Hi! Just a note to say I'm alive and back with my husband finally! It was sure a journey!
Saturday morning I went to get my Co-vid test to fly and didn't get the result until late afternoon - they called Dad to say it was positive! Of course I knew it was possible especially after that large funeral, but we had a home test so took it just for curiosity sake and it came back negative.
Which led me to go into town and try to get another one. At the third urgent care they said they would test me. I was expecting a positive and I thought at least I could get advice from a doctor on what to do and when to re-schedule my flight! But the nurse handed me a negative test and said, "You're good to go!"
I guess we decided two out of three negative was majority... and didn't want the MESS of unpacking and rescheduling tickets... so we headed to the airport that night at midnight. Flight was supposed to leave at 6 A.M.
We were almost to New Orleans when we started getting texts and emails that the flight was canceled. I was VERY nauseated by the time we got to the airport and it was 4 A.M. and in the upper 20s for temperature and I had just a little jacket and vest. They booked me on another airline for a late flight to New York City of all places, then Port au Prince at 6 the next morning.
So - we slept in the car outside a Cafe du Monde until it got light and they opened. And then we had a nice little unplanned morning of touristing in the French Quarter. Except the food smells made me sick and it was cold, damp, and windy. But we ate some good red beans and rice for lunch.
The street performers intrigue me. I always wonder which are homeless people and who's doing it for fun. There was a fortune teller with a shopping cart - probably all her possessions inside - covered with some sort of big white fur rug. So sad!!
I'll skip over the night in the New York City airport. Because it was definitely one of the more torturous things I've experienced. Bright lights, hard chairs, a 40 lb backpack and probably 60 lb carry-on full of vehicle parts.
Port au Prince sun and blue skies are still heavenly. I'm in my bare feet and the wind is whispering and the neighbor pastor is droning on and everyone is answering, "A - lay - lou - YA!" I'm so glad to have all the human sounds around me - it was hard to sleep in Louisiana with just the silent ringing in my ears at night! My husband is running around trying to help me survive being pregnant by rounding up fresh fruit and Gatorade etc... I'm trying not to panic because my Poptart supply is completely gone already!
So life goes on...
Thanks for all your support and prayers during this crazy last month! And this country needs your continued prayers. Zèzè hasn't gone to work this week at all. Too much shooting in the streets. Monday someone stopped by and was asking for money to pay tap-tap to see his daughter in the hospital. She had been randomly shot at Carrefour Fleriyo, an intersection close to our house. Yesterday some of Zèzè's co-workers did get to the clinic, only to spend the morning hiding at some neighbor's house instead of working because there was shooting everywhere. Whatever these gangsters are doing, I'm too tired to even ask, and I hope they give us some peace again soon.
I'm gonna close with a sneak peek picture! I was interviewed for a cultural/food podcast (The Storied Recipe) and the episode aired last week. So I'm late sharing. But I promise tomorrow I'll post more pictures - Becky is an AMAZING food photographer - with links to the episode and everything else.
Tonight you can just have a look at this one amazing little picture and try to guess what recipe I gave her!
