This day is definitely a day of contrasts or opposites or extremes, however you would like to call it. Today began very busy. We knew that we only had a half day to see our patients, because June wanted me to get a chance to see a different side of Haiti before I left. I really appreciated it, because up to this point, all I had seen was the neighborhood around the hospital and guest house. I figured that I would not even have a chance to see much because of the timing of things, so this was a great surprise!
So anyway, it started out very busy this morning with returning patients and new patients. I was running way late for lunch (they run a strict schedule for meals here) and then right as I was about to leave, another PT came in with a small 3 year old boy whose leg had been run over by a bicycle. She wasn't sure if he had fractured it or torn some ligaments. So I took a look at him, then a few others did, then off to the xray room he went and off to lunch I went. He ended up fracturing his tibia and fibula near the knee, so he had to get casted. I also did not have time to finish my documentation, so I went back to the clinic earlier than the meet up time to do so.
It took awhile for us to leave cause June had quite a few loose ends to tie up before we left. Me, Sarah, Heidi, and Marvin climbed in the bed of the truck and then June, Carmen, and Cindy were in the cab. The best way to sum up the drive is "Praise God I am alive!" There is absolutely no order on the streets, no stop signs, no yield signs, I saw one traffic light and one round-a-bout the whole (45 min drive). There are tons of people on motorcycles and they pass you on the left, the right, wherever they please. There were quite a few speed bumps called "Police couche" "sleeping police" in Creole, but that was the only thing that made anyone slow down. Also, did I mention there are people walking everywhere and a lot of times they don't even get out of the way. On the way back (in the dark), June had to slam on her breaks because a guy was walking in the middle of the road and then he got mad at us and even hit the side of the truck with his hand! On the way out there an SUV was riding our bumper like crazy, then he eventually passed us, which was also scary, cause he got soo close!
Ok enough about the crazy drive, I will try to describe what I saw, heard, and smelled. Lots of markets alongside the streets, lottery stands (Marvin says the lottery is huge here, this speaks a lot of the culture, which I will explain later), tombstones randomly in people's yards, A LOT of people bathing in the river (they apparently bathe everyday around 2-3 pm), people carrying all kinds of objects on their heads (water, sticks, etc), people yelling at us (because we are white, not because we are in the back of a truck), huge brightly painted buses, trash everywhere, one guy making kissing noises, another one dancing a bit provocatively (to put it nicely), smells of burning (wood, plastic, trash, etc), exhaust smells (honestly, I think the smells made me more sick to my stomach than the drive, but it is hard to determine), and then a beautiful countryside and a few great views of the ocean, some Haitians dancing and playing the drums, singing, and I am sure there is more, but that is what I can remember at 11pm. So we go through all this chaos to a little slice of paradise in the country.
The beach is called Port Salut. When you get there, you order your food because it takes 2 hours to prepare (really fresh fish and lobster). They have these nice huts with chairs set up underneath, a bar on the beach, and even some guesthouses yYou can rent for an evening or two. When we arrived there, there were only 2 other people on the whole beach other than employees. It was amazing! Apparently, Haitians don't really like the beach. The majority of people we saw there were not natives. This place was so peaceful, relaxing, and calm, I can see why the full-time people like to come here for some R and R. I will be posting pictures once I get to the US. Anyway, I ordered some yummy lobster and it came with fries, plantains, avocados, and rice with this yummy sauce. I also had the Haitian mixed drink: Rum and punch, it was good! (I made sure and had June order it with less rum and more punch...haha). Anyway, I spent about 15 min in the water and then Heidi, Sarah, and I went exploring. Since no one goes to the beach, there were tons of great finds in terms of shells and starfish..I didn't bring it with me, but there was a HUGE starfish washed up on the beach.
Ok, I am cutting this short because the bugs are swarming my computer and it's late. I will write more tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
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