I woke up quite early this morning- around 4am. Of course, the roosters were already at it, but I could also hear people shouting in the background, and music blaring out of somewhere. I would guess that as with any city, it is much noisier here in Port-au-Prince than it would be in the countryside, but who knows?!
On Christmas Day when we went to the tent community, I remarked on how much traffic there was given it was Christmas and all, and Pascal & Cynthia laughed at me, saying that wasn’t much traffic at all. Oh! There were street vendors everywhere, and traffic doing its regular willy nilly thing of flowing everywhere and anywhere; stopping in the middle of the road, should you feel like it; pulling a 3 point turn on a busy road (they’re all busy!)…you know, a regular flow.
Henk Hank is bleating away outside; that must mean Ton is awake. The goat would follow him around like a dog, I swear!
I finally got to play with some plaster samples both yesterday and the day before; I haven’t yet put in any wheat paste, but I see one sample so far that has promise. There isn’t a very high clay content in this soil, so it’s not ideal, but I think it will work.
The open air shower is really a treat. A bucket of water, concrete block walls, and the moon. What more do you need?! I have always appreciated well built outdoor showers. In this case, they haven’t bothered with solar collection systems to heat water, as it’s really not necessary.
I went outside to ask one of the guards if they had a match so I can reheat yesterday’s coffee (because we’re out of coffee) and there were three guards, each holding a machete. I haven’t ever seen them carrying a weapon before, but I guess the night guards are really…on guard. I acted as though it was perfectly normal to walk up to guys holding machetes, and had to trust that they were really our guards, and not people who had hopped the (razor wire) fence and were imposters. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a light, so no coffee. Will have to wait until one of the many smokers gets up. (Mission accompli; just found Ton).
I have let go of any pressure I was holding about how seemingly behind our project is; it has mostly been out of my hands, the timing of things. There is an expression here, TIH (This is Haiti) that people use whenever something really wacky happens, or how long it takes for materials to arrive, or how complicated negotiations with someone are. Actually, a perfect example: the power is turned off at around 10pm every night, and then one of the security guards flips the switch in the morning. I asked Gerry if the power is on yet, and he said no, but it will be on in a little while. There’s no real reason not to flip the switch right now, but there you go. The other day, I needed power from the generator to feed the jobsite so I could use the grinder, and Gerry said I’d have to wait. I waited all day…and when I asked if I could take the extension cord feeding the corded radio at the gate entrance, he said we weren’t allowed to touch it. (I have since found out that yes, I can, as long as I replace the corded radio with a cordless one for the guards). But this is really good for me, having to wait, and learning to wait patiently.
I’ll feel good if I can at least get the fiddly bale details out of the way for Andy, who is arriving tomorrow afternoon. Originally, he was to come back early January, but decided to come earlier, which means the project will just keep on going. That’s good, and once again, we’ll have an ever so short overlap of time to talk about details. It’s a pity we weren’t able to work together more, as I sense that we would have made a really efficient (and fun!) team. Jean-Louis really admires Andy, and quite likes him, so he’ll be tickled today when he finds out he’s coming tomorrow.
Yesterday was Sunday Fun-day, as they call it here, so everyone chills out. A few groups went to the beach for the afternoon. I spent a somewhat lazy morning doing office work and other non-building things, but then I did go to the building for a part of the afternoon. There is just so much to do- while a trip to the beach would have been fun, I was also antsing to play with plaster, so I tweaked window openings, put on some mesh, stuffed some holes, and then made some plaster. It was super hot, so after a few hours, I went outside to a shady spot with my thermarest to try to have a nap- I almost succeeded, but for a %@$%$%!! rooster. Emma made a big spaghetti dinner, and I went out to get bread to make garlic bread. Steve even had parmesan cheese hidden in his tent, so all in all, it was a great feast!
I will definitely miss this place- it has allowed me to be transported far far away from my life and responsibilities. I’ll know I’ll suffer snow shock when I get back home, no question about it! Am going to sort through my clothes and add some to the Free Box here. Even if they only get used as rags, there is a good use for items I don’t need. Cleaning rags are a scarcity here!
It’s amazing how quickly you adapt to not having indoor plumbing, and how much less water is used in general. A quarter to half a 5 gallon bucket is plenty for a ‘shower’, and washing clothes can be done in so little water in the end. It will be strange to put clothes into a washer, but I shan’t kid myself into thinking I’ll continue to wash clothes in a bucket when I get home. Instead, I’ll still hang them outdoors in sub zero weather, hoping for the best!
The base is slowly waking up; Joanne, our cook, should be along shortly. Think I’ll go outside and sit for a few (sort of) quiet minutes before getting full-on into my day.
No comments:
Post a Comment