The Chicken and Pig, and other adventures in the North

This will probably be my last blog post…exhaustion is setting in and I have factory notes that are backing up that need to be worked on.  Just thought I’d update a bit on the flight to the North and time up here…it’s been an interesting couple of days to say the least.  There were no actual chickens on the Chicken and Pig, but the flight attendant was also the pilot. Oh, and they asked me how much I weighed when we checked in.  Not sure what that’s all about but it made me think the plane was going to turn sideways when a big lady sat across from me.  There was no storage room around any of the seats so we all had to pack it in the ‘trunk’ at the back of the plane.  I was doing ok until the pilot/stewardess made a woman move from the exit row and replaced her with a ‘strong man’.  Apparently they use the exit rows more often on Chicken and Pig than on the US airlines I’m used to.  The flight itself was a harrowing twenty minute jaunt over the Haitian mountains.  Although I have to admit, I’m so exhausted at this point that I almost dozed off. 

Most of the factory work is confidential, but I will say that they call them ‘sweatshops’ for a reason.  We’ve been to a couple a day and the temperature and air quality are enough to make you want to pass out or vomit or both.  We made it to a border town, and our hotel is located between the Haitian and Dominican borders, so I’m technically writing this from the Dominican-Haitian.  Everyone speaks Spanish (only), so I’m a little better off than Creole and French.  We are literally in the middle of nowhere, kind of a jungle without really big trees (Haiti is de-forested).  I woke up to a screaming peacock this morning, who happens to also be a guest at the Dominican-Haitian.  I’d take a rooster any day over a screeching peacock.  I nearly rung his neck and ate him for breakfast.  Oh, and they stole my towels here too.  I’m learning that no matter what time of day I want my towels, they disappear.  Once again, I couldn’t get ready after breakfast…you would have thought I’d have learned my lesson in Port au Prince but not so.

We head back on the Chicken and Pig to Port au Prince tomorrow, visit one more factory, and then pass out for the night before heading back to Boston on Sunday.  It’s been an amazing adventure…surely not one I’m going to forget any time soon.