A walk to the grocery store

Today a group of blancs walked down to the grocery store. Sundays we don't have our lovely cook, Joanne, so you fend for yourself. I had been to another grocery store nearby, that had very little in it, so was curious more than anything to see the store. For $8 I got a pack of cookies, a bag of croissants, and a bag of coffee. It was quite a fully stocked store, complete with la Vache qui rit cheese, baguettes, microwave popcorn and yogurt. The produce section wasn't appealing- a few old packaged oranges, and some imported Red Delicious apples. Andy has headed downtown in search of fruit, so hopefully I'll get to sample some freshness!

En route, we passed by at least two churches, and boy oh boy, do people dress up for Sunday service! I didn't dare take photos of the folks standing by the church, but I did happen to get this shot as they were leaving the service and boarding a tap tap. 

Note the poster for Celestin (who thankfully withdrew from the election).

There is quite a breeze today, and it's been cloudy off & on. I don't recall much of a breeze here last time I was here- obviously, I've never been here in hurricane season!

There are roadside car washes everwhere, even out in the countryside. They bring along gas powered behemoth pressure washers, and presto, washed vehicles. What's even stranger, is the state of some of the vehicles that are getting washed. The UN vehicles, yes, I can see, but the dinged up old cars look pretty funny at the carwash. In this case, I think it was a big beat up water truck, so I suppose if you transport drinking water, it's a good idea to keep it clean.

Another car wash, this time a bit more established than the roadside ones. There was also a roadside mechanic en route- they had oil, etc., but also some tools to do basic repairs. It didn't seem appropriate to take a photo of their set-up.

These colourful glass shards atop this fence were quite lovely above this wall. Most people have a combination of glass bottles and razor wire. 

Piles of garbage everywhere. Alex told me that pre-earthquake, there wasn't rubbish on the streets everywhere. The smells of piles of garbage and the stagnant water in ditches is quite overpowering.

The ubiquitous chickens on the street...

When we went to the roadside omelette place for lunch, this boy was grinding up peppercorns, onions and hot peppers to add to the boiling pot. I didn't know the name of the dish he was creating, but I sure was some impressed by the size of the mortar & pestle- ergonomic or what?! I asked him if I could take his photo, and he wouldn't stop beaming after that!

So, since Sundays are relaxed days off, I'm actually considering going out to my tent to read a book- unheard of! Feels decadent, but what the heck! Live it up. When in Haiti...