April Trip, Day Three

Woke with peacocks and roosters this morning. The predawn serenade wasn't as bad as in the past, probably because we got eight hours of sleep.

We had a breakfast of Haitian coffee with brown granulated sugar. Wonderful. Then a glass of a juice that no one could identify. But we were told to add sugar, delightful. Mary Poppins was right, 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. This was followed by a fried egg on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes. Followed by Haitian peanut butter and cheese and liver and onions. Rounded off with 3 glasses of ice water. What a feast.

After breakfast, we set off to the farm to meet the workers and a four mile hike through the fields. We confirmed the location of the workers house on top of one of the many hills on the land. We got surprise when we found a mile of paved road just before our property. The Big Rock still needs to be negotiated coming and going. The drive from Thomonde took one hour and seven minutes at six miles per hours. It's an improvement, but every section they've paved has at least the new major divots, the Haitian word for vehicle swallowing pot holes. The workers liked the new shirts, but didn't want to wear them to work in. Too nice. After supplying them with water and Hi-Chew candies we were off.

A passing motorcycle tap-tap pointed out a hanging exhaust pipe, which mom had already noticed. But it was the first time in Haiti we were treated to roadside assistance.

Pull up to the guy on the curb with an air compressor and a coat hanger. Reattach the exhaust pipe, check the oil and power steering fluid, and fill up the tires. All in less than 10 minutes.

We are back on the road to Port-au-Prince and Epi Dor for that three o'clock lunch. Seven and half hours between meals can be a little difficult at home, but here I never really think about food. You can't not think about water. And right now we are all out. So we are really looking forward to another 3 or 4 glasses.

We made a roadside stop for gas once again, the black market is alive and well.