have had some requests for "living conditions" posts. so, here goes. I am sitting here on the "porch" here on the 2nd floor listening to the goats and sheeps as they walk the street with the people. the pigs generally don't congregate in the street, but stay in the garbage pile about a hundred feet away. people pile their garbage there and every now and then someone drops a match. the people who live behind the garbage pile...well, I'm glad I don't live there. this is a view up the street from the school area to the house. Jessica is walking Rony to the house. The ambulance is a curious thing. it was purchased by our neighbor Albert, one of the undertakers in town. and it sat there for months before he got it fixed and now it sits again. to each his own I guess! the garbage pile is just to the left of the ambulance. Oh, the garbage pile we BURN is to the left. To the right is the garbage pile that, well, is just a pile. I guess there are rules for this bu
t I don't know what they are yet. the next pic is a shot of the outside of the house we live. the tangled mess in the front is razor wire, but it is old and rusty and not really very razory, if you know what I mean. spider webs abound around the wire. the upstairs is the outdoor porch where we sit and peruse the Haitian culture. when everything is going, the air can be quite lousy. we are some distance from the main roads, but the diesel smoke, garbage fires, cooking fires, animals, thousands of small motorcycles that serve as taxi's, make it a unique place! Unique enough to be quite like the rest of Haiti!. we have running water which is a blessing. the electricity is becoming more of an iffy proposition. the inverter and battery storage is acting up. the batteries are discharging very quickly, and 7 have already been replaced this year at cost of about $1000 US. and it appears there may need to be more replaced. Gary is thinking as the money is not in the budget. But as all real Haitians do... :)..... we get by and know things will work out. the house is actually not bad at all. we have a fridge AND freezer and fans to sleep with and of course, computers. so we are not exactly David Brainerd travelling to India in the 1790's but it is not the US. whoa, a herd of goats just went by. Lately we have had irregularly a platoon of UN soldiers come by jogging for conditioning I guess. they always have at least 6 with weapons, one on each corner, two in the middle on each side of the group. we wave of course. it is a policy here to wave and smile to those with guns. I don't see shotguns and such hardly any at all anymore in the general population. the first trips it was regular to see a third of the men on the street with a weapon, gun or machete, here or in Mountrois. much better now! Well, there is s start. I'll post more this weekend and you'll have a better "picture" of my life in Haiti. bye for now
t I don't know what they are yet. the next pic is a shot of the outside of the house we live. the tangled mess in the front is razor wire, but it is old and rusty and not really very razory, if you know what I mean. spider webs abound around the wire. the upstairs is the outdoor porch where we sit and peruse the Haitian culture. when everything is going, the air can be quite lousy. we are some distance from the main roads, but the diesel smoke, garbage fires, cooking fires, animals, thousands of small motorcycles that serve as taxi's, make it a unique place! Unique enough to be quite like the rest of Haiti!. we have running water which is a blessing. the electricity is becoming more of an iffy proposition. the inverter and battery storage is acting up. the batteries are discharging very quickly, and 7 have already been replaced this year at cost of about $1000 US. and it appears there may need to be more replaced. Gary is thinking as the money is not in the budget. But as all real Haitians do... :)..... we get by and know things will work out. the house is actually not bad at all. we have a fridge AND freezer and fans to sleep with and of course, computers. so we are not exactly David Brainerd travelling to India in the 1790's but it is not the US. whoa, a herd of goats just went by. Lately we have had irregularly a platoon of UN soldiers come by jogging for conditioning I guess. they always have at least 6 with weapons, one on each corner, two in the middle on each side of the group. we wave of course. it is a policy here to wave and smile to those with guns. I don't see shotguns and such hardly any at all anymore in the general population. the first trips it was regular to see a third of the men on the street with a weapon, gun or machete, here or in Mountrois. much better now! Well, there is s start. I'll post more this weekend and you'll have a better "picture" of my life in Haiti. bye for now
Random, but do you remember when we played frisbee in front of the house at night w/a glow-in-the-dark frisbee? I just thought remembered that when I saw your pictures. Gotta love good times.
ReplyDeleteMiss ya, can't wait to chat w/ya when you come home. Until next time, take care!
Mindi