Today was a travel day. We started out with a very early breakfast at 6 am. After going to sleep around 2, the ladies who cooked our meal began cooking at 4! God bless them!
After breakfast, we began to load the trucks in the first light of the morning. We loaded to the beautiful music sung by the early morning worshipers.
Once we finished, we piled into the church with the pastor, his wife and the important people of the church. We all formed the "goodbye circle", which was actually more like an amoeba. The pastor gave us all blessings and wished us Bon Voyage and we all said good bye.
We didn't sleep much this week and it finally caught up with us today. Several of us, including myself, got pretty car sick. The terrible condition of the roads was the main culprit.
If you read yesterday, you know that we had to leave early so as to pass a section of the road where they would be doing blasting after their lunch break. We made it.
We stopped for lunch on top of the mountain to eat tuna fish sandwiches made for us by the ladies of the church. I have never had tuna fish sandwiches made with mayo AND ketchup! That was interesting especially because Haitian ketchup is spicier than its American cousin.
After lunch, the ride was much smoother. We arrived at Zongalay, the RMI retreat center, at around 3. It's a beautiful place that overlooks the Caribbean Sea. We unloaded our bags and found rooms. I am in the "motel" section where you get your own room. Pretty sweat!
As some of the team went for a dip in the Caribbean, I promptly feel asleep for 2.5 hours until Jeremy woke me for dinner. We had beef, mashed potatoes and green beans. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the goat, but this was heaven. Oh, by the way, half of Don Gone came back with Emanuel Paul, a Haitian born American citizen.
After diner, we convened in the gazebo to "debrief". We talked about the low and high points for each of us and what to expect when we get back home. My low was the first night when I just couldn't sleep even though I was dead tired. My other low was my first bucket shower. (I quickly got over that.) My high point was the grand welcome we received when we got to Dame Marie.
After that, a few of the guys, including myself, and Alissa sat and played poker right up until I started to write this, which is technically day 7 already!
Tomorrow, we leave here around 1 and head back to Les Cayes to the RMI guest house where we can visit local vendors. I can't wait to see what I can pick up.
Until then, I leave you with the quote of the night:
"I feel like I am on a messed up family vacation."
- Alissa
My view at the retreat center:
Haitian Coastline:
Kris King
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