My Life in Pictures (Monday, December 28th, 2009)

[bcholmes]

Most of the delegation was due to arrive today, but at the moment, there's only one other member delegation member (The uber-cool Kevin).

I came down early to have a few days to enjoy Haiti before the real work begins. So today, I was up early, and off downtown. I took a pick-up style tap tap to Delmas, and caught one of the minivan style tap taps to the heart of downtown. The tap tap routes keep changing. And they have weird names.

One of the things that I find weird about Toronto is that it has all of these neighbourhood names that never seem to exist on any maps, and everyone uses them, but if you didn't grow up in Toronto (as I didn't) you might not be all that familiar with them. Even after 20 years, I'm still fuzzy on some of the locations.

So it is with the Haitian tap taps. The minibus-style tap tap that I got used to last year went to Nazon (I don't know where Nazon is, but I know that it takes me past the Champs de Mars). Now the same route appears to go to Portail. Where's Portail? Gah! There's also a new route up Delmas 33, called Silon (sp?) It mostly goes up Delmas 33 like the rest, but turns down a side street and goes somewhere unknown.

As I popped by the presidential palace, I noticed that it's all made up with Christmas decorations. Pretty red flowers on the white building.

The Préval presidency is becoming such a disappointment; it's so clear that he's capitulated to international interests. It's a pity.

Mostly, this is what my time downtown looks like. I walk long distances down long roads with unclear signage. This morning, traffic was pretty quiet, and I wandered off to the post office to deal with some mail. I popped a post card into the mail for my grandmother -- I don't think she quite gets what Haiti's about for me. Oh well. As far as I can tell, the post office is pretty much the only place in the city you can get post cards.

This is Joseph. He's in love with me. I bumped into him on the way to post office, and we had a good chat. He's a mechanic, and a Christian, and he has a lot of positive energy. I took him to lunch with me, and he told me that he loves me deeply and truly.

Haitian men like to flirt, I've come to understand. I seem to get at least one person professing their love for me each time I come here. Josesph's dreams were probably the most concrete. He wants to marry me, and live with me (in Haiti, of course). I probably should have seen it coming after he asked if I was married. Thing is, people always want to know my marital status. (And whether or not I have any children. "What?!? No children? Why don't you want children?" "Too difficult.")

He gave me his phone number; I gave him my email. I doubt there's a future for us, but I damned if I know how to break his heart gently.

On my way back to Delmas, I stopped to change money. I've never changed money in a bank in Haiti. In Pòtoprens, I change money at a nearby grocery store. In Jakmel, the hardware store has the best rates. There are three or four big bank chains in Haiti, and I haven't been in any of them (I've been in the major microcredit bank, here, where I have an account).

After the grocery store, I popped through this one slightly diagonal side street, where lots of people walk, and there's a smallish market, with people selling ware all down one side of the street. The man in front of me in this photo is, like many Haitians, carrying something awkward and heavy on his head.

Later, back at the guest house, the delegation members started to arrive. There's one other Canadian (from Vancouver), and bunch of people from the States. Most of them are primarily involved in Latin American solidarity, and Haiti is a bit of a new quantity for them. We had some time to kill, and I took some folks out on to the street to walk around. One fellow was really hungry, so I found us a street vendor selling foodstuffs. Akra. Damned if I know what it's made with. It's kind of bready and fried in oil. I've had it before, but that doesn't mean I know what's in it.

And I took them out to see the sign. There's a side street off Delmas 33 that I usually turn down to get to Sister Mary's place. Yesterday, I noticed that someone has built a huge sign announcing a city hall for the Delmas region. People still don't have schools, but we have a big sign. Sign.

There was another corner that surprised me, too. In all the years I've been coming here, there's been a corner that always had a number of market women at it. This time, the corner was bare. What happened? I wondered. Then I realized. Someone has cut down a tree. No tree means no shade. The market women have followed the shade.

On my way back from the sign, this fellow called out to me and said that he was photographing me. Perhaps he saw the fact that I was photographing the sign. I dunno. He had a playful, mocking tone to his voice. So, I said, "Eske m ka fe foto ou?" I pulled out my camera. We kind of mutually decided on having us take a picture of the other one taking a picture. People around us were laughing at the goofy interaction.

We've gone through our delegation itinerary, and it sounds like it's going to be an amazing event. I can't wait.