Haiti the Route Less Traveled

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Early March 2007

It has been a long time since our last update!!! with our busy travels to Montreal and now back in Haiti… time has been passing us by faster than we have ever imagined! But we have not forgotten about our readers, we will set foot to town (a half hour hike) as there is supposedly an internet connection there, which will allow us to post our updates, so if you are reading this, it means it worked!!.

Since our last update, this is what we have been up to:

Early Wednesday morning, Feb 14th Valentines day, Annie and I flew, as planned, from Port Au Prince, Haiti, via Miami to Montreal. We were very lucky not to have had our flights cancelled to Montreal as there was a large snow storm covering the east coast, with over two feet of snow. All of our flights ended up being on time, and even ahead of time believe it or not!! As we both walked thought the Montreal airport, we kept looking at the cancelled flights posted on all the monitors!! We made it just in time! After going through customs & immigrations, we colleted our baggage and we bundled up in as many warm clothes as we could find. We stepped out of the airport and our bodies went through the shock of the winter freeze!! (I guess this is where the expression “num nuts” came from!!) When we departed from Haiti it was 97º F and in Montreal it was a freezing 7º F equaling a 90º degree drop in temperature. Freezing, we fetched a taxi and headed home, and wouldn’t you know it…the taxi driver was Haitian! We scrambled up a conversation in Creole, surprising him to no end!!

During our short stay in Montreal, we pulled our jeep out of hibernation and drove it some two thousand kilometers. We were almost non-stop, with all the get-togethers with our family and friends. So much catching up on the time we have been away, and just the great feeling of spending time with everyone.

On Saturday our great friend/Sister!! Nycole held a gathering at her place filling her place to the max!!! There were over thirty great friends there, and as you can imagine, we had a really great time!! It was so great to see so many of our friends in one place and to share so many bottles of fine wine with food too no end!! Thank you for all Sis and to all that attended this great party, for those that where not there this time, as Nycole stated, the next time we will be more, many more, we will simply find more room to put everyone! We are so looking forward to the next time and every one afterwards!

Even last Thursday, my parents held a “Donation for a Haitian” night at there place, with some twenty plus generous giving friends. Many we had not seen in years and it was so great so see everyone. Everyone brought so many needed donations for the Haitians from clothes, shoes (over thirty pairs), flash lights, school books, pencils, pens, erasers, wrist watches, toys, tools, sewing kits, etc., and not forgetting soccer balls for the tiny city of Bria and the diving fins for Maxo!!! Maxo even received a mask and snorkel with a spear gun…wow!! Can’t wait to share all the pictures of all their smiling faces from Haiti with you!!

This past Friday we took the opportunity to go skiing at Mont St-Bruno with my dad and my son Benedict. Always a funny feeling to ski after spending winters down south. No broken legs to talk about!!… just great memories to cherish.

After spending some ten days in Canada, we departed our house in Montreal at 4am to catch our 6:30am flight to Haiti via Miami. All went without a hitch… and If you where wondering, yes Annie and I where able to cleverly pass all of our 350 plus pounds of luggage, thanks to the over looking American Airlines ticket agent and by us checking and caring onboard as much as we could!!! Not a dime was spent on over luggage allocation. Once in Haiti we claimed all our 350lbs of luggage and proceeded with customs starting to inspect our luggage, until he noticed how much we had and how duck taped-up everything was!! This stopped the inspection at once!! The inspector just smiled and sent us on our way!.. As soon as we stepped out of the customs area, Annie and I got surrounded by Haitians seeking to carry our luggage, doing our best to say that all is ok and no thank you, all ended up being eight of them carrying all our luggage!! (Annie & I smiled saying to each other, oh well!) Once outside we were greeted by a driver and bodyguard who drove us to Pelerin 3, just outside of Port au Prince. It is very shocking to see all the activity here and it takes little time to get back in a comfort zone.

On our first day back in Haiti, I had the great opportunity to be invited to take a two hour flight aboard a twelve passenger turbo prop aircraft, with some business men here seeking to set up a new corporation in Haiti. Seated next to the pilot, we took off from the Port Au Prince airport, setting flight towards the Dominican Republic border, and then headed north, after which we veered course for St Marc and then made the longer passage to Grand Goave. Flying directly over s/v My Love III calmly anchored in the bay. What a sight to see her from the air. After taking off some two hours earlier we safely landed back at the Port Au Prince international airport. I forgot to mention that I was invited along to take aerial shots of sugar cane plantations, and in result I took some four hundred and fifty pictures.

We are now Wednesday; we started to pack our things as to make our one hour bumpy journey to Grand Goave to rejoin s/v My Love III. The weather this morning is, as most every other day, SUNNY and looking like it’s going to be an other hot one!! Upon our arrival in Grande Goave, we had such a warm greeting from all the people there. Many surprised to see us, but all were so glad to see us, and yes, Maxo was rowing as fast as he could for the shore line. We later presented Maxo with the new Mask, Snorkel, Spear gun and fins, you should have seen his face! Annie handed out many needed things for the locals here, with all running home to show their families.

We are planning to set sail soon for Bria, we have so many needed items for them too.

Over this past weekend we had a wonderful sail along the south coast to Miragoâne, visiting a well protected bay surrounded by mangroves, a true hurricane hole. Not much wind, but the weather was at it’s best.

Take care and we will keep doing our best to keep everything updated…. as soon and as often as we can.


To finish, here are two thoughts for the day:

ATTITUDE is the difference between an ordeal and an ADVENTURE

“DON’T dream your life, live you’re DREAM”

Written by: Bob Bitchin, Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine

By the way, check out their tenth year anniversary issue it’s great, and if you are reading this Bob….Congratulations to you and your crew for a job well done!!


Cheers,
Annie & Capt Eric
In Haiti
www.WeBeSailing.com

Everyone, please keep posting your comments or sent us a note to our e-mail: webesailing@yahoo.com it is so encouraging for us to read.

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