This and That

October 11, 2013

Servicing the generator

Known in Kreyol as the “dèlko” regardless of the brand

• Some things DO eventually happen – Valerio Canez came at last to service the generator.  It’s supposed to be serviced every 300 hours.  Jeff has been calling them and emailing them almost since we arrived here, with no result.  He’s been hung up on several times – guess he sounds funny on the telephone…
• Jeff also figured out how to add minutes to our phones remotely, using the Internet and a credit card, so we don’t have to walk into town to find a Pap Padap (Digicel) or a La Pou La (Natcom) which is a hot and sticky job.  He went to a website and did it all in a few minutes instead of the hour it would probably take us to walk somewhere and back.

• When I was out walking around in town earlier this week, a Haitian man said to me in perfect English, “You look like my mother.”  Usually, the kids yell, “Hey, you!” so I was a bit surprised at this friendly comment.  I turned, laughed, and said in English, “Because of my hair?”  He also laughed and said, “Yes.”
• It’s always fun when people are imaginative.  We see it when a Haitian is creatively transporting something odd-shaped item from one place to another in a non-standard way.  So for example, in the market the other day, we saw a motorcycle driver carrying a very tall step ladder.  The ladder was standing vertically on the seat between the driver and his passenger.  The ladder was pointing to the sky, not even wavering a bit, perfectly balanced.  I wish we could have taken a photo.  This was not a big moto, either. Amazing.
• Another transportation feat – a man went by riding a horse down Route National #2 – a busy highway with crazy drivers.  And guess what?  He was carrying a bicyle in front of him, with the two wheels positioned vertically, with the bottom wheel resting on his horse blanket. The bicycle-horse was quite tall as well as unusual looking, and so it caught my attention as it galloped down the road.

• Yesterday morning I photographed our tropical breakfast – three kinds of fresh fruit, peppery peanut butter and “chadeque” (like grapefruit but not grapefruit) marmalade.  We have to remember we’re on an exotic island!

• An important feature of guesthouse living is all the traffic that goes by on the new Route National #2.  We’re near Carrefour (crossroads) Deviation Cassange, too, so we get lots of interesting traffic.  Jeff took this series of photos Thursday morning.  Too bad the horse-bike didn’t go by again.  Most of the traffic is going towards PAP and towards the Leogane bus station.