Monday April 12th 8:53 pm. I have just retreated to my bedroom and it wasn’t a minute too soon. The rain has just started and boy does it rain! My “bedroom” is a 40ft by 30ft building in a walled compound near Kaliko beach just of Route National 1. The building is constructed in a sort of colonial style with “French doors” type slats across the windows set high in the wall. The wind is howling in through some of the openings while the rain is pelting the building. In here it’s just me and the mosquitos. I’m typing this sat at a large patio table beside my bed that’s draped in mosquito netting. Chris, Johnnie and Kira are asleep in their bedrooms across the yard. I’m too wired to sleep and I smell of bugspray. Welcome to Haiti.
Today started early with a 4:00 am start after a few hours of fitful sleep on the airport floor. The fact the intercom kept announcing the local time every 15 minutes did not contribute to much rest. After a breakfast of coffee and donuts (my first Dunkin Donuts experience) it was off to the check-in desk. There was a group of volunteer doctors and nurses gathering there who were going to work at the UN hospital at the airport. All nicely kitted out in scrubs. Checking was swift and easy and after a short wait we boarded the plane. Another uneventful flight with a bit of excitement when the first glimpse of Haiti appeared. Haiti when seen from the air is a lot like Ireland, only with browner and bigger mountains. And slums, destroyed buildings and sunshine.
We unloaded onto a sweltering hot tarmac strip and boarded a small and sweaty shuttle bus to the arrivals “hall”. Immigration was also a breeze apart from the long lines of people waiting. However the fun started when our luggage didn’t appear even after everyone had left. It took some talking to people and more waiting, and more talking and more waiting before we eventually spotted our bags at a bottom of a pile of luggage outside the arrivals hall. Once we loaded the bags onto a trolley it was out of arrivals into a mass of people all wanting to sell us something. Luckily our driver and security guys appeared and we were ushered into a waiting SUV. The guys security guys all looked very serious with shaven heads, wraparound sunglasses, fingerless gloves and big handguns hanging of their belts. Cue a “thrilling” ride through Port au Prince. Now I had expected it to be bad but to see the devastation up close really brings it home. The roads are lined with pile after pile of rubble, stalls selling everything from fresh fruit to building materials, clothes, bicycle parts and god knows what else. Traffic is just something else here. There is no one-way, two-way or even three-way traffic here. It’s every man, woman and child for themselves on these roads. Cars, trucks, bicycles, tap-taps, motorbikes and scooters all fly along at breakneck speed without any coherent behaviour. One thing that prevailed was the overwhelming sense of poverty. These people seem to have very little and that was before the quake. Now they have less. Think of that the next time to you go shopping, eat out or go on a holiday….
After we left Port au Prince the landscape opened up with the mountains rising up like big green giants on our right and the blue ocean on our left. A truly stunning countryside. Full of feral goats by the way. We had a bit of trouble finding the house which was down something that only slightly resembles a goat-track. But the house itself proved to be a very welcome surprise. It’s large spacious with a large sun terrace and a little pool. All overlooking the ocean. First thing on the agenda was housekeeping, we dispatched the driver for water, beer & cigarettes and busied ourselves with hanging up mosquito nets. Chris managed to jury-rig the broken AC’s in all but one room so most of us will be cool. When the security detail returned with our supplies we had to sit down for some negotiating with them as they were trying to provide us with a level of security equal to Obama’s at a similar price.
After all that was done and dusted we wandered down to the Kaliko Beach hotel which is only just down the road. This proved to be a very welcome surprise. Outside bar and restaurant, a pool and a sprawling tropical beach. A very welcome break after nearly 48 hours without sleep. After a few refreshments and a paddle in the ocean we walked back to the house were a home-cooked Haitian dinner awaited us.
If this is sounding like a holiday but let me assure you it isn’t. There is a lot of hard work going on that isn’t making it to this blog until it is completed so for now it’s more of a travel report than a after action report. Stay tuned for more…