We left Miami for Ft. Lauderdale International airport at 5 am. We stayed with Dr. D's friend some where near N. Miami and Aventura. She's got a great condo overlooking the bay of Biscayne and we made palattes on the floor. I got lucky enough to sleep on the pull-out sofa cushions still better than the dorm's bed! Christine is a Trinidadian from Chinese descent with stacks of books about the Caribbean diaspora, Black identity, China, India and tons of books by Toni Morrison, Walker and Ellison.
Two hours of sleep after my share of driving a 3 hr leg felt like nothing at all. I woke up in a fog but could hear mom in my head saying "all right now let's get a move on. You can rest in the car. Get up now so you aren't the one everyone is waiting on."
The Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International is a city on its own. It lights a way from the highway about 10 miles away. After getting settled in the Spirit Air line we got our first taste of Haitian culture. Very buff men in designer jeans, women in heels and cute American label tops and children dressed smartly from GapKids. Our tour guide later told us that it's those people that are targeted the most for kidnapping because when they visit American they come back and boast their wealth. in Haiti there is very little between abject poverty and extreme wealth.
The flight lasted a little less than 90 minutes. the view outside the wondow upon arrival in Port-au-prince is breathtaking. An old Haitian proverb is "beyond the mountains are more mountains." Yes there are! Beautiful rolling mountains, mostly brown but also speckled with grean trees.
We met Mawiyah or Valarie on the otherside of customes and she led us to the van that would take us to our guest house. Mawiyah is an African American woman who grew up all over the U.S. when her dad was active duty Marine Corps. her family settled in houston and she lived and worked there for 30 years.
Riding in the van was a test of patience and a test on the shocks! We fit 11 people, 9 suitcases inside and 3 (one of mine!) on top of a 7 passenger van. Mawiyah says that usually they could fit 14 Hatians in this van. "But space for 14 Haitians is like space for 10 Americans."
We drove through one of the main zones called Delmas. The traffic was exciting, almost everyone was well-dressed wither heading to or from church. "Tap-taps," which are modified flat bed trucks that serve as the main transportation service were zig-zagging through the street at a frantic pace. Most roads were up hill and at one time our trunk flew open, but not enough to leave any luggage behind!
The people here are simply gorgeous. They are a serious lot, very few smiles, those that do are more exposed to American customes or are young children eager to see something new. Almost everyone is fit (strong calves to hike those mountains!), with a great since of personal dignity.
We arrived at Solidarite Guest House sponsored by the University of Fondwa just long enough to put our bags down and wash up so we could head to Mawiyah's home for orientation and atraditional Haitian lunch. Lunch is the largest meal of the day and for dinner they usually eat a small snack or fruit of some sort.
Learning Creole by noon! "Mue vle dlo" (I want water).
"Nom mue se Caryn" (My name is Caryn).
"Sak pase" (What's happening)
"Na bule petit petit"
Lunch was still at least an hour from being finished so M led us up a steep road, imagine the New Pharmacy Building's hill but higher, to meet some of the youth at a cyber cafe. This was the area's best access to the internet. it is owned by a man living in New York and taken care of by his nephews. My rainbows had little traction as we made it up the hill and i thought i would either be a poster child or an urban legend for sneaker advocates. "I once saw a girl slide down 150 feet on the side of a mountain because she should have been wearking sneakers!"
The guys atthe Cyber cafe were awesome, they all insisted that we sit down and gave us their chairs. We learned that some of them are inspiring rappers. Then they gave a wicked free style rap in Creole with a mix of english ("make it clap, clap, clap"). The beat wasn't anything i hadn't heard before, something they pulled up on their laptop, but the rap was amazing.
One guy started out sort of shy when we asked him to introduce himself (they tried to say it in english because we struggled saying our names in creole) but he exuded the most confidence and wag when he was rapping.
Alhough I don't speak or really fully understand Creole I think they were talking about normal things like life in Ayiti (correct pronunciation). Four MCs all rapped about what they saw and how they lived ("Nigga!"). Not wanting to leave, but starving for lunch we left.
For lunch we ate turkey, a beet and potato salad, haitian rice and a delicious c abbage, tomato and onion salad with homemade dressing.
