Dan's Creek Hotel Haiti

... ya we went to the pool and soon we are going to watch Angels and Demons.. so ya&#8230; see ya soon!<br><br>Juiceness/Jessica<br><br>S o 'Juiceness&#8217; has pretty well explained our day today. It started out with a minor annoyance in the in-room safe malfunctioning, but it was fixed and we got our wallets to go out into Labadee today. Jessica and I did get the better end of the deal in our shore excursion. The Dragon&#8217;s Breath ...

... special this place is, to have so little and yet so much at the same time! We start our long journey down the mountain. Windows rolled down, dirt flying in our faces (it really doesn't matter at this point), and singing along to music. Our ride is smooth and uneventful. We do have to dodge a couple of tap-taps but no flat tires or mechanical issues. People run along the road waving and calling out to us.<br><br>Four hours ...

... and math. They are working on word walls, pattern blocks, and number grids. There are so many challenges facing these teachers. The primary language spoken is Creole, but when they can obtain materials or tests they are usually in French. Also many of them want to learn English too. As I talk to them they tell me they chose teaching because they like to help, and although the income is little, it is steady. Some of the teachers have ...

... the mountainside. Chris heads up the mountain to put in a full days work with them.<br><br>As for the rest of us we head out in the opposite direction. The first house is close, so the people who are still feeling under the weather stay there. The rest of us trudge down a hill, through the market, through the river, and up a different mountain. We thought hauling water and rock was hard before, it's even tougher now! I am ...

... we are on the road by 6:30. We stop by some of the houses from the day before and see the finished work. It is absolutely beautiful. One of the homes we are helping at today has just two people, an elderly grandpa and his little grandson. We begin the arduous task of hauling rock, sand, and water up the hill. I have to admit to feeling a little stiff this morning. The rest of our ...

... who doesn't enjoy a hot cup of coffee when it's 80 degrees out! We leave the rectory at 6:30 to start our work. Preparing is quite the undertaking as we must all be sprayed down with DEET, slathered in sunscreen, and pack sacks with snacks and water. Crews of local masons come to meet us and off we hike into the mountains to start our first houses. The majority of houses in Haiti are cinder block with some wood trim. The floors are dirt. Most ...

... Les Anglais. The kids still seemed to be very scared of us. We walked up to one house and the kid saw us coming so he immediately started sprinting the other way. His grandma was mad and started running through the bushes after him screaming. We sat and waited for about 8 minutes and the grandma came back with the kid in hand. He was crying and didn't want to have anything to do with us. We started interviewing her and he slowly calmed down until I ...

... dirt and lined with rocks. We did see a few concrete floors. After the interviews, we learned that most people didn't want to walk to town to get their water so they would go to the river to get their water. The problem is that everyone washes their clothes and bodies in the river and many of the animals and people go to the bathroom there as well. As a result, the water ends up being pretty dirty and contaminated with all sorts of ...

... and then just file in the gaps all around me. This quickly became a recurrent theme. If you were sitting around, everyone would gather around you and just stare. I could sit there for 45 minutes and they would sit there for 45 minutes staring. You can see some of the pictures of the kids looking at me in crowds. After the staring contest, we set out for our first round of household surveys in one of the more poor (its all relative ...

... up to what was left of the concrete entrance (after the flooding) and there was even larger crowd of people that started gathering around our cars. They started opening all of the days of the cars and pulled us out of the car. I stepped out of the car and people started coming up and kissing you and giving you hugs. I turned around to my left and there was a band that started to play and then over to my right was a lot of school ...