We Made It!

We had a good trip....on time, even!  Our plane from Raleigh landed at the gate for departure to Haiti so we used the same plane with only a 20 minute layover!  That helped ensure our bags would arrive with us (and they did!).

I had a window seat for the first time, and I hope some of the pictures of the enormous thunder (hurricane?) clouds out the window in the distance will turn out. (The airplane window is quite an interference.)  What really amazed me is how truly mountainous Haiti is as seen from the top, and how covered with trees!  I love mountains, and the terrain of the entire  island is actually beautiful.

Chocolate brown rivers flow from the mountaintops, cutting curvy valleys as they seek their home in the sea.  Small collections of shiny squares scattered among the valleys and peaks mark villages with tin roofs reflecting the afternoon son.  Almost no roads visible from the air.

It seemed most of the population of Haiti is situated between the last mountain ridge and the seacoast. T Because most homes are built inside walls, the towns here looked like piles of sticks arranged in squares, variously colored by the houses and roofs within, and jammed right up against each other covering all the land on the seaward side. There is no green to be seen there.

The chaos at the Haiti airport was very much diminished from previous trips, but we were sad that the musicians at the airport who greeted us the last two times weren't there.  I guess they only play for the early flight.  $2 a cart got us baggage carts to help us with our HEAVY bags and everything (people and bags) fit in the three tap taps that awaited us.

We were into our rooms and ready for dinner by 7pm, and coming back to the hotel was very comfortable for those of us who have been here before.  After dinner and devotions we carted all our meds to Kay's room and left her and her roommates to once again SORT the stuff to take to the clinic tomorrow. Tomorrow after church and after we set up the clinic we will re-organize the already sorted clothes to take them to the school later this week.

The weather is sunny, clear and about 95 degrees.  The air conditioning in our rooms feels great, but no one seemed to be suffering outside as we had a slight breeze.  We had a brief power failure just after dinner so the new team members can start to get used to life on generators.  I guess that was just Haiti say "Hi".   The hot water showed up for showers, so all is good.

I don't have any pictures ready to include but wanted to report a safe trip, and a happy team ready to go!

Breakast is at 6am so heading for bed.   Thank you, God for our fun first day.