Don’t drink the water!

And don’t brush your teeth with it either. Rookie mistake and my tummy now hates me for it.

Other than that, things are great. Haiti is such an interesting place, and I’ve been enjoying my visit. Yesterday, we drove from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel to pick up the students and have lunch at the beach. Haitian towns are overflowing with interesting people and sights; if I didn’t feel as if it were a total intrusion I would take photos of everything and every one. After eating the best lobster I’ve ever had for lunch (and I live in New England these days), we then to Parc Le Visite. We managed to pack nine of us into a small SUV with much of our belongings tied to the roof, and drove up the longest untamed road I’ve ever been on; it was steeper, rockier, and curvier than any road I’ve seen in the United States or elsewhere, and it just went on and on forever. Thank goodness for our driver Wildor!

While most of yesterday was spent in the car, most of today has been spent hiking around the national park, photographing the scenery and chatting with locals (the kids do the chatting, I hardly remember much from my three years of French from ten years ago, and I know even less Kreyol). It has been an interesting experience; I want to me more involved but the language barrier is tough. That combined with my terrible stomach pains today made me feel like more of a spectator at times. However, the kids are great and even though I can’t understand most of what is being said, I can feel what a positive experience this is for them. The energy in the air is just bubbling with excitement.

Tonight, we are going to attempt to find some frogs, although it is the dry season and probably one of the worst times of the year to find them. However we had rain yesterday and today, so I’ll stay hopeful for the kids. They are very excited to find a krapo!

(Please excuse my less than stellar photos. I haven’t had the chance to do any editing or processing yet and are straight from the camera!)

2 thoughts on “Don’t drink the water!

  1. Carebear…I’m here..sending hugs to my perpetual student of life!…..Ooops …I thought you knew not to use the water!!!

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