Haiti Journal – October 29, 2010
Moving Day
Moving day!!! Most people released from the hospital will jut go home and relax… RiGHT? Wrong! Before relaxing at the house, we had to move to the new house! Yup….it was moving day! “Let’s go pack boxes and move our things to our new place!!” That’s not really what I said, but it had to be done so away we went to pack up our things. Of course I really was not feeling well, but we did have some help and we don’t have many possessions here so all in all, the packing was pretty painless. With our possessions loaded in our Suzuki we started our ½ hour ascent up the mountain to our new residence.
The “pothole dodging” drive doesn’t usually seem to take half an hour because of the stunningly beautiful scenery. The steep lush mountainside looks like a patchwork quilt of various textures and shades of green. When I say steep, I really do mean steep! We often wonder how the gardening can be done and how they garden without rolling down the hill. It even mentions in a colouring book that we bought for my niece, farmers will tie themselves to trees while doing gardening because of the steep incline! I mentioned to Julio that ‘cow tipping’ would be pretty easy on them there hills!! I KNOW I KNOW…..but the thought just flashed through my mind.
Anyway, pretty much any vegetable you can think of is grown at the higher elevations. All the vegetables from home plus many that I’m not very familiar with.
While admiring the beauty and ascending up the hill, a noticeable change in temperature could be felt. We turned off the air conditioner in the car, unrolled the windows and breathed in the “fresh” mountain air. “Fresh” being a relative term as quite often it is polluted by the oil burning vehicle(s) in front!!
On this “release from hospital day”, we were just driving in silence and enjoying the view both of us lost in thought. When……SIRENS! Really, is that sirens? Yup! Julio says, “well I guess I’d better pull over”. Never in all of our time in Haiti have we had the police use their sirens to pull us over. We have been flagged over during routine checks and after short duration, (or extensive talking about out how our scratch and win lottery works) are waved on by. These cops were different! They didn’t crack a smile and we didn’t understand why they took our vehicle papers. Julio was instructed to ‘drop Madame off’ at our new place, then return to the police station. I told him there is absolutely no way, I was going to let him go there without me because something didn’t feel right. Julio told him, no problem!! He’s just going to drop off our things, pick up his lawyer and return. The police quickly said….”you don’t need a lawyer”, however Julio responded that he’s not from here and it would be best for him to bring one with him.
You are probably wondering why a lawyer! Well….driving a car in Haiti that has Dominican plates causes problems and certain authorization papers are required to drive the ‘foreign’ vehicle in Haiti. We did have these papers and the police didn’t explain why Julio needed to go to the station! So…our good friend is a lawyer in Haiti with connections to authority figures! A very respectable, honest, well known person and perfect to be associated with!
To continue….After Julio’s response, the police sped past us and flew up the road in front of us. They had our papers with them and we weren’t even sure where they disappeared to. We continued to our house, dropped off our belongings then headed back down the hill to Petionville to pick up our lawyer friend. It was all so weird. For a drive that was to take ½ an hour, to ……this inconvenience!!
We found ourselves making the ascent one more time, this time packed with our ammunition …… ‘our lawyer friend, Saturne’. We approached the station and quickly spotted one of the officers standing at the entrance. He didn’t really even acknowledge us as we made our way into the office: jail cells to the right and the chief on the left. Good thing we were motioned to sit on the left!! I wasn’t worried, just confused, tired and not feeling well…..I wanted my bed! After a 10 minute conversation between Saturne, Julio and the Chief, it was translated to me that the officers were just doing a routine check. Saturne told him we are foreigners here to help Haiti and we shouldn’t be hassled! The Chief said that it is foreigners who sometimes cause the problems and told him to be careful about what we promise. Julio pointed out the police couldn’t be trusted either! (perfect timing to slip that one in). The chief actually agreed. The entire time this conversation was going on, the chief was studying me. and as we were doing our dismissal handshakes, he shook mine longer than is normal, all the while staring into my face! Julio noticed that as well and we both have our speculations as to why.
Our take on the whole thing: the police needed to make extra money and it would be easy to get if Julio was by himself! The car was flagged over because it has Dominican plates and the local police didn’t know our car. Each area has their own patrol and they get to know everyone. (That is a good thing!) The police don’t ask for money as they can lose their job over it, however they can hassle you so that you offer to pay! (That’s what we have heard but have not experienced). We wrecked their fun when we brought Saturne with us). No money paid and we were dismissed with no problems and no ticket! CRAZY!
Thank you Haiti police for extending our ½ hour drive!!! However, we made it to our new residence and were finally able to relax!!! Remember I mentioned the noticeable difference in air temperature? We need to buy a quilt – not now….it’s been a lonnng day! First things first…..
“GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE!”
(I’ll be dreaming about what the next adventure will bring)
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