Scott wrote this post while we were still in Haiti. He wrote it as if I was writing it but it really is Scott telling the story. This was a once in a lifetime adventure at least for him because he has sworn that he is never going to Haiti again. Scott is doing much better coming close to normal except that he gets tired easily and does not have as much energy as he would like to have, which if you know Scott that is not normal!
Today Scott went with a group to the orphanage to set up the solar panel system and do a little work around the house. They left first thing in the afternoon and planned on getting back about dinner time. The work at the orphanage went well but as it goes with everything in Haiti they didn’t leave as early as they had planned. Before I go any further let me give you a brief picture of what the weather has been doing this week. Mornings have been super, with broken clouds and temperatures in the low 80’s. Afternoons have been a little warmer and about dinnertime the thunder begins and the rain just dumps.
So they are at the orphanage loading up the van and junkie old pick-up truck to head back to the hotel. The sun was out and it was a beautiful Haiti afternoon. Scott three other dads, one teenage son, and a friend of one of the other moms get the bonus of seeing Haiti from the back of a truck – which is something you just can’t go without. It’s probably only 15 miles as the crow flies but it takes at least an hour to make the drive (because - well – that’s a whole other story) After a few minutes of enjoying the local scenery it began to sprinkle – then rain – then all out downpour!
Scott and the other truck bound victims got as wet as you can get and were on parade for all to see. "Look at the soaking wet white people standing in the back of the
pickup truck." Oh I forgot to mention, they had to stand up because they were also hauling about 20 suitcases from all the supplies we had brought down for the orphanage. Scott said this still wasn’t too bad and
they were all having a good laugh and would have a great story to tell about their afternoon adventure.
This is where the fun begins. Harry (the one driving the truck) wanted to stop at the pharmacy to get a few things and also wanted to wait for the van that had fallen behind. At this point they were about half way back to the hotel and traveling on a main road. As another side note, we have been avoiding the
main roads on this trip because there has been a lot of rioting going on. While stopped at said pharmacy Scott and Brent started noticing that a lot of young men were headed down the street behind them with purpose in their eyes. They joked about it – then got a little scared as they started to approach the truck. Luckily they just ran right on by and they all were relieved. Then the driver of the van that was also waiting for Harry suddenly jumped into gear and started doing a U-turn and screamed a few words at Harry and took off down the road.
Harry fired up the nasty old pickup truck pulled a fast 180 and took off after the van. Once they were out in the middle of the road Scott saw what the big hurry was all about! There were a few hundred Haitians coming down the road like a river. They started to take the first left turn to get back on track to the hotel but there was an even bigger river of Haitians coming down that road. At about that moment the traffic ground to a halt and the truck full of wet white people were right in the middle of an intersection with a rioting mob come down two to the three roads. Scott asked Brent if he was scared yet? He and everyone agreed that this was a good time to be scared. Traffic lightened up and they got out of there and only had a few pieces of fruit and empty pop bottle thrown at them before they made it back to the compound/hotel.
Kelsie and Ryan having a "war" on the tube Kelsie lost!
