After being dropped at the commuter terminal and convincing several "assistants" that I was very capable of handling my luggage on my own, I proceeded to put my very large piece of luggage, which now contained my former carry on luggage and all the additional things I needed to get to Cap Haitien to stay for a month, onto a screening table that looked rather inadequate for the task. I walked through, grabbed the enormous suitcase on the other side and searched for the correct counter. Not that there was that many, it was just hard to focus with everyone wanting to "help"me since they were "official" and all. I spotted Tortug air ( Air France affiliate) at the end of the building (about 30 feet from where I was standing, it was not a big place). I was about 4 hours early for my flight because Pastor needed to catch his AA flight at the large terminal and believe me, you don't want to drive to this airport any more than absolutely necessary! Any way, I went up to the counter and presented my print out which the online site had said would act as proof of payment. In reality, they just asked me "did you pay", I said, "Yes" and they hand wrote a receipt. They also had me put my luggage on a scale which was questionable at best. It was determined that I was 5 lb over weight. Fortunately, I had strategically placed food items, nuts, dried fruit, etc. in places I could get to them, just for this situation. I told them, I would need to open it up and remove the food items. Eventually, someone in the back said "no problem" and just took my suitcase. I was rather unclear why they were loading my suitcase onto a plane going out before my scheduled flight though! I finally was told "don't you want to go sooner", I said, ..OK!.. As it turned out, the flight was very late leaving anyway and I am guessing my scheduled flight was cancelled. Praise the Lord for divine intervention again! The plane we were to take landed in PAP and the pilots got off. Younger guys, one clearly French and in desperate need of a cigarette it appeared.
As I waited in the sitting area, I spotted some "t-shirt teams" which I had talked to members of earlier in the day out on the street while we were waiting to approach the airport. (Or at least I tried, they had the deer in the headlights look which most new visitors to Haiti experience.) Anyway, I began a conversation with a couple of young guys to see where they were from and where they were headed. Pennsylvania to Port au Paix to "work on a school and orphanage and stuff". The Haitian man seated next to me spoke English and I assumed he was some kind of a professional doing business in PAP. He began to tell us about his son who he was going to be visiting in the states in a few days. His son had been accepted to Penn State and they were going to tour the school. The excitement and pride was nearly bursting out of him. He explained that he worked as a cabin attendant for Royal Caribbean Cruises, 6 months at a time on the ship with a couple weeks off before starting again. He cleaned 19 rooms everyday. He explained how he felt it was important to make the people feel comfortable and special and how each night he would make a new animal out of towels to be waiting for them when they returned after dinner. He shared how it was hard work, but he did it to save enough money to support his family and to send his son to college. He stated he wants his son to have an easier life than he has had and he is so thankful for the blessings that God has given him. He also talked about how the Haitian people must take responsibility for making their country better and he was hopeful for the future. Again... inspiring.
Anyway, back to the plane. It was a 19 seat commuter plane, in rather questionable condition at least from an aesthetic point of view. There were about 10 of us, 9 Haitians and me. The pilots reboarded and we were off! I was alittle nervous but ultimately we don't control our fate, God does, so I just looked out the window at the beautiful mountain ranges. And then we hit turbulence! It was rather disconcerting. The Grandmotherly Haitian women sitting kitty corner from me kept looking back at me like, "is it OK?" I just gave her a reassuring smile and prayed! Everyone clapped when we touched down 25 minutes later (yes, 25 minutes by air, 8 hours by vehicle! The road are horrible!).
The French pilot made a bee line off the plane with just a quick nod as I said "Merci" as he passed. I got off and saw him lighting up his cigarette with an anxious motion. We then headed for the door of the terminal. It is a very small terminal. Cap Haiten can only have small planes land and since we were just coming from PAP, we did not need to go through customs. So the 10 of us waited for our luggage to come over. I don't know if I can explain this well enough for you to get the true feel of how this works, but it is a true Haitian moment. They brought the luggage over on a cart to the door we just entered. We could all see our luggage sitting on the cart. But, the workers wanted to put it through a hole in the wall designated for luggage. Unfortunately, this arrangement did not allow for the checking of tags by the designated employee ..so....we waited while they discussed the problem, the 10 of us inside, the luggage guys outside and the checker yelling through the hole in the wall. Eventually, the Grandmotherly women I mentioned earlier got fed up and opened the door to the outside and grabbed her luggage....well, this started others thinking that they to could by pass the "rules" and just take their luggage without having it first pass through the hole! A large argument ensued between the employees and some of the passengers with strong language involved I am quite certain! I stayed in the background with another young man who was just shaking his head. We looked at each other and laughed. Finally, the checker gave up and the door to the outside was opened as we all just picked up our luggage and continued outside. What should have taken 5 minutes, took about 25 minutes. I am guessing there will further discussion on "proper procedure" when the next flight comes in!
Anyway, I walked outside and since I was put on an earlier flight, I had about 1 1/2 hours to wait for my ride. There is a covered walk way before you go out onto the street. There were far less "merchants" and children looking for "one Dah-lah" than last year when we landed. Probably, because it wasn't a flight from the US. But, since I didn't want to deal with any of it and since the dark clouds we flew through were approaching, I decided to just wait in the covered area for my ride. As I settled in to wait, I looked up and a white dove flew by the front of the building in plain sight. Two times in fact. I felt like this was Gods message to me that He was with me and that He was going to watch over me for the next month. It also symbolized to me that we, as a family, were following His direction, even though it has seemed irrational at times.
I visited (as much as you can when you don't speak the language) with the older gentleman who evidently keeps order when people exit the terminal and with a younger man who's first words to me in broken English were, "are you a Christian?" to which I said, "Yes, I have Jesus in my heart". He was very pleased and we talked about mutual acquaintances in Cap Haitian (again with my limited creole). It poured rain at one point, then cleared and about that time Hanania and Edrick showed up. All the workers knew Hanania and Edrick so after a round of greetings, we threw my suitcase in the back of the truck and headed for Dorothy's house!
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