I can't remember the last time I updated and the internet isn't working well enough for me to check so I'll start from the beginning of this week.

My plans were to head to Cote-des-Fer and Bainet to work on Zafen.org stuff with Jenny and Dominique on Monday, sleep overnight in Jacmel, work in Jacmel that morning, return to PAP, and then drive to Saut d'Eau on Tuesday night to meet up with the Chemin Lavi Miyo people (see Fonkoze's website/Zafen.org for explanations of these programs). So how'd it go?

Monday we spent something like 12 hours driving. When we were asking for directions on a gravel(ish) road someone said that we needed to head two hours down the road, get out, and walk...maybe there was a river crossing in there...can't remember. I suggested that we should've taken the Fonkoze chopper, which of course doesn't exist. We skipped out on this group only to find out later that they had prepared a feast for us. "Feast" may have been peanut butter on bread, but at that point in the afternoon we were all starving.

We met with the first group and someone showed up with fresh tamarins from a tree. Had Georgina not introduced me to them at NM, I would've been confused when I was handed them.

We headed through the mountains and saw beautiful views, none of which I attempted to capture from the moving/shaking/jostling car. How people make a living on the side of a mountain is beyond me, especially since the soil is bright red in certain areas.

Somewhere around 7pm we were taking a mud road where car tires had gouged tracks deep into the road. We were in the middle of nowhere and the sun had just gone down. I know that only because when we got stuck in the mud, a guy with us said "this is bad because we're in the middle of nowhere." Over the next 45 minutes we saw only three people, all on one moto, which stopped to help. A storm in the distance worried me, but we were able to get out before having to deal with rain.

Tuesday was filled with a lot of driving and some quick photography on my part. We stopped in a market on the way back where Dominique and Jenny gave me a hard time for attracting so many people to the car. They laughed when they heard one woman ask me for 10 gourdes and then go to our driver and ask for 5.

We returned to PAP late. The new plan was to leave Wed. morning at 6am and drive to Mirebalais where I would be dropped off and link up with my ride to Saut d'Eau. This plan assumed that gas stations in Haiti would have gas. This is where the plan fell apart.

From 6:30-8:30 we drove around PAP, out to Carrefour, and back without finding gas. We gave up, postponing our projects outside of the capital for the week. Vivian kindly took me back into her house where I've mostly stayed since Wednesday night due to the gas shortage.

I'm a bit backed up on posting photos, but I will when I have a decent internet connection.

The gas situation only exacerbates problems this week. There have been protests over President Preval wanting to extend his term by 8 months and over forced relocation plans. Conversations seem too often to trail off into phrases like "this country..." and "god..."

Today alone I heard of an attempted suicide, a 7 year-old being raped in a robbery in nearby Fermathe, and predictions that the gas shortage will last for another 9 days. The Fermathe story is the reason there are now a number of armed guards patrolling outside the house. A couple of hours ago I went next door to the store to buy a coke and a man with a shotgun escorted me there and back. I'm at least used to shotguns at banks, gas stations, and a variety of other public places, but certainly not where I live. It's a strange reality.

I bought the coke preparing to watch Heart(s?) of Darkness, the documentary on the making of Apocalypse Now. I brought a few dvds to watch while I'm here and I'm running low now that I'm through The Wire S4. Summary: Actors doing a lot of drugs, Francis Ford Copolla pays Marcos in the Philipines to use his helicopters, Martin Sheen aged 36 has a heart attack, Marlon Brando shows up fat and, well, Marlon Brando-like. It's definitely worth a watch if you enjoy the film.

I'll leave you there for now. I'll have some random photos soon. Some from a new video project I'm working on, some random ones from hanging around when I'm off of work. Also, I just wanted to say thanks for anyone dropping an email once in a while. I appreciate it, even if I don't get to write lengthy responses.

A video I put together for Hands on Disaster Response:

I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog.

Last Friday I left with Andy, his wife, two kids, and friend Milier (I’m guessing on the spelling). I was tired from staying out the night before, but the drive made it difficult to sleep. When I was awake or fighting of uncomfortable sleep I was noticing the great difference, as has been highlighted by many environmentalists, between the Haitian landscape and the Dominican one. I started thinking about Columbus, the Taino, and the different histories. Haiti really had to pay for its independence…

In Santo Domingo we hung out. I had a number of interesting discussions. One with a Haitian man who wants to run an irrigation project. We discussed the underground tunnels, which I saw back in 2008 in Milot near the airport. He knew of them too, and we discussed how vast the system may be and its potential uses in the 21st century. If that system made Saint Domingue the colony worth fighting for in 1791, it could help revitalize agriculture in the north.

I also spoke with a lighter-skinned woman from the upper class. She had a bit of an inferiority complex, common among Haitians. We were discussing Dominicans when she said, “Sure, they’ve got the good hair, the good skin, and the money, but they don’t have to act like they’re better than us.” She seemed like the type who will never return to Haiti, but I could be wrong.

Andy’s kids were entertaining and ridiculous. We entertained each other on the drive back in between naps. Sometimes I would hear a really loud banging sound and wake up. One time I realized it was my head hitting the plastic inside the car…didn’t really hurt for some reason.

I crashed in Delmas on Sunday night, waking up to a bunch of people running around on Monday. Sasha had a number of visitors as well as a call from Patricia Arquette about some toilets. They headed out to “the burning pits of hell” or Titanyen again, while a driver came to pick me up.

I’ve spent the last few days in Thomassin/Laboule. I’m staying with Viviane at her family’s old summer home. She has a lot of great artwork and even some old Rara dresses hanging around. Some of this should be in a museum, but instead it often gets discarded (she saved the dresses from such a fate). She also has a Duffaut she bought for US$8. Except for the frogs (I think they’re from Puerto Rico) and the ten dogs, it’s been really quiet up here and more relaxing than anything else.

I’ve decided to move my internship with Fonkoze up so one day was spent looking at a couple studio apartments in Pacot near Chan Mas. Other days have been spent hanging around, reading, working on little errands (email), etc. We also visited Levoy Exil at his home where he showed us a lot of paintings. Unfortunately, I can’t afford anything this time around, but it was great to see some of those. The painting from the CNN article is $25,000! A little more than I expected.

I’m heading back to Leogane today to finish up some work and then returning to PAP on Monday. I still need to arrange housing, but I start at Fonkoze on Tuesday. That’s all for now…pictures when I get a chance.

Dominican Republic:


Haiti:

After writing from Delmas 53(I think it was 53...it was directly across from one of the first photos I shot in PAP of a pancaked building), Sasha was on the phone. We had just left their place, but apparently Danny Glover was in their toilet...of course he was.

We headed up to a restaurant in Petionville for a meeting with someone from a certain unnamed NGO. I had already called my friend Nathalie about meeting up and she said she would like to. I called her back about two hours later from the restaurant. She said she'd take a raincheck. Since her housem in Delmas 33 collapsed she'd been staying with her neighbor. On the phone she told me that one of the people in the house had just been shot in the head and that she needed to go to find out what was going on.

I sat back down. We discussed rumors that another aid worker was kidnapped for a bit and then we moved on to other topics.

We headed to another bar, in a beautiful building I knew from last summer, but I knew it from another business there. We were just hanging out when a guy sat down, saying he had been stood up. Turned out to be a journalist with one of the big wire services. I created an opening in the conversation as our NGO-friend fled the conversation. We discussed the coverage of Haiti, what had been written, how it had been written, future stories he's working on. Apparently there's some harder hitting stuff coming out within the near future, but only time will tell.

That was the last half of my day yesterday. If I don't write these things down, large parts are gone in a matter of days. I'm keeping parts of this one purposely vague, but it was an interesting night, with a lot more details worth sharing offline. Off to Santo Domingo in about and hour. Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone.