Road Trip: Haiti Style

Google tells me there are roughly 156 miles between Cap Haitien and Haiti's capitol, Port-Au-Prince (PAP). This "short" distance ended up being a little less than a 6-hour road trip across Haitian Roads.

It all started with EEGs. Two of our kiddos needed EEGs, and the only EEG clinic in Haiti is located in PAP. A baby from our Medika Mamba program was scheduled to receive a free surgery at a hospital in PAP. And, our adoption worker, Antonio, needed to make a trip to the city. So, to save money on bus and plane tickets, it was decided that we would take our van.
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The EEG appointments and surgery consult were scheduled for Monday, October 20th. So, we booked a couple rooms at a guest house and left after church on Sunday. There were 9 people in the van; Rikerns our driver, Antonio, a 5 year old, a 2 year old, myself, a nanny, the nanny's adult daughter (we picked her up along the way), Mamba baby, and his mom.

The trip started pretty uneventfully. We strapped our 2 kids into car seats and I even managed to catch an hour of sleep! Then, we picked up the nanny's daughter. The two of them proceeded to hold a nearly 2 hour, animated, 3-way phone conversation in Creole. Then, the 5-year old woke up pretty abruptly and projectile vomited ALL over the floor of the van. I couldn't grab bags off the floor fast enough! So, we made a pit stop to wipe up the puke and take a road-side potty break. Not too long after that we were stopped by a Haitian police officer; he asked if we could give another officer a ride. He wasn't in uniform, so we declined. Not long after that, the 2 year old blew-out her diaper. Thank goodness for extra blankets! We were then nearing PAP, but our gas tank was nearly on empty. We pulled in to two different gas stations, neither of which had any gas. So then we were basically forced to pay some men on the street for 3 gallons of gas which they funneled into our tank. And then we made it!

The guest house was VERY nice. We were served dinner when we arrived. Shortly after dinner, the nanny and mama started getting the kids ready for bed. They were all, adults included, in bed by 8:00 PM. Apparently Haitians like to go to bed early. So, because the room was pitch black, I settled in for the night too. There was a wall air conditioner; I cranked it down to 72, and slept so well! Probably froze out the Haitians!

I was awoken at 6:00AM by a bed-wetter above me! (our room had 2 bunk beds). Because we were in PAP, it was important that we looked nice. So, we got the girls all cute in their dresses and ended up leaving only 10 minutes behind schedule. We dropped Mamba baby and Mama off at the hospital, and made it to our appointments on time. The EEGs themselves were pretty uneventful, mostly because they gave our kids sleeping medicine. While we were at the appointments, Rikerns paid some boys to clean our van inside and out. Good-bye vomit smell, hello cherry air-freshener! (I think the air-freshener was later chucked out the window by another international staff member.....it's smell was a LITTLE overwhelming)

We stopped at a restaurant for some lunch and then hit the road around 1:30PM. This time, I made SURE to give the 5-year old some Dramamine. And it worked! I also managed to take a nearly 2- hour nap with the 2-year old. When we woke up, Rikerns told me that he was trying to drive extra smooth while I was sleeping. So thoughtful of him, but I'm not sure its possible to drive smoothly on those washed-out gravel roads. We only had to stop for one potty-break, and we were home safe-and-sound before 8:00PM!



Definitely a trip I won't forget! I laughed to myself several times as I wrote this. I'm thinking I might want to experience the flying route next time.......

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