The damage doesn't look as bad from out here

My roommates made me buy chocolate
(Julie, me, Mary Kay, Lynn in back,
Kristen and Norma in front)

It turns out that that I didn't have to walk all the way over to church, it came to me as the music flowed over the valley into the guesthouse.

Although I had been worried that Sunday would be a fairly dull day (the clinic is closed that day) it turned out to be a pretty interesting one. During our morning prayers, Beth (who runs the guesthouse) announced that she would be heading to grocery store in a little bit. I immediately volunteered to accompany her on this normally mundane task. We bundled into her four-wheel drive and headed out. The grocery story brought back memories of Samoa, where I saw packets of cookies and other foods that I had not seen since I left there, leaving me to wonder if all developing counties shop at the same store. The people in the group that could not fit in the car asked me to pick up some chocolate, after much debate Judi and I found some Peperidge farm cookies that appeared to be the best bang for the buck. We exchanged some money and added them to our possessions. We made another stop for ice, driving past the mansion of the former president Rene Preval. Beth told us that since she doesn't have a freezer, she buys ice every day when she takes the kids to school. Judi and I also examined the meat, which was grey and suspicious looking. One pack was labeled “dog meat” and Judi wondered out loud if dogs where the intended recipient or the contents of the package. (It turns out that dogs are not eaten here, however cats are!)

There were rumours in the guesthouse that Willham was going to take us someplace after church. Perhaps Port-au-Prince! He was at a religious conference, and his return was perpetually imminent. Shrotly after returning from the store, Beth asked me to come with her, and bring my iStat! mary Kay (the pediatrician) and Norma (a NP) were also summoned. As I gathered up my supplies (it takes an amazing amount of crap to check a few drops of blood) I learned that a pastors wife had been found fainted in a diabetic coma, and we were need to come check her out.

What we found when we got there, however, was a very different story. She didn't have diabetes (the person who lived in the house just thought that she had) and had not actually fainted. she was, however, pretty sick with a fever. Her blood levels were fine, so we advised acetaminophen and rest.

Willham had returned by the time that we got back, so we, as they say here, had to “hurry up and wait”. We gathered up water and food and other supplies, wondering where we were heading to. By the time that we got in the car, we were told that we were heading to a place called “lookout point”. So desperate were some of the people in the group that they didn't out where we were going until after we got into the car and were on our way.

You can barely see the waterfront at Port-au-Prince

The trip up was quite lovely. Most of it was on a “real road” (such a road in the states would have caused worldwide riots) and we enjoyed the breeze and the change of scenery. “Lookout point” was exactly what it sounded, what we didn't realize that was it was looking out on Port-au-Prince. I really wish that we could have gotten decent pictures of the awesome view that we witnessed. We saw the presidential palace, the airport, the ports. I couldn't help but think of the line from Star Wars: “That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from out here!” We also noticed that for such a big city, there should be a lot of hi-rises and major buildings, but there were only two builds that rose above the others. Most were only two or three stories.

It's easier to see PoP in the painting!

After we had our fill of the view, we went to try to barter for some of the stuff that they were selling. There were a few other trucks of white people, they were all with NGO's or churches. As far as I can tell, Haiti has no tourists right now, so the souvenirs sellers were a touch desperate. I had already bough a few things, so I wasn't very interested until I saw a painting that I really liked. The guy wanted $40 for it, I told him that I only had $20. All part of the game, apparently. Beth had told us to pick a price that was half to a third of that offered. The sellers were very good at looking offended at our bids, but I was told that it was all part of the game. However, when I pulled out my money, I found that I only had $15 left. He took the money and demanded $5 more. I told him that it wasn't a matter of me holding out, but that I really didn't have any more. He demanded $4, then $3, then $2. I put down the painting and tried to get my money back, but he refused to both surrender the cash or stop asking for more. Finally, I took the paining and walked away. He pocketed the money, but followed us to the truck loudly proclaiming that I was ripping him off. All part of the game.

People sold art at the viewpoint

Stuff on sale

But the most interesting part of the evening was when we got back and I was told, once again, to grab my iStat. I actually have to run, so I will write about this later.