I woke up at 5 am today. A very large truck pulled into Christianville and rumbled noisily right past our house (right past my bedroom window). The truck was filled with chickens, about 570 of them. Pastor Raymond had ordered them to give to a group of people. When I spoke to him later he was upset because things did not go as planned (it’s Haiti). Some people did not show up or they did not come in time. There were fewer chickens than he thought and about a dozen chickens had died in transport. They sat in a pile by the tree. The ones that were alive certainly made enough noise to keep me awake after I was awoken by the arrival of the truck.
I showered, ate breakfast (pancakes and corn flakes) and by 7:30, Meer and I climbed into the Ford Everest with Makendy at the wheel to drive into PAP. The radio had one of Makendy’s favorite radio stations on: Alleluia FM 98.9. All inspirational music, all kinds, in English and Kreyol. Traffic was heavy and barely moving. Makendy turned off the main highway and down a side street. Soon we were in a narrow alley that ran parallel to the highway. We drove past ramshackle houses, stores, drainage ditches filled with trash, and people watching us drive past. We soon joined the highway again. Traffic and the way people drive in Haiti still amaze me. Makendy does things that one would not ever think of doing back in the U.S. I don’t mean to say he is a bad driver. He is a great driver. It’s just that it takes a lot of nerve and street savvy to navigate the traffic in Haiti. And Makendy is equally adept at weaving through the traffic of PAP as he is in handling the off-road unpaved trails we frequently take.
We were going into Port to shop for a freezer for the lab. But first we had to stop at the DHL office to check on a package of donated rapid test kits we were expecting. The nice DHL lady checked the tracking number. The package should be in tomorrow. She then called the airport office and asked them to have the package sent to the office in town where we were. Then she gave us her card and told us to call in the morning to be sure the package is in the office before sending Makendy out to pick it up. Great service. Better than my first experience with the FedEx office (they checked the tracking number, the package isn’t here; wait, it is here; let me get it; wait, wait…).
Back in the Everest, we drove off to visit several stores to look for an ultra-cold freezer for the lab. Something at -30C or -40C would be good but a -20C would probably be all we could find. We were going to the large appliance/hardware dealers in PAP and I doubted that we would find a specialty ultra-cold freezer. A quick calculation by Meer determined that a -20C freezer was a -6F freezer. Only one freezer showed a temperature range. It got down to -6F, so we assumed all the others did the same. After the first store I figured out that the Haitians call a freezer, “freezer” not “congélateur” as in French. And frost-free is “no-frost”. I love this language.
The stores we visited included a grim looking warehouse near Cité Soleil, a very bad neighborhood of PAP. On our way there we passed a former Texaco gas station where a tent city had replaced the gas pump islands under the large black canopy. This store had a “showroom” with three or four freezers that looked like they fell off the back of the truck. There were four guys with shotguns at the entrance to the parking lot and a guy with a shotgun on the loading dock where customers picked up their purchases. At the other end of the spectrum was a store in a tidy industrial park across the street from the U.S. Embassy (yes, I finally saw the U.S. Embassy in Haiti). The store was air-conditioned and sold furniture and appliances. We checked out the freezers and I took some notes. There were a few models that looked like they might be okay. On our way out, we passed through the furniture section. It had everything for the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I saw a very nice, black leather easy chair for $3200. If the chair was there, it is because there are buyers. For me it was yet another jarring shock of seeing pockets of prosperity surrounded by vast zones of poverty. We will come back tomorrow to buy the freezer. I should check and see how much a nice leather sofa costs. 11-05-13: We went back to the store today to get a price quote on the freezer. On the way out, I took a look at the prices for the leather sofas. I saw one for $6750 and another for $9590. I'm sure someone will buy it.
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