Hotel du Roi Christophe Cap-Haitien

... my shiny white torso was second only to the sun in luminescence, but I digress. Anyway, the Comfort Suites Proidenciales wasn't too bad, and it was one of the few places where I could stay for only one night without a huge price tag. Enjoyable, if brief. So the next day I flew to Cap Haitien, and my world stopped spinning in an instant. (An aside: I wrote that line 3 days ago. It felt like the right thing to say, in fact, I still stand by it, in a way. But it's also ...

... That service ended up being an hour later than scheduled. We left Erika in decent shape and went back to the house where we crashed for a few hours. After waking and eating, Peter came by and we headed to Shada to drop of the paint. Initially we were taking Madame Bwa and other women from the Shada women's group to Petite Anse to see how that toilet has been managed. That fell through and is planned for this ...

Just a couple of notes on this travel blog. Because of the relatively slow internet speed, all of my photos for an entry may not get uploaded for a day or two after the text is posted. You might also be interested to know that I've specifically pinpointed (via Google Earth) my locations. Zoom in on the maps to see the SOIL building, the garbage heap where we were in Shada, Doug's Village, Sans Souci, the Citadelle, etc. The ...

... plans. I would like to do some kind of scanning project to help preserve documents, but these are too large for the scanner I have. The man in charge was a character and led us around/talked with us for over an hour. Beyond that it's been a quiet day. Tomorrow I plan on doing at least one interview. Sasha is in the Artibonite for the night. All of the other students are gone. It's nice to slow the pace.

... We had to walk from Sans Souci unlike last year when we walked from the parking lot, which is over half way. This meant a 7k up and 7k down hike. I made it about half way with my boots slipping on the road (made of stones). I gave in and bought a horse, which I knew would be a problem later. The guides follow you even if you say you won't pay them. Erika achieved the amazing feat of getting rid of two guys by telling them just that. Usually they won't leave ...

... out of garbage and many children made sandals and toys. Info and pictures can be found at www.oursoil.org. The rain restarted and we made our way to the SOIL truck. We pulled into the gas station where someone threw a goat in our truck. That goat was bought by Rosemond and Wisnel's father for Sasha's birthday. Along the ride names were suggested. "Tommy" was the first and "Tasty" was Denik's suggestion. Sasha recommended we didn't get too ...

... which Aristide wouldn't get to see. I jumped out and got a few pictures so I didn't really get any time there. Just down the street I made Marcorel pull over. I got a few strange looks at people because I was taking a picture of a school sign. The sign was for Dantes Bellegarde College. Dantes Bellegarde was the Haitian Ambassador to the United States during part of the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915-1934). Bellegarde gave women the ...

... smoking on his boat sparked gasoline in the engine and blew the whole thing up. He now works here and there for SOIL and they help put him through school. The tour, which included that story, led us past the police station where we ran into MINUSTAH (United Nations "peacekeepers"). MINUSTAH is not well liked in Haiti and is the only peacekeeping mission in the history of the UN to exist without some peace agreement preceeding the mandate ...

... After walking up to the Citadelle (we drove most of the mountain, but you have to walk or ride a horse up a small path) we walked around, viewed the museum, took a lot of pictures, and descended with our pack of unwanted guides. The guides follow you up and eventually ask for anything they can get from you. The Citadelle used to have hundreds of tourists visiting weekly according to Sasha. Now they're almost ...

... esto, ustedes habrán de encontrarlas. People, Greetings from Cap-Haitien. As some of you know, I am working at Sacred Heart Parish in the Diocese of Cap-Haitien. Three Oblates make up the team: the Pastor, the Vicar (or Associate Pastor), and the Deacon (that would be me). I am trying to get soaked on historical and cultural context. By reccomendation of Dr. M. Cimperman, I have read Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond ...