transportation

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First let me say - the traffic here is insane! Whatever SA pays our Haitian drivers, they earn every penny! Apparently, it is standard operating procedure to have one hand on the wheel and the other on the horn. They just blow the horn and keep on going. Sometimes, I just close my eyes (and pray). Most of the daily travel is in a van from the hotel to DHQ. However, I have been doing some road trips to various other SA Corps east, west, and north of PaP. Those trips are in a large truck loaded with mattresses and boxes of Numana (food) for distribution to SA schools and to communities surrounding the Corp church. More about these trips and pics later.
Favored mode of transportation appears to be taptaps. I believe almost every pickup truck in Haiti has been converted into a mass transportation unit. Most are brightly painted and have signs that say 'Merci God' or 'Jesus Saves' or some faith based message. People cram into these trucks and ride along the streets and roads. They are called taptaps because when you want to get off (unless it happens to be some 'scheduled' stop) you tap, tap to let the driver know and he stops - you exit and pay him.
Second to taptaps are school buses. Yes, that's our schooll buses phased out by school districts. They apparently come to the Carribean and live long lives as mass transportation here. Most are repainted in bright colors, but I managed to catch one still yellow bus. Out in the countryside, you see taptaps and buses also ladened down on top with all kinds of goods, either going to market or returning from the 'city'.
Of course, the best method to travel is still by foot. Everyone carries things on their heads, balancing carefully as they pick their way among rubble still littering the streets. Even saw a man balancing a door on his head!
Sorry for some of the poorer quality in pics....they are taken from a moving truck!

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Photos

taptap
taptap transportation

yellow school bus
Still yellow...most are brightly painted.

women on the street
Women balancing baskets on their heads. Almost everyone you see is carrying something in the same way.