En Haiti!
We landed while Hurricane Dean was lashing other parts of the Caribbean yesterday, but the skies over Port-au-Prince (PaP) were simply heavy -- no rain, no wind, just still. The landing was uneventful, grace a dieu, and we walked down the stairs onto the tarmac and a new life in a new world.
New world indeed! As we entered the building there was a man holding a little sign that read "American Embassy". We followed him up the stairs to the VIP lounge (which is why I had to wear a skirt), handed over our passports and luggage tags, and waited for 30+ minutes while our luggage was located and our passports expedited through immigration. After years of standing in line in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam -- where immigration was an uneventful, interminable nightmare, where I watched expediters pushing other people through the lines ahead of me-- here I am as one of the expedited. Thank God we were hidden from view so sincere NGOers and other folks wouldn't shoot daggers at us through their eyes. (And I'll certainly be standing in line again when I travel off the diplomatic passport!)
So, brave new world... After collecting our passports and luggage, we were loaded into the large, white, armored Suburban and headed off to our new home in Pacot, up the hills overlooking PaP. I have never, never, never been in an armored car before and it felt, well, heavy. Ponderous. Difficult to maneuver. Unyielding. Palpably dangerous. Hmm. But the journey was fascinating: lots of people in the streets, lots of vendors and other sorts of commercial activity, etc. It was a bit of a sensory overload, in fact, heightened by the fact that I was not jet-lagged and extremely aware of our movement. I uploaded some photos on Facebook, but have one here for show. It's the women in the corner that make it so fascinating, thanks to Laurence's fine eye.
Best tap tap I've seen thus far: big picture of Jesus and the lamb on the back, yet the rest of the bus was covered with little soccer balls. Sport is religion for some, no?
2 comments:
HEY!
Glad to know you made it to the armored car alright. Does the chugging of the generator make you pine for the sound of DC helicopters & crickets? All is well back in the Channel.
xoxo
Q
Luckily, the chugging of the generator makes me think, "Ah, if there's a coup d'etat, we will still have power!" (We sleep on the other side of the house, so luckily I don't have to think about it very much!)
Hope you and Emiko are fine and dandy!
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