After spending two days in the Dominican Republic we began our journey at about 3:30 a.m. CST. We boarded our first bus in Jarabaco, D.R. We drove to the Capitol city of Santa Domingo. Most of us are used to booking on line or through sites such as Travelocity and others. We had to purchase tickets for each leg of our trip each time we arrived at a destination. When we reached Santa Domingo we met our entire group and Scott went in to purchase our tickets. There are 10 total. Our host in the D.R., Michael and Lisa Ballentine drove their pickup and took two others with them to complete the advance work for our team. The remainder purchased bus tickets and waited about an hour to board and another before we departed.
One thing I’ve never experienced before is a meal served on a bus. We were not five minutes into our trip before our “bus attendant” passed out a full meal consisting of cooked beef, rice, beans and salad. I’ve been very careful about what I’ve eaten and was a little suspect of the meal. I asked Scott Steelman, “Is our food safe to eat?” His response was. “I’ll tell you in a couple of hours.” That’s now quite the response I wanted to hear. I ate some of the meat and the rice but stayed away from the salad and beans. Eight hours later I’m no worse for the wear. I did bring a ton of power bars and trail mix and ate some of those the remainder of the trip. Upon our arrived at our “motel” in Haiti we were served a large serving or cooked chicken with vegetables and rice. I mostly ate the rice but did each some of the chicken.
Most of those on our bus slept the majority of the nearly 8 hour trip. I don’t think I slept over 20 or 30 minutes total. I wrote some in my journal but spent the majority of my time looking out the window. The Dominican Republic has many mountain ranges and they dotted the landscape throughout our trip. There were even a number of very beautiful lakes, especially toward the end of our journey. One thing was very apparent. The further we drove from the Capitol city, the poorer the people were. I’m not talking about driving from Germantown into rural Tennessee. It started out poor and just got worse. Similar to what I described yesterday, it’s hard to imagine people living in such conditions. I just couldn’t help but wonder how the landscape could be so beautiful and the inhabitants so poor. Nothing prepares you for the experience but it got worse as we drove into Haiti.
After crossing the Haitian border about 6 hours into the trip, we pulled into a bus station. The ground is a white, limestone and covered the feet and legs of those walking around. We waited for about twenty minutes but no one except the driver left the bus. We drove about 100 yards to an immigration office. I thought we would exit with our bags but a few minutes later a young Haitian woman returned with our passports. So much for border security, but then again most of us were there to help.
The sun was beginning to set and about two hours later, in total darkness, we entered Port-du-Prince. The only lights were headlights and at some points you would see electricity. At first I couldn’t see any destruction, just very poor living conditions. As we entered the heart of the city it was if someone took a sledge hammer and began chipping away at the building, finally just leveling them. Believe it or not we secured three hotel; okay, motel rooms for our group. I’m sure it was a great place in 1939 but we’re still lucky to have a roof over our heads. The other part of our team had sent a driver to meet us at the bus station but after waiting 30 minutes we decided to take a “cab”. This was interesting. When we stepped off the bus we were mobbed with taxi offers. None of us had ever been to Haiti so we were trying to absorb the situation. I know you’ve heard the expression “shooting fish in a barrel”. I felt like a fish and the taxi drivers were our predators. About a dozen of them stayed around us looking to make a deal. After several failed attempts at trying to reach someone, we decided on a driver and started to negotiate the fare. Anyone want to take a guess at what a twenty minute cab ride cost for 6 guys in downtown Port-du-Prince? The deal started at $100 U.S. dollars. Compare that to the $20 fare we paid for an 8 hour bus ride. We settled on $50 for the entire group. Our cab was an old Lexus SUV. After loading our luggage in the back, me another guy rode on top the bags and the rest in the front and back seats. The view was hard to describe, let along put down on paper. It was dark and I couldn’t see much but what I did see could only be described as destruction; like a bomb went off. If our plant ever experienced a nuclear war or major devastation I think I got a glimpse of what it’s going to be like. Amazingly, our cell phone worked about 80 percent of the time.
Right now we’re all tired and sitting around with our laptops checking email and writing. I was promised by Bart that we would be staying at the same hotel, excuse me motel, as Anderson Cooper and the CNN crew. I’m in the restaurant and haven’t seen him yet. Bet he’s already turned in for the night.
Tomorrow we’re going to see the worst of the worst and begin our water filter distribution. I bet Anderson will sleep better than I will tonight and I’m very tired.
Blessings,
Paul Stanley
