Strange place to wake up

Haiti is truly a wonderful, wacky place to spend time. I was awakened at 5am (actually I was already awake) by loud piano music and singing- yet another early morning church service. I'm told that they don't actually advertise these services- the loudspeakers do that for them!

Life here at Haiti Communit¡ere is much quieter with my group gone- they all flew home yesterday, and I must say, they brought a lot of new life to this place.

The air quality here is extremely poor- if there's not garbage burning (which in the city, there almost always is, and that usually plastic fumes), really inefficient gas vehicles and diesel plumes from traffic, and, when you're driving, you are breathing in both of these things, in addition to breathing in the fine particulates of the often times dirt roads.
...all of this adds up to really unhealthy air that you breathe in all day. I'm not sure I could stand up to a long term stint here, unless I spent most of that time in a remote community in the mountains, where air would be cleaner, and garbage would be less prevalent period. I have a deep raspy cough and wheezy breathing that goes into my lungs that don't feel like a cold at all- I'm sure it's just from breathing in contaminants.

Haiti is a strange place to navigate- with complicated relationships, code of conduct, and politics. Before my group left, we talked about the dynamics of the village we stayed in, and how difficult it was sometimes to understand why certain things were happening. I expect not to understand what is going on, and even then, it can be frustrating at times. Just working with one or two Haitians, and trying to pass on instructions or guidance to do a job can be a huge amount of work. I guess I'm starting to feel a little tired- coordinating a group for 3 weeks takes a certain amount of energy, as does leading a team of Haitian builders. It will be good to go back to Desandes and just be responsible for me. My group didn't really require much at all, but nonetheless, there's a part of my brain that was always aware, and 'on' regarding them.

And so now, at 6:02, I wait for my 6:00 ride to come pick me up. Last time, it took two hours for the ride to get here, so we'll see where it lands this time...no gas shortage, but apparently there are some demonstrations happening in some places downtown. Oh, here he is- youpi!