with breakfast of oatmeal – and my discovery that the sugar shaker was actually filled with salt. Interesting flavor to say the least – the sugar was by the coffee. Then squealing from outside and on investigation they were in the process of slaughtering the goat that had been tied there for the last several days. Kids were quite interested (school was just starting) but the team stayed away. After breakfast there was a school assembly and we found out they would be having a lunch of corn meal, beans, and coconut milk. Kids seem...