June 20 to 21 - Wahoo Bay Beach

We survived the drive back towards the city and made a stop at Wahoo Bay Beach.  We arrived just in time for supper.  We placed our order, unloaded the trucks and headed to our rooms.  We were led to a set of newly renovated rooms.  Dad and Jeff were in a room.  Karen, Mom and I were in a room.  Uncle Mel, Aunt Marsha and Matt were in a room.  Mandie and James had their own room.  We had a common porch overlooking the water.  This is the view looking out at the mountains.  Looking to the left, we were looking out at the water!

June 19 & 20 - Plateau Anse Rouge

Getting from Passe Catabois to Anse Rouge was a fairly direct route.  However, there is not exactly a well established road.

Here is our map.  Driving in Haiti is more a directional thing and less about landmarks.  We headed in the right direction with the names of a few villages along the way: Atrel, A' Larbe and then finally Anse Rouge.    We knew we needed to head south towards the coast.  We used our Haitian GPS, instead of a box in our car, we stopped people on the way to make sure we were heading in the right direction.

June 18 – Drive to Post Metier, La Coma and Passe Catabois (Continued)

After we left La Coma, Uncle Bruce took us to see the newest project he has been working on. We drove to the site. We walked about a quarter of a mile or so to the floodplain where their project is starting. He shared a bit about how the areas we were in used to be one of the most productive areas for plantains and bananas in the 1960s and 1970s. For a long time, the area had been decimated by rains washing the silt and debris right off the mountainside and dropping the debris and basically changing the soil composition so much that nothing would grow in the area. But now it looks beautiful, lots of grass and trees growing up tall and strong.

June 18 – Drive to Post Metier, La Coma and Passe Catabois

After our yummy breakfast of leftover Diri-o-Lait, Haitian bread and fresh from the tree bananas, we loaded up the truck and hit the road (AGAIN!).

This time we were heading South West. I tried finding any of these towns on Google Maps but not a one shows up? Are you surprised! I was not. Basically if you find Baie de Moustique (Mosquito Bay) on the Northern coast and go straight down and inch or two and that is sort of where these are located.

We went past the Port-de-Paix airport and found ourselves facing Tois Revier (Three Rivers). We have followed and crossed this river several times over the past 4 days but each crossing was over a nice big bridge. This time . . . no bridge in sight! Just what I was hoping for! So we watched a few other vehicles cross as well as people and donkeys. Once Dad felt that we could make it, we “dove” in.

June 15 to 17 – La Pointe

We woke up to a traditional Haitian breakfast – Spaghetti! We polished off the heaping plate, packed the trucks and off we went. We drove back to Goniaves and stopped at Chez France for a potty break. They were not open for business but someone let us in the side door to use the restrooms. We then drove to the NW turn off and headed to La Pointe.

There are only a few main roads in Haiti. One goes from Port-Au-Prince to Goniaves and heads Northeast towards Cape Haitian. One goes Northwest up through the middle of the Northern Peninsula towards Port-de-Paix. The other goes along the coastline of the Southern side of the Northern Peninsula towards Anse Rouge.

La Pointe is where Centre Medical Beraca (CMB) is located. Part of this complex is the House of Hope (HOH), where many of the kids have tuberculosis (TB), as well as other conditions. Some of the kids stay for a short time, while others become permanent residents. In fact, one of the co-directors, Linda Felix, was brought to the HOH as a young girl and grew up there. She now has a major role in working with the new generation of HOH kids! The other co-director is a missionary, Jenny Reitz. She lives in an apartment above the HOH (http://houseofhopehaiti.blogspot.com/).

June 14 – Climbing down from the Citadelle/Sans-Souci Palace

The Citadelle is incredible. Such a huge complex and so steeped in Haitian history. We spent the better part of three hours walking around the complex.

By 1pm we were ready for the walk down. Well, not so much ready for the walk but ready for lunch which was in our trucks at the midway point, three miles down.

Despite pleading to be able to walk down instead of riding down, we loaded up on our respective “horses” and began the slow move down the mountain. Now you have to realize that to provide stability on the way up we had to lean forward a bit so what does that mean for the way down . . . yep, you guessed it, we had to lean back, way back. Not so easy to do on a Haitian saddle.

Thankfully Dad walked with me the whole way down. I was feeling very insecure and needed the company. Jeff was with us too but was walking ahead to take some pictures, including this one of me.  Each horse had a guide leading them (blue shirt) and our tour guide, Charlie (white shirt).

June 14 – Walking around the Citadelle

We got a group photo and then headed inside.  The first step inside was so cooling!  The thick stone walls kept out the heat despite the sun beating down.  Charlie was full of great tid bits of history.  What amazed us was the size and the ingenuity in building the Citadelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_Laferri%C3%A8re).

The first place we come to inside is the rounded part.  Inside it is basically a triangled room with no roof.  Because there was no roof, light just flooded the whole area.  It was a series of cannon ports.  There was a pulley system to get them all the way up and over to the respective ports.  This section did not have any cannons anymore.

June 14 – Climbing up to the Citadelle

After our sweltering night at the guesthouse we had a yummy breakfast.  We loaded up and set out for the town of Milot, about 12 miles from Cape Haitien (CH) by around 8am.

As we drove through Milot, we kept thinking we would eventually see the Citadelle.  The mountain peaks actually hide it until you are right at the base of the National History Park.  According to UNESCO, the area was designated as a “National History Park by presidential degree in 1978” (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/180).  The park is made up of three locations.  the Sans-Souci Place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-Souci_Palace), the Citadelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_Laferri%C3%A8re) and the buildings at Ramiers (I could not find a reference to these buildings other than on the UNESCO site but I think they are up near the Citadelle).

June 13 - on the road to Cape Haitian

Monday morning we were on the road for Cape Haitian.  The route is 150 miles from Port-au-Prince (PaP) to Cape Haitian (CH).  Google Maps says 3 hours and 45 minutes.  We made it 9 hours.

We left PaP around 8am and drove to Hertz to pick up our rental truck.  We had the five Schmids (David, Phyllis, Karen, Amy and Jeff) in our truck and the three Schmids (Mel, Marsha and Matt) and two Eimes (Mandie and James) in the rental.  Cousin Matt drove the rental. 

The Gang's All Here . . .

Our last three travelers arrived!!!  They were scheduled for standby on this morning's first flight.  They arrived at the airport only to find out the flight had been cancelled due to mechanical failure.  After some work they were shuttled to Miami and arrived on campus at 11am Haiti time (hour behind EST).

We are heading out on our journey tomorrow and I might not have access to the web to post here but I will try.  We will return to Port-au-Prince on Tuesday June 21st.  We will hit St. Marc, Gonaive, Cape Haitian, the Citadelle and San Souci Palace, La Pointe, Anse Rouge and La Coma.

The weather is HOT and HUMID but we all just sit as still as possible and turn on every fan in the place.  We have been chatting and catching up with each other.  We spent some time walking around campus and that was lots of fun to hear Uncle Mel's memories of campus.

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.