Haiti - Sometimes we're pleasantly surprised, other times, we're just surprised....

So I've been in Haiti for about five days now - just finished my first week and have gone into 'enforced' exile at my hotel for the weekend.  So far, I have to say, it's been NOTHING of what I've expected (much of it for the better, to be honest)

But we'll start at the beginning - because it's a lot to take in....it always is.

Saori (the other student working/living with me) and I arrived in Port-au-Prince on Monday, sometime around noon.  The airport is small, and yet, somehow manages to contain an unheard of amount of chaos and confusion.  I'm fairly certain that even frequent flyers are baffled by the process (particularly as pertains to which carousel your luggage comes off of).

In passing - ever wonder why/how your luggage can get completely destroyed just going through airports on conveyor belts?  Well I can tell you, I witnessed several bags getting EATEN by the conveyor belt - so I'm going to go with that for cause of luggage death.

Customs and immigration is a bizarre affair whereby you fill out several ridiculously complicated forms (while standing up in line with a thousand disorganised things in your hands and a very impatient immigration staring you down with 'hurry up dammit' eyes) - which, once you stumble through it, finally, is not even looked at before being rubber stamped and sent on your way.  At which point you meet 'the gauntlet'.

Immediately after exiting customs you go through a gate at which THOUSANDS of taxi drivers are waiting for you to whisk you away - as you desperately seek a man among the faces holding a sign with your name on it.  We found our driver eventually, and he was lovely and led us a very nice and very new pickup truck.  This surprised me.  You always hear about the level of poverty and the widespread destruction here in Port-au-Prince, especially after the earthquake - but I have to say, those who live well, live VERY well.

After climbing into the truck, luggage stowed, we experienced our first taste of Haitian driving.  It's hard to describe but it makes every other place you've ever driven look like the cars are floating on clouds and tied to the road into their proper lanes.  I've been told that there ARE driving rules here - I have yet to see them.  But somehow, our drivers defy death and all odds, and somehow, without even so much as heaving a sigh of discontent successfully avoided piles of rubble, thousands of pedestrians, hundreds of taxis, mopeds, chickens, goats, pot hole literally large enough to eat your car whole, and frequent forays into oncoming traffic to get around some of these obstacles.  What should be a truly terrifying an harrowing experience becomes awe inspiring through the sheer skill and calm with which they routinely weave through it all unscathed.  Amazing.

A very colourful taxi among the general chaos of a typical PAP street. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

Several street-side 'markets' and shops along the main roads of PAP. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

Piles of rubble still cover many of the sidewalks and in the middle of many of the streets. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

One of the most fascinating things I've found about being here (besides the fact that the Haitian people are some of the strongest, most resilient and NICEST people you will ever meet), is that our perception of them is wrong in so many ways.  When we look at pictures of PAP after the earthquake, all we can see is the destruction, the lack of progress.  We see a people who are suffering and living in tent villages because they've lost their homes.

The ruins of the Palais Nationale - former seat of the Haitian government. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

One of the many tent villages which, a year and a half later, are still home for most of the population of PAP. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi) 

It's true.  The destruction is widespread and progress is slow.  The point is, there IS progress.  Everywhere you look,  people work every single day to take back their city.  University students volunteer their time to clean rubble from the streets.  Children help the elderly to carry the heavy water jugs so that their families can drink uncontaminated water.  Scafolding hugs hundreds of buildings and rubble walls.  Everywhere you look, it isn't about the destruction and loss - it's about living and rebuilding.  I look at it now and I see how far they've come - how much progress they made in very difficult circumstances with few resources - I don't look at how much they have left to do.  That's not what it's really about.

A sign announcing last year's 150th celebration of the National Archives of Haiti, celebrating their continued service to their country on August 20th (my b-day, in passing :p) (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

Work to rehouse the archives at the Archives Nationale - enormous progress has been made and soon the archives will be in better form than they were BEFORE the earthquake. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

People working and studying at the Bibliotheque Nationale, which survived the earthquake entirely undamaged. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

One of many examples of the rebuilding process. (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi)

Essentially I've learned that the Haitian people neither want nor deserve our pity - they do, on the other hand deserve our respect.  I've seen these people work harder than anyone I've ever seen and be proud of it and their culture while they do.  It is truly inspiring.

I will likely post again in the next couple of days regarding my conservation work (since this blog entry has long since gone out of control!).  Have I mentioned that our hotel is kinda amazing (another VERY pleasant surprise!).  The food is good, there's excellent internet (Wi-fi!) and air conditioning in our room, AND there's a pool!  Also - there's a beautiful green leafy courtyard with a huge leafy tree that's all lit up in all kinds of colours at night - it's my favourite place to sit in the evening as I eat my dinner.  I will likely write my next post from there.

Saori and I eating dinner at the hotel restaurant on our second night.  It was delish! (photo courtesy of Saori Kawasumi...and our waiter, Extra...seriously, that's what his nametag said).

Next time: Tales from a Shipping Container (aka. The Hot and the Humid).