February 17 - Day 4 in Haiti

Today was a much better day overall.  We got out to the factories earlier than usual, and so we were back at the hotel before rush hour.  It was a total relief for me to be able to avoid the street chaos.  It’s more difficult for me than my travel partners, who seem to view the experience more like an adventure.  For me, adventure means skiing, roller coaster riding, hiking, etc., not harrowing trips through the belly of Hell.  But they are much more well-traveled than me, especially among third world countries, although Haiti is the worst they’ve ever seen.  They are going to dinner outside the hotel compound but I’ve opted to stay back.  I’d rather eat alone or not eat at all before making a non-essential trip away from the hotel…too much adventure for one day!  I can only manage one roundtrip through traffic a day.  I have to admit that I will miss having a driver to chauffeur me around, but I definitely won’t miss the actual driving part. 

For the first time in four days I saw a pair of white people walking in the street.  They must have not gotten the UN memo.  It was such an odd sight that I tried to take a photo before I realized that my battery was plugged in back at the hotel.  Another odd thing that happened today was that I saw Haitian money for the first time.  Odd mostly because I’ve been here four days now.  I tried to change money in the US at the Bank of America and was denied, then tried again at the Miami Airport – denied again.  Apparently, the Haitian currency is so low and volatile that no one carries it. 

One bit of unusual excitement today…I was out on the hotel patio eating lunch when a string of journalist appeared following one of the Haitian presidential candidates.  You might have heard a bit about the election fiasco and run-off election…anyway, there is a two-way run-off about to occur between a 70 year old woman and a rock star.  I saw the woman – Mirlande Manigat.  Apparently our hotel is a hotspot for political press conferences.  We asked our Haitian waitress who she planned to vote for, to which she responded ‘oh, I don’t vote’.  She was totally nonchalant about it.  Apparently, the elections and government are so corrupt that she doesn’t even bother.   

One more day of factory visits before heading back home to the US on Saturday morning…