We made it . . . well 70% of us

Well, we had a bit of drama but six of the eight US travelers arrived in Haiti yesterday. 

Karen, Jeff, Matt,  Aunt Marsha and I arrived.  Unfortunately, a delay out of Chicago left Mandie and James in Ft. Lauderdale.  Uncle Mel stayed in Ft. L to fly in with them tomorrow.  At this point, they are on stand by for the early am flight in.  We are praying they make it as there are few flights in on Sunday and we just want them with us to not miss out on any part of this experience.

The four from  PA/MD used a taxi service to get us to the Philadelphia.  Picture this: four people, eight suitcases (not a one overweight!!), eight carryon bags trying to fit into a 4 passenger vehicle, which already had a driver and navigator! So after getting up at 2am, rushing to get ready and get everything packed and double checking the weight of suitcases, we drag it all downstairs to find the miniscule vehicle.  Thankfully the driver was based out of the Lancaster airport and could easily swap vehicles.  He returned with a 15 passenger van and we filled that sucker to capacity!

My 40lbs of cheese and pepperoni arrived and the blocks of cheese were still frozen so it kept the rest cold, despite being in a suitcase for over 18 hours!

Haiti is just as I remember and yet so different.  Driving back to Bolosse from the airport was so surreal.  As we drove through some sections of town, the houses look completely unaffected by the quake 18 months ago today (Sunday) the very next block will have whole houses in ruin.  Several had the upper floors still perfectly intact but tilting onto the neighboring houses.  We will spend time at the end of our trip in Port-au-Prince and I will get pictures then.

Dinner last night was all the good stuff!  Haitian Rice, Bean Sauce, Legume (one of my favs!) Banan Peze, Citronade!!!  It was a perfect meal.  Everything we love.  Well, Karen and Jeff are not fans of the legume, in fact won't eat it at all.  Oh well, all the more for me! :)

If you check the time stamp, you might see 2:30 am.  Yep, I am wide awake.  We hit the sack around 8pm Haiti time which is 9pm in PA so I was right on track as I am an "early to bed" girl. But that also means being awake early.

I will sign off for now but I am praying our last three make it in tomorrow.