R&R - repost

What comes to mind when you think of having a little R&R in the Caribbean. For many, the first thought would be the wonderful beaches and the turquoise waters; lying in the sun, no agenda and sipping a cool refreshment. Ahh!

Well, that was not the first thing that crossed mine - but maybe it shoulda been.



As many of you already know, my time here in Haiti is quickly drawing to a close. I have completed my contract here through the PAOC, but have decided to stay on a little bit longer to complete some things, to wrap things up, and also to finally come up for a little air. I've been pushing pretty hard over the last year, still pushing hard, but decided on my extended time to get a little R&R in as well before I head north.

Before I launch into my little R&R report. I need to reset the stage for what is "normal" down here. What had seemed abnormal to me at first here in Haiti has become, well, normal. I'm simply accepting the way some things work here. You go to pay bills, its not uncommon to have to go back more than once because, for example, the computer is down! This is in stark contrast with the process we are accustomed to where the bill is either automatically debited to your account or, just a few clicks on the internet and you've paid it. Here in Haiti, its not uncommon to take up to a 1/2 a day or more to go to the airport, to go to the bank or to buy a few tons of rebar for the worksite. I once waited well over 2 hrs in the lineup just to pay - just one of several steps involved in the overall process.

So, what's normal? I am sitting in my home in the dark, without electricity sweating profusely because of the heat and humidity as I write this note. Our hydro has gone out. The last time I received Hydro was 4 nights ago. I've lost everything in my fridge for the second time since I've been here. After the first time, I learned not to keep all that much in the fridge - so this time I didn't loose nearly as much. I found out today that the blackout area this time is very large. Apparently a fire at a substation has knocked us out and it could quite easily be 3 weeks or a month or even longer before the problem is rectified. How is that for a disaster recovery plan. Surprise, surprise, the infrastructure has no resilience and no spare capacity.

Now remember that I am merely letting you know what's "normal". I am also finding out that I don't really type very well when I can't look at the keys on the keyboard. So, I'm not really very sure how much of the note I'll get done tonight (as my battery in my laptop runs down).

I will be leaving Haiti at the end of this month. I am still working, but I've also begun my wind down. I am selling things and I've decided that a little R&R was in order before I head back. Most of the time I've been kept very busy at the worksite. I have done many of the planning activities during the evenings and weekends and been on the worksite to provide expertise and to supervise the work. I have a 3D model of the building which seems to be constantly out of date - and needs much attention. Lately I've been working on the electricity for the first floor - the plan was complete in my head a while ago, but getting it down on paper so that I can transition the plan is another story - I have since completed that and am happy with the results. Anyways I am digressing again. This note is not about the job - which has actually been a remarkable experience. A tremendous opportunity and I am really happy that I have been a part of this project. All that to say is that I haven't really "enjoyed" the sights that Haiti has to offer - I have pretty much been heads down most of the time that I've been here.

Well, I decided that before I left, I should see some of Haiti outside the capital. Haiti inside the city and outside the city is much different. The stress and demands on the average Haitian in the city and outside of it are totally different. In the country it is more agricultural based and people are more self reliant. In the city - its crowded, congested and people compete for any little opportunity that comes along - I believe I recently heard that the unemployment figure was something like 80%. How is that for difficult job hunting prospects.

Anyway, this past weekend I completed one of these little trips - a two day trip through the mountains - I'll call it R&R for the time being - it was anything but Rest and Relaxation. The trip was a two day trek across the island starting at Port au Prince following "trails" through the mountain to Jacmel and returning back to Port au Prince using the main roads.

A friend of mine - Dr Ed has done this trek in the past - basically following the only route through. The trek takes you from sea level to an elevation of about 2200 meters and back to sea level again on the other side. Based on previous experience, we figured that it would be about a six hour journey to Jacmel and we had a place to stay in Jacmel for the night.

So the trek begins. We were setting out early - 7 am to get a good start - should be lots of time to clear the mountains and get to Jacmel in the daylight. Our third partner decided that he should change his rear tire for better traction over the rocks before leaving - he started the work on Friday afternoon, but ran into difficulties with the tire - so it didn't get completed until Saturday morning. We left about 10 am, with the new tire ready to rock and roll.

We had planned to stop at "the lodge" for breakfast - this then became brunch/early lunch. We still made the stop and all was well. We were getting into a remote area, but the roads/trails in at this point were still good - likely still passable by cars or at least trucks. The Lodge was very pleasant and relaxing - so far so good. We had now already climbed to about 1800 meters elevation.

We started on from there - the roads quickly dwindled to trail and you would no longer pass these in a vehicle - our bikes where still fine, donkeys, horses and foot were the norm. We began to attract local attention as we passed by the small groupings of houses (maybe 3 or 4) clumped together along the trail. The road got rougher - but really still okay and we were making fairly good time.

Our first big challenge was a very steep incline - we were headed down it and soon realized that we couldn't possibly ride down - took us a fall or two on the top part to figure that out and the incline got worse further down. We worked our bikes down over this area one at a time - of course our friend "Mr Gravity" was on our side - I think really just luring us into what was ahead. We got through - but figured that we had pretty much committed ourselves to the rest of the journey - we had reached a point of no return - we wouldn't get our bikes back up that incline.

So we moved on, more or less downhill for the time being. Now remember the peak was at about 2200 meters - so you know that whatever distance we traveled going down were going to more than make it back going UP!

It wasn't too long until we came to our second problem another steep incline, but this time we were going up it. The trail made a hook to the right and we could see where it came out on top - the bottom looked tough, but optimistically, the part in behind (where we couldn't see) would be okay - right? Wrong! Our attempt to climb the first section failed miserably. With some local help, we got our bikes up around the first bend. Time to hop on the bikes again and give it another shot - well again this did not last very long and we were down again. I think by this time, my luck had run out - I was the newbie on the bike - had been following more than leading, but already the bumps and bruises were starting to set in and the newbie got to have the first go at it. I made it a little way - realize that we are talking a pretty steep climb and Mr Gravity was no longer co-operating. I had a course set - was doing pretty good - so I thought. On rough terrain you are never really in control of what’s happening - the objective really is to have some input on the general direction and speed - sometimes it seems that you're just along for the ride. I hit a big rut that I was wanting to avoid - just the way it works out sometimes. I wasn't able to recover and down I went - being the newbie I can blame it on lack of experience. My other more experienced cohorts blamed it on age. You know how that goes....well when I was younger.... I am still reserving that one (or at least pretending to).

What I've found out on this trip is that your momentum isn't totally absorbed by the obstacle - really it just deflects and changes the direction of that momentum, abruptly. Have you ever had a slow motion experience? Things slow down so you can really get the most out of that moment. I don't know how many times I thought - oooh, this might really hurt - as I fell off my bike with time seemingly almost standing still so I could savour the moment - helplessly watching the turf (aka sharp jagged rocks) come up to great me. On occasion, we ended up pinned under our bikes and had to wait to be rescued.

I don't think it's very often that the locals have seen blancs hurl themselves at the side of the mountain. Some find it very amusing and very entertaining. Considering the low population density in the area we were able to draw a pretty good crowd.

Well I'm really only skinning the surface here - there is just so much more than I can put into words. Experience is golden they say, so, if there are any takers - I'll "guide" - how's that for an offer.

Remember that we have passed the point of no return and that we are really just at our first big climb. We are getting beat up a little bit, but hey its going to get better right! We struggle up the first climb - I think this one was pretty much on our own - walking, pulling, pushing our bikes (and perhaps a little riding too) until we reached the top - real team work - things are going good now. In Haiti there is a saying that is roughly translated as mountain behind mountain - guess what - its true. We had what seemed like a short fairly tolerable ride to our next totally unexpected surprise. This one turned out to be a little bigger than the last one - but hey optimistically approaching and sitting at the bottom - we're trying to figure our path up through - figuring out how to avoid the biggest (of the big) rocks and ruts.

So our attempts to conquer this one fails - the enthusiasm of dragging our bikes over yet another peak is already waning. As I said before, we are attracting local attention - so we invite some of our spectators to participate - providing a little extra muscle to manoeuvre the bike up and over. We actually end up kind of wrestling with the Haitians over the route to the top.

As we move along - "mountain behind mountain" up and down again - we've more or less conquered the downs, but some of the ups are giving us real problems. Through it all we refine the process - all in all we had help about three or four times pulling our bikes up over the mountain ranges. Of course, true to IBM process we applied our lessons learned and refined the process each time. On the second attempt we have a new team, but refined our process to include a newly acquired rope - equipment furnished by the team. And on our third, we reuse the same team - they have come along with us, partly for the entertainment of watching the crazy blancs, but also along the way they stop and negotiate a sole source contract for the next time we need to enlist their help.

I have learned something about the mountain rock in Haiti. It is an old mountain range - so we didn't experience the sheer cliffs that drop hundreds or thousands of feet straight down. But we did experienced several types of rock, all of us got pretty intimate with all types - stumbling over it, riding over it, and of course greeting face to face.

In total we climbed up (and down) four main peaks, of course with lots of minor ups and downs in between. The trail was exactly that, just a trail - barely a trail. It had been put in several years ago, but never maintain - as a result many sections of the trail were washed out/eroded resulting in all kinds of rock conditions; some sections were more like riverbeds with loose/rounded rocks of all sizes; other sections were strewn/covered by small land slides and in other places the trail was covered with rocks that had tumbled down from above. We had sharp rocks, round rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes. A few springs and a little mud, but not much of either.

The trail is well used, but by foot or donkey - carrying goods to market. We saw many local people walking, carrying baskets on various crops on their heads. They will walk many miles to go to market over this terrain. We toughed it out for 20Km or so on our bikes and were dead tired by the end.

My bike went up for sale at one point. In broken Kreyol, I offered it for sale real cheap, However, I guess the lady carrying her basket who was passing by at the time didn’t see any real value in adding a 150kg bike to carry along as well.

Mountain behind mountain - every peak we reached there was another one to go. When we reached the last, it looked just like all the rest - we had no idea if it was the last - or just how many more peaks we might need to cross over yet. It was beginning to get dark - we thought many times about asking to stay at one of the houses along the way - we pushed on and to our surprise we conquered what turned out to be the last peak.

Now the roads don't instantly get better, but at that point they became passable by vehicles. Word had traveled ahead of us that we were coming through. As we came over the last peak, we were met by a man with a 4WD truck that ran a bed and breakfast about 1/2 an hour away. Dinner was already on! So we obliged. Had a very pleasant stay, good food and good conversation. Exhausted we retired for the night.

The next day, we left after breakfast and headed down the mountain. The B&B was near Sequin and still at an elevation of about 2000 meters - so our trip to Jacmel on the second day was mostly downhill. Roads began very rough but gradually improved the further we went. We had three flats that day and crippled our way along to the next nearest small village. The process was painful to watch at times, but my learned friends said that its best to stay out of it - they will eventually get the tire repaired - and they did.

We had climbed the mountains, were rained on, crossed rivers (without bridges, and yes its rainy season). Accumulated a few bumps and bruises! But we made it through. Far tougher than we had expected - in typical Haitian style, the trail had not been maintained in any way and had degraded significantly. It was really not passable except by foot or donkey. The distance we traveled in the middle sections was up and down over four main ranges, but only about 15 or 20 km in distance. This section took us 5 1/2 hrs to complete. Luckily an entrepreneurial B&B owner had heard about us and decided to meet us and treat us with his services.

It's now been a week since we completed this trip. Done a little mending and feeling a little more punchy right now. You know how these experiences improve with age - think we should give the mountain trail another go - I'll talk to the guys about that - I'm sure second time through will be a charm.

I’ve attached a couple of pics. But didn’t get too many as I broke my camera on one of the “downs” early on.