Byenvini

Currently undergoing my second Haitian afternoon, sitting out on the porch of our yellow house. It’s 12:30pm here, the peak heat of the day. From 11am to 2pm daily it’s too hot to stay inside (buildings are like ovens) and too hot to be in the sun. To achieve the thinnest sheen of sweat you find a shady spot and sit as motionless as possible. Afternoons are spent sleeping and relaxing. Even typing feels like an effort. Every 20 minutes I develop a headache, telling me it’s time to drink more water.

Took an early flight from New York to Port-au-Prince yesterday, the biggest cities of their respective countries. The differences in wealth and infrastructure are mindboggling, especially considering their proximity to one another (3½ hour plane ride), but the energy and the bustle are really pretty similar.

The plane ride, too, had its differences. For one, the passengers this time were on average about seventy shades darker. They also seemed less anxious to be on their way: people were hanging out in the aisle, chatting, and shifting their bags in the overhead this way and that until they were completely situated and satisfied. All this contributed to a rough start to the day for Delta Airlines, which had to send a squad of staff back through the aisle to get everyone to sit down and get ready for takeoff. I spent the flight reading David Sedaris and practicing my kreyol.

I managed to snap a couple of photos on our way down into Port-au-Prince. The smoke you see in the photo is, as I learned shortly afterwards during our drive through the city, produced by huge piles of burning trash. There is no system for trash removal and raw sewage runs through open canals throughout the capital city.

Whenever I fly, I always give the pilot a mental letter grade for their landing because, as far as I can tell, this is the only thing that a pilot actually participates in. Abrupt or uneven braking will lose a pilot points, as will the old “double take” (This is when the wheels hit the ground and then the plane bounces up back into the air before making its final landing. This offense will cost a full letter grade.). The landing in Port-au-Prince was one of the most jarring ones I’ve experienced, but the pilot was hardly to blame. They used some poor approximation of cement to pave this runway, the only one in the city. I assume that after the earthquake, the heavy air traffic took its toll on the pavement, resulting in a less than warm welcome to the country. This was almost immediately offset by the group of Haitian musicians playing twoubadou (Haitian folk music) to welcome us to their country (as well as to advertise Digicel, the main cell provider). I say “almost immediately” because before we could go through customs, we had to walk down off the plane onto the hot tarmac and board a bus to take us to the temporary offsite customs building (the airport is still in shambles). Nonetheless, I was delighted to get my first taste of Haitian music. Looking forward to more.