I can drive like a Haitian (almost)!

Well, I'm officially on my way to being Haitian.  I was on the road driving all around PAP today from 11AM until 6PM.  Dorothy got rather stressed this morning.  Jesula, our pregnant nanny, came to work today having lots of pain.  We were concerned she may be going into labor and needed to get her to the clinic.  In addition, a family was here for the morning to help out and play with the kids.  Then, Dorothy had to fire our driver today for the second time (long story don't ask).  Right in the midst of all the stress, Mary and Emory stopped by.  I told them to take Dorothy along grocery shopping and out to lunch so she can get a break from our crazy house for a little while.

That left me in charge of being the chauffeur for the rest of the day.  At 11 AM I left the house, dropped Jesula off at the clinic, and picked up our three kids at their school in Tabarre.  Several of the parents from kids at the school hopped in the bed of the truck to get a free tap-tap ride home.  By the time that I picked them up and got back home it was close to 1 PM.  Five minutes after I walked in the door, the phone rang.  It was Molina, one of our nannies.  She was at the HIV clinic with one of our kids and they just got finished and were ready to be picked up.  So, it was back on the road to Tabarre again!  The traffic had gotten much worse by that time and was backed up the entire way to the hospital and home again.  It took about two hours to get to the hospital and back.

When I got home with Molina and Fred, Dorothy informed me that she thinks she may have some type of bladder/urinary/kidney infection and wanted to go to MedLab to get blood work done.  On the road again!  She was tired and didn't feel like driving so I agreed to take her.  Plus, although I've been to MedLab, I had never driven there myself and I wanted to make sure I knew the way. 

Six hours driving and running errands in Haiti is MUCH different than six hours driving and running errands in the states!  Rather than just "driving," I view it more as an adventure...a quest, ha!  Although I've driven here many times already, I have been lucky and have not had to face much bad traffic...until today.  Let's see if I can paint a picture of driving here for you....

Haiti is called "mountains beyond mountains".  So as you can imagine, there are LOTS of hills.  I am so thankful that I learned to drive a stick shift vehicle in PA.  I was well prepared for driving Dorothy's truck here in Haiti.  There were traffic jams up and down steep hills, giant potholes, pedestrians that just walk/run right out in front of you and expect you to stop, broken down vehicles in the middle of the road, crazy taptap's pulling over any and everywhere without warning, etc.  Honestly, I can't even try to describe how crazy it is.  As I've said before, there are really no road rules or road signs.

One of my favorite things to do while driving is show the Haitians and UN that yes, a young white female can keep up with them!  The UN here often get on my nerves because they think that they own the roads here (among other things).  Today, on two occasions UN trucks decided to make their own lanes in traffic and then try to cut me off.  NO WAY!  I don't think so!  I held my own and went toe to toe with them (really we were inches apart)...they were NOT butting in front of me!  (Don't worry, I'm not actually aggressive.  I'm just learning to hold my own among people who think they can do anything that they want to here.)

Then, there was the dreaded traffic circle that I had to drive through 4 times today.  It slightly resembles a roundabout.  In fact, I think that is what it is supposed to be, but we are in Haiti so it didn't work out like that.  Instead it is one giant area of congestion with dozens of vehicles trying to drive in every direction (literally).  I have found that the key is to find your opening amongst the cars and focus on that.  If you look to see what is around you, you will most likely have a heart attack.  You just need to do whatever possible to keep "your spot" in your possession and not let another person cut you off and steal it.  Usually you end up surrounded by vehicles on every side of you coming from several directions.  Only one motorcycle hit my back bumper today...success!  It is much easier said than done trust me!  At one point after squeezing between two big Mack trucks that were both trying to cut in front of me in "my space," I heard Molina in the backseat say, "Wow!"  I take that as a really great compliment coming from a Haitian who is used to this traffic.  The nannies all told me tonight that I did a really good job driving here.  I know to those of you who have never been here, you are probably thinking "big deal".  But, I never EVER thought I could handle driving here and knowing my way around.  This is such a huge personal accomplishment for me!

I will to post below a few pictures of roads here.  Again, they really don't do justice for what it is actually like!  I don't have any good pictures of the traffic here because we are always to stressed to try and take a photo of it...

Big trucks that seriously are not afraid to run you over...I've seen it done!

very mild traffic

A road.

You never know when there will be random mud holes or "streams" in your road.

The biggest and bravest get to pass through first...we lost this battle.

And let us not forget this video!