We Made It!

We made it! We actually made it! I was on Haitian soil! We landed in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (the countries capital city. I couldn't believe that we actually made it. This trip always seemed like it was so far away, so for it to actually be happening I was beyond thrilled!

During the flight we had to fill out a couple of forms to state what are purpose was while we were in Haiti, where we would be staying and for how long. We had to hang on to those forms to present them at customs.

We walked off the plane into the beautiful Haitian sunshine!

The poor airport (as well as the country) battled some major hurricanes this season.

As we entered into the airport there was a Caribbean band playing. They even had steel drums which I love. It made you feel like you were on a tropical vacation. I quickly came back to reality remembering what we were there for, no vacation here.

Brian walking into the airport ready to go through customs. Get your passport ready!

Some of the Veterans waiting for the rest of the team to de-plane!

We gathered all of our bags/supplies, they all made it! We breezed through customs with no problem. Now to remind you, I had no clue what was going on or what I was supposed to do. So, I did what I do best, wait for someone to tell me what to do! We loaded all of our stuff onto carts, we had at least three, maybe four. I felt like I needed to do something to contribute so I decided to push one of the carts that was loaded with boxes and bags. I was told that once we exited the airport it would be mayhem and people would attempt to take and carry your belongings for you so then you would have to pay them. I was told by Dr. Dave, "do not let anyone take this cart from you".

I was prepared, or so I thought. I guess no matter how many stories people tell you, it is a totally different thing to experience it for yourself. It was madness. People were everywhere! Haitians were yelling, trying to carry your bags for you (exactly as I was told). Now remember, we are in Haiti, they speak Creole ( a dialect of French). I had no clue (yet again) what anyone was saying. I was in a full fledged culture shock at this point. Instead of having a freak out, I held onto my cart for dear life and stayed on the heals of the team member in front of me.

I quickly noticed that Haitian men with uniforms were taking all of our team members carts from them. One man tried to take mine and I continued to hold tight and kept saying "NO". I felt really bad, but I was trying to follow the rules. I found out that the men were authorized to carry our luggage for us, so really it was okay for him to carry it for me. However, the less people that carried our things for us, the less people we would have to pay (oh, okay. I get it now).

We made it to our vehicles in the parking lot. Dr. Dave came up to me and said, "Carrie, your the only one who listened to me and held onto your cart!). I laughed but felt good that I actually did something right! Some of the Veteran team members were talking to a couple of men. Obviously they knew them from previous trips. I met Gary, he is our driver while in PAP. The other man is Jean Louis, one of our interpreters. He lives in PAP but travels to the island of LaGonave with us to help at our clinic.

While we were loading our luggage two men approached us with their horns and played many songs for us. They even played our national anthem which I thought was very nice.

Dr. Dave was our banker while on this trip. He was responsible for handling all of the money. Everyone gave Dave cash before we left so that when we needed to tip or pay people, he would handle it. Dave's new name became"Big Boss", since he was the man with the money. Dave payed the gentlemen that helped handle our bags and we all loaded into the van driven by Gary. We followed closely behind the truck that was carrying all of our luggage/supplies.

We took a short drive, about five minutes, to a smaller airport. On this drive I tried to take in as much scenery as I could. I wanted to see everything. I had my face smashed against the glass so I wouldn't miss a thing. I continued to be in culture shock seeing the amount of poverty there was. It is not something I think I can explain. I will try to do it justice with pictures, but I still don't think anyone totally gets it without experiencing with their own two eyes.

Coming up next........Our last flight (at least for this leg of the trip)!