Hot n' Humid

One thing always say when I come to Haiti is “boy, it’s good to be back on Haitian soil” Then I start chuckling and think does Haiti really have soil?  There’s plenty of dirt but I’m doubtful of the soil part.  We were also wondering why the bathroom is hot and steamy after a shower but there’s no hot water?  It’s true but I can’t wrap my mind around how that really happens.

We walked over to the orphanage to finish up the painting.  I’ve been wearing the same clothes since Sunday.  They are taking on a life of their own at this point.  Sweat, dirt, paint and who knows whatever else I’ve come in contact with.  Probably bodily fluids and puppy germs too.  I figured I’d only trash one outfit while I’m here.  Maybe we’ll have a burning party at the end of the week.

I feel like we are fighting a losing painting war here.   We paint, the next day there are dirty marks and scraped paint on the wall.  This afternoon I went a little crazy because an unknown child colored with crayons on one wall.  I gave a tongue lashing in English to the kids but I am positive they knew exactly what I was yelling about.  After lunch we came back and low and behold, someone painted over and repaired the crayon wall.  I must have made my point.

I think we finished but we're not entirely sure since Chedner wasn’t there to tell us if he needed anything else.  I was about done mentally anyway too much chaos there and I was longing for some serious quiet time and a cold beer.  It’s super humid because it’s rained cats and dogs pretty much every night.  In the morning it’s like navigating a whole new course because of all the flooded areas.  I am not a fan of walking in puddles here. 

There’s a little puppy at Chedner ’s place named, Life, I think that’s a pretty cool name for a dog in Haiti It’s kind of an oxymoron.  I brought down a few little sample-sized bags of pet food and gave them to the kids taking care of him  Haitian’s don’t really keep dogs as pets or really keep anything of a pet nature.  The puppies are so cute and if I could smuggle one home I would.  People are so mean to animals down here and it pisses me off to no end.

Life

There have been some infrastructure improvements since last May.  They’ve been working/building roads in the neighborhood and working on improving drainage.   On our way back to do more painting, some smartass punk grabbed a Ziploc bag out of my backpack.  It was in a side pocket.  He thought he got the mother lode of who knows what.  Then he realized it was a bag of garbage I’ve been collecting while here.  He looked at me like I was nuts and why I would even have a bag of crap. It’s garbage in the sense of art.  Cool bottle caps, old broken tiles, hair barrettes, a roller, just a variety of bizarre things I will eventually make into art.  Needless to say, I got my bag of stuff back.

Infrastructure has not been down here

I think tomorrow I will be able to wear new clothes.    We are taking the nannies and the kids from the orphanage to the beach tomorrow.   We’re also meeting up with our friend Oriel who hopefully will be able to come for a visit this summer to the U.S., Of course, these kids have ever seen the ocean but they all have suits now and can at least sit by the water in the sand.  I know the nanny is ecstatic about going. 

Storms a brewing